Universal language

Q: So what were you doing in Thailand?

A: The first two weeks I was traveling, and then for six weeks I was in Chiang Mai, planning and executing art therapy workshops for different organizations, like two homes for children with cerebral palsy. That was a profound experience because I feel in the States we really have an understanding of disabilities, but in Thailand there are still some misconceptions. Some of the children had been locked in a cage under their houses because it's believed they had been reincarnated like this after living an evil former life. And they were such sweet children, and seeing the power of art with them was incredible.

Q: And you also taught dance, right?

A: In the evenings, I taught dance workshops in an orphanage. Every other night, I would prepare the 10 teenage girls for a final performance for the celebration for the queen's birthday, which was August 12. It was Thai Mother's Day, which was an extremely emotional celebration for the girls, because they don't really have mothers or their mothers are obviously absent.

I also took classical Thai dance lessons, and I performed a traditional Thai umbrella dance on the queen's birthday for the city celebration. That was a very amusing experience. It was such a spectacle, the fair-haired, fair-skinned woman dressed in traditional folk dance attire, makeup, bun and all the jewelry. The Thai people loved it.

Q: How did you end up in Chiang Mai?

A: You know, it was one of those things that just started developing. A friend had asked me in the fall if I would be interested working on this proposal with her. We both are involved in dance, I'm getting a dance certificate, and we both had this interest in Thailand. Thailand also has a very bad sex tourism trade, and we wanted to use dance as a mode of giving girls who might be at risk a means of self-expression and an alternative type of life. Even though they wouldn't make that much money, dance is a wonderful way to feel self-confident and creative and empowered. I found an NGO that was willing to support my program, and I found ways of funding it through the university. And then, you know, I just went.

Q: Did you find that language was a barrier? How were you able to communicate?

A: Tourism is such a big industry in Thailand that there are a lot of people who speak enough English. When I was traveling, there were also more people looking after me than I realized: strangers who saw that I was a young woman traveling alone and kind of took care of things for me. And I tried to learn Thai a little bit.

Our driver was a funny rascal sweetheart of a man, and he really loved speaking Thai with me, and I taught him some English. And we'd just laugh at one another. My students' English was worse than most of the adults that I was encountering. With them I really had to prepare for each class, but I did find that dance is one of those things that's a universal language. My students were incredibly good at just watching and doing.

- Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Isabel Schwab '11.