St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 11/23/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Lindsay Serakos

The Campus Center lounge was recently a focal point for all those who were curious and motivated to learn different styles of dance while swinging to foreign rhythms and exotic beats. Modeling the very popular TV show "So You Think You Can Dance," Beyond Borders organized the event titled "So You Think You Can Internationally Dance" on Nov. 20 in order to teach St. Norbert students traditional dances from several countries and get different cultures interacting on the dance floor.

Japan Club, with the help of Japanese ESL students and their instructor Dawn Shimura, demonstrated a unique style of dancing which originated in Japan called Yosakoi-Soran. The sound of the naruko clappers, which are essential to Yosakoi dance, got many students involved in trying out this distinctive dance which is widely popular in Japan.

After tackling the basic skills of Japanese Yosakoi dance, Viktoriya Zotova '13 from Bulgaria encouraged students to join the traditional Bulgarian circle dance or the so-called "oro," while the Nia African and African-American Drummers and Dancers group from UW-Green Bay introduced the spirit of Africa through energetic Nigerian song and dance.

The event continued with Janiya '12 and Jamiliya'12 Sauranbayeva from Kazakhstan, who gave an Oriental Dance 101 lecture, which was followed by the quite challenging Vietnamese bamboo dance.

Concluding the event, Trang Le '12, Beyond Borders vice president for technology and communication, expressed her deepest gratitude to all the people who participated in Beyond Borders' events during the International Education Week, and invited the entire college community to come and check out Beyond Borders meetings, taking place every Monday at 8 p.m. in the Mulva Library presentation room.

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