IU Global

An Indiana University African American dance group is on a one week cultural exchange with China University of Mining and Technology Beijing’s (CUMTB) School of Law and Humanities.

The visit came about after Yingli Zhou, a visiting scholar, saw the African American Dance Company and was so impressed she thought it would be a great idea to bring the group to China for a cultural exchange, said Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, chair of IU’s Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.

This marks the first time the group has been to China, said Iris Rosa, the dance company's director since it’s founding in 1974.

“It’s incredible, the reality of being in a place like this and seeing our students in a place like this,” Rosa said. “We’re happy to be here.”

None of the company's student members is a dance major; their studies span the spectrum of IU’s academic disciplines, such as biochemistry, neuroscience, human biology and fashion design.

The program is a structured course for college credit and students attend three-hour classes twice a week, Rosa said. The course syllabus includes rehearsal and performance.

About 200 students from China University of Mining and Technology Beijing attend a lecture and demonstration by the visiting African American Dance Company at Indiana University, Dec 18, 2016.

Sunday’s lecture and demonstration included Rosa’s commentary, which was translated into Chinese, and demonstrations of dance techniques, including warm ups and locomotion exercises and a short piece the Indiana students choreographed.

During Sunday’s program, the demonstration became interactive, with Indiana dancers pulling volunteers from the audience to join them to perform a series of moving “statues” poses. They twisted and turned to coordinate their bodies with the dancers to create a range of scenes frozen for mere moments before moving into other variations. At one point, a group on the right side of the stage lifted a young Chinese woman into their air and held the pose, to her obvious delight.

Huge grins on their faces spoke to how much fun the young Chinese had up on stage; later, several, such as Liu Zimou, said they were thrilled to participate.

“It was GREAT! I felt different on the stage,” said Liu, who is studying environmental engineering.

For CUMTB industrial engineering student Vicky Yang, the experience was profound. “You taught me how to dance and you shared what's in your hearts,” Yang said.

Among this week’s cultural exchange activities are an African drum workshop for Chinese students and traditional Chinese dance instruction for the Indiana students.

The dance troupe will give a public performance on Dec 21 at 7:30 pm in the Technical Hall’s concert space on the fourth floor of the CUMTB Science Building.