LO1

LO1-Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth

LO4-Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences

Culturama was a great experience for me, one that really allowed me to gain and improve new skills. I had participated in dance-based activities the year before, such as Kahaani, but never one with an audition process. My Culturama dance was a wonderful opportunity for me to expand upon skills I had learnt in previous years, and become a stronger dancer. Some aspects of the final performance were really hard, our dance was several minutes long and quite high intensity. By the end of each night of rehearsal and performance I was exhausted and tired. But at the same time, I felt super grateful to participate in an event so integral to the UWCSEA experience, and to do this using skills I had been working on for over a year.

LO1-Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth

LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

After several weeks of working on our Kahaani dance, my group’s performance is finally starting to come together! While I have enjoyed this experience very much so far, it has also been challenging for me at times. Kahaani is a dance showcase, and as I have mentioned in previous reflections, I have little experience with dance, unlike many of the other people in my dance. I struggled at several points in this process, as I found it difficult to keep up with other members of my group, and I found Kahaani very frustrating for the first few weeks. I found it difficult to remember the dance, and to perform it with confidence. However I found that I could make learning the dance easier for myself by breaking it into sections that I could remember, and enlisting the help of other members of the group to rehearse it with me.

Collaboration has been a very important part of Kahaani for me, as I relied heavily on the support of my dance leaders, Shawronna and Rene, and of the other members of my group. My personal skills and knowledge were not particularly useful in this activity, as I have little experience with this style of dance, but I saw the importance of group commitment and cooperation. We struggled with the absence of some members, including myself, and this was a challenge that was difficult to address, as there was no way to prevent outside circumstances from forcing members to miss rehearsals. Overall, I feel that the group’s camaraderie has been the key to our success so far, and will help us through the final weeks of rehearsal.

LO 1 AWARENESS (Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth)

LO3 INITIATIVE (Planning and initiated activities)

We had our second session with the clients from MINDS Tampines yesterday, (my first session as I was traveling during the first week) and it was a very interesting (and tiring!) experience. Interacting with the intellectually disabled clients was challenging, but rewarding as well.

I found that I struggled to connect with the clients at first, as their style of communication is so different to that I am used to. We had spoken in our planning sessions about how this may be an issue however, I think I was unprepared for the reality of interacting with these clients. Our planning helped us in some ways, for example, our predetermined route from the bus to the conference room helped us to take the clients upstairs without any trouble or confusion. However other aspects of our plans had to change as the session progressed, for example, our planned playlists had to be changed as many of the clients wanted to request certain songs. Additionally, we had to change our planned activities slightly, as our original plan had been to dance for the whole session, but some of the clients were tired and wanted to sit down, forcing us to improvise and create new activities. I think we have learned from this session and will adjust our plans accordingly next time, to be more flexible and to account better for the clients’ needs.

As I mentioned, I found communication with the clients to be a challenge personally. I don’t have much experience with intellectually disabled people, and this was my first time interacting with them in person. I feel that I made a good effort to connect with the clients through dance, and to keep a positive and calm attitude. However, I also recognize that I need to practice this, as communication with the clients will become easier as they become more comfortable with us. I think as the sessions progress, I will also become more comfortable around them, and less nervous and cautious than I was yesterday. I hope that this service will allow me to connect with these clients and develop meaningful and comfortable friendships with them.