Culturama India

For my final Culturama I got placed into India, thus continuing my journey into Indian dance, in this case, we were doing a South Indian dance traditionally done by men but the dance leader had opened it up to both genders. It was very different from kahaani because of this, the dance style was a lot more violent and a lot of the moves were very awkward and felt strange doing them as a girl and I couldn’t stop laughing at first. However, in the end, it all came together and I got over my initial I’m making a fool of myself phase, I’m really glad I did this as I am North Indian and it was really fun to experience other Indian cultures and the dance itself was tremendous fun because it was meant for men and the majority of the dancers were female which led to a lot of chaos during rehearsals.

Project Week Reflection – Dance

As I’ve said a lot in my reflections I’m no dancer but in the CAS spirit of pushing myself for project week we set up classes with THE Tanushree Shankar at her dance academy. I was absolutely terrified of this as it was for Indian classical dance which I have no background in and she is one of the country’s leading choreographers and dancers, I was certain I’d make a complete fool of myself. However, it was a lot of fun and by the end of the 5 classes she had taught us a whole dance that we brought back and incorporated into Kahaani and it was a really nice way of experiencing another aspect of South Indian culture from a place I have no experience with. Stepping out of my comfort zone definitely paid off here and being in a group where only one of us had any dance background really helped as the majority of us had similar fears and we all encouraged and motivated each other.

Project Week CAS Reflection – Planning

For my project week trip we organised 5 days of volunteering with Voice of World an NGO partnered with our school, they function as an orphanage and home for disabled children, providing them with a safe home and the medical care they need. VOW also organises various trips for them like mountain climbing expeditions for the more able kids and various other outings around India. As our school raises money for them through Kahaani a dance showcase I was involved in planning we decided for our activity we would undertake dance classes and we were fortunate enough to learn from one of India’s best classical dancers Tanusree Shankar which was an amazing experience as although Kahaani had sparked a love of dance in me I had never had the opportunity to attend a dance class. We also attended some painting classes at an art school as our creativity aspect which was a nice experience however not as impactful as the activity and service elements of the week.

Planning Project Week was a really interesting experience for me as I had never organised any trip before myself, and had never communicated with an NGO as although I was part of a GC in school I was never chair and therefore didn’t communicate directly with the NGO. This was a really vital experience as it not only taught me how to communicate professionally with organisations but how to utilise connections and build relationships with organisations abroad. We were also travelling to a part of India I had never been to and don’t speak the language for so general communication with some of the organisations was very difficult due to the language barrier which is something I learnt to overcome through this

 

Looking back on IFP (LO4) (LO5) (LO2)

I’m currently on the flight back from Timor Leste after completing the conference so I thought this would be the perfect time to reflect on the entire process from initial delegate selection to when we said goodbye. This process has been incredibly challenging emotionally, we have been sharing our experiences almost continuously and some stories have been incredibly shocking and humbling. However, we have all bonded tremendously because of this we have all exchanged phone numbers and there were a lot of tears as we left. I think this experience has taught me how to be a lot more empathetic than I was before and how to deal with these situations as I had never found myself in a similar situation before and at first I was lost as to how to respond.

The planning itself was an incredibly challenging process as I had never planned an event before, forget a conference! I have never been more grateful to my team than I have throughout this process as I am certain the entire thing would have fallen apart without everyone’s incredible work ethic and contributions both throughout the planning stage to the final conference where we continuously helped out others on their theme days rather than leaving them to fend for themselves. This whole process has been incredibly beneficial and eyeopening for me and I am excited to carry these skills and experiences into the future.

IFP : Mid-Planning Reflection (LO7)(LO6)

We have officially hit the halfway mark for planning our IFP conference!!! It has been a crazy journey so far but I think now the implications of all we learnt about conflict resolution pre-conference selection is becoming apparent now that we can apply it to the specific context of Timor Leste.

Back in the theory days of IFP we focused a lot on conflict resolution through communication and understanding the norms and cultures of the various people/communities involved. We have tried to apply these same concepts to the context of Timor Leste by decreasing the scale of things and creating scenarios such as an argument between friends or a child and their parent and asking the delegates to roleplay how they would resolve these scenarios.

However, as an entire team, I think we have started to focus more on the sensitive nature of some of these issues such as gender imbalance or racial issues withing Timor Leste due to the sensitive nature of them because we don’t want to offend anyone’s religious beliefs or social values but rather open their minds in a non-aggressive manner. One of the key issues in Timor Leste is gang violence, and we have had to be very careful when we address this issue as the wrong word can be taken as offensive to someone or their family members or seem dismissive of their experiences. We also have to constantly be aware of what we talk with delegates about outside of the facilitator delegate dynamic because we don’t want to end up unknowingly encouraging someone towards any harmful behaviours.

IFP – Conference Selection and Early Stages (LO3)(LO5)

I was selected to partake in the IFP Timor Leste conference which I am thrilled about. We have just begun to start planning and allocate ourselves into groups each will look after a day in the conference which will be themed with one of our key topics (e.g. Conflict Resolution Day) as well as separate groups that will help organise the logistical elements like rooming, toiletries and schedules for our delegates.

Currently, we are laying the framework we are going to build the conference off, soon we are going to begin fleshing this out and allocating specific parts to people based off of their skills such as the artistic members will be making posters and the best public speakers will create mini lectures. I am super excited to see this through and I am so glad that I am not solely responsible for this huge workload, I don’t think I have ever appreciated my team more than now. There is absolutely no way I could have completed this entire conference alone the workload is incredible and every member of the team has added something unique to our conference schedule. For example, I would be hopeless at creating amazing posters or planning activities but I excel at the mini-lectures element

MUAY THAI – 2nd Reflection

I have been boxing for almost a year now and although I have been actively trying to avoid my academic life and active life colliding my schedule has left little to no time for boxing towards the end of Grade 11 although I do still go for 3 hours a week (Mon, Wed, Thu) I had hoped to be going far more often and to be engaging in two hour sessions to test my stamina and allow me to reach the next level quicker. I am also afraid that at the beginning of Grade 12 as my workload increases boxing will have to take a back seat however I intend to do everything I can to prevent this and will still set outside a guaranteed 3 hours a week to box no matter what is happening in school. This clash between my activities and my academics had actually improved my planning skills as now to ease my workload throughout the week and free up time to box I am far more productive over the weekend (which also means less last-minute homework), which reduces my stress levels on its own as I’m not staying up late at night writing essays or IAs as often now.

I don’t want to compromise on my boxing too much as I do ultimately want to pick up a second Martial Art (my 3rd in total) at my gym so that I can begin my MMA training as I do not yet know a ground Martial Art so I was considering Brazillian Jiu Jitsu but I am afraid that there will not be enough time to achieve this as I am struggling to find time to practice one discipline, scheduling a second and extra session for my MMA training could negatively impact my Academic Career as I will have far less free time to complete any work set.

RDA – Leader Training

Today at RDA I undertook my Leader Training which is where I learn how to groom and manage the horses both before, during and after the session which was a really exciting experience for me as I used to ride horses in the UK but couldn’t continue after shifting to Singapore. This meant that being able to interact with the horses specifically and learn how to properly groom them and ultimately form a bond with them was a rewarding experience. This also aligns with CAS’s LO2 (developing new skills) as although I did ride horses in the UK I was never involved in the actual caring of the horses or any stable work.

As I really enjoyed spending time with the horses they picked up my energy and Shamus (the horse I was working with) was very energetic throughout the session which I think was a strength as from working with the less mentally able kids at the centre who are largely affected by your energy levels, I was able to maintain a positive and energetic attitude throughout the session. However, when grooming the horse I was hesitant to do anything to the horse’s hind legs (such as clean out their hooves which involves me picking up their legs as I have heard many stories and continuously been warned about horse’s powerful kicks. I need to improve my confidence in completing these tasks as Shamus does pick up on my hesitancy and sometimes takes advantage of it.

 

Kolkata GC

To give back to Kahaani and out of curiosity of the NGO VOW, I signed up for Kolkata GC for the entirety of G11. They are the GC that hosts and runs Kahaani and supports Voice of World. At first, there wasn’t much happening as Kahaani was still far away so there was little to plan as a GC but as soon as Kahaani drew near we sprung into action. I was in charge of posters and advertising which was an entirely new field to me but I was lucky enough to be partnered with a graphic designer so I had a lot of fun learning photoshop and looking through old photos of the previous shows. I had really enjoyed the atmosphere of the dance show backstage but it was an entirely different experience as part of the planning committee as now I was one of the people constantly running around and gathering things. It was hectic but a lot of fun I just wish I could have had more interaction with the actual NGO however that wasn’t my role in the GC.

Kahaani – First Rehearsal

After such an enjoyable experience with Culturama and the sense of togetherness and achievement that comes alongside I have decided to partake in Kahaani again (last year’s performance having been one of the highlights of my time here at UWC). Kahaani, which means story in Hindi, is an annual dance show run, organised and performed by students in support for Kolkata GC (which I am a member of) and Voice of World (the organisation my GC supports), it’s purpose is to help break down the stigma surrounding disabilities and the disabled as well as raising awareness to Voice of World’s cause.

I am by no means a dancer which oddly enough translates to me enjoying these school-wide dance performances, there is a unique form of achievement and confidence that arises after dancing in front of hundreds of people, especially when you are someone who struggles to dance in front of 5. I have found myself counting down the days till these performances which were a pleasant change from the nerves that began my first Kahaani performance last year. A particularly rewarding part of being in a dance performance and not being a “dancer” is the support I can draw from my fellow performers many of whom are in the same situation as me, the sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ and the sheer openness and friendliness has allowed me to craft some friendships that have lasted long after Kahaani and Culturama, and I can’t wait to experience that again.