Basanta

Two weeks ago, A junior dance major (the wonderful girl who first introduced me to the Bible Study group that I'm now a part of) organized a Dance Day for Nepali refugee children in the danceSpace at Mercyhurst. It was an incredible experience. Each of the dancers who volunteered was given a "buddy" to spend the day with. Basanta was my buddy. The day started off with a game of Giant Human Knot as an ice breaker and then we sat down to get to know our buddies. I asked the questions we were told to ask about each other and she would answer with a word or two and then lapse back into silence. I kept trying to think of new questions to ask (and rephrasing them when she didn't understand) and, finally, when I couldn't think of anything else, I asked her about her favorite food. She replied with simply: "Nepali". I told her that I liked Italian food, but that my home church in Maryland is good friends with a pastor from India and that his wife made a meal for some of the members of my church one Sunday after the service. I then bashfully explained that I didn't like it because it was very spicy. As soon as I said "India", her face lit up and, as soon I finished speaking, she told me about how her parents were from India. She then excitedly continued with excerpts from her parents' life story. It was incredible to watch that one word open her up to speaking so much more comfortably to me. After our conversation, we sat and watched some of my friends, and very talented dancers, perform ballet variations. The little girls were fascinated by the tutus and pointe shoes. They were then asked to get up and show us some Nepali dances. Basanta was reluctant at first, but she finally joined her friends. Music was put on and she immediately came back to me. "Excuse me," she said. "This is not Nepali music. This is not music to dance." I had to keep myself from laughing. Her personality was incredibly similar to mine and I completely understood her confusion. If you're going to dance, you need to have the right music. I finally convinced her to show us some steps anyway. All of the girls were incredibly talented. They knew dances with intricate hand motions and they even taught us some group dances. A talented photographer (and incredible dancer) at Mercyhurst, Jessica, captured Basanta and I in the middle of a spin.

(photo credit: Jessica Stachelrodt) 

Jessica then taught everyone some basic hip hop. The girls picked up the movement extremely quickly. To end the event, everyone enjoyed dancing around the room together. Some of the girls knew very little English and verbal communication was often very difficult, be we all shared an understanding and love for the language of dance. It was a wonderful cultural exchange and laughter frequently filled the room.