Dance is just a form of entertainment to some, but world-renowned choreographer Shen Wei thinks it can have a long-lasting impact-especially on children in China's rural villages.
Accompanied by vanilla-scented candles and soft Mozart music, Duke Asian Student Association hosted a dinner with Shen Saturday as part of "Eating for Education," the group's charity kick-off event of the year. In concert with the ASAs of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, the group aims to raise $50,000 to build a school for a rural village in China's Guangxi province by June. Saturday night, the groups raised $2,000 toward this goal.
Construction of the school is expected to cost about $16,000, said senior Andrew Hsiao, president of Duke ASA. The remaining funds raised will be used to send three students to China this summer to oversee the distribution of school supplies at the site.
"The current school building is extremely primitive, there are leaks in the rooms due to rainfall and... the floor is literally crumbling underneath the children," said senior Fontane Au, executive publicity chair of Duke ASA. "So basically, the building that's supposed to provide these children a safe environment for learning is a safety hazard."
Brett Egan, executive director of Shen Wei Dance Arts, based in New York City, said the groups' efforts and charity presentation were excellent.
"We think it's really strong and good work. It's really impressive," Egan said at the event. "Shen Wei and I were so moved by what you were talking about that we would like to make a small, humble donation of $500 to your cause."
Shen, who choreographed the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, will be in residence with Duke Performances until Jan. 24, and his work will be performed Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 in Reynolds Theater. At the dinner, he spoke about the value of hard work and his goal to present and express culture through his dances. Specifically, he elaborated on his involvement in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which he described as "the most important event in entire China's history."
"I was pushing the direction of how we can use cultural art to connect to human beings, rather than using the commercial or popular culture," Shen said. He added that each segment of the Olympics opening ceremony represented a different aspect of the Chinese culture and contained no "trashy information."
Students in attendance said they were impressed with the atmosphere of the dinner and inspired by Shen's talk.
"I think he tied in his project with the charity process really nicely and captured the spirit of the evening," senior Isaac Wang said.
Members of other communities were also supportive of the charity event. Andrew Poon, president of the NCSU ASA, said he is confident that the groups will reach their goal despite the current economic downturn. In the coming weeks, Asian Student Associations from Duke and NCSU will donate all proceeds from their Lunar New Year celebrations to the cause, and a donation Web site will also be created, Poon said.
"I have no doubts that we will finish building the school," he said. "Like Shen Wei said, 'Achievements are only limited by our aspirations.'"
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.