The story appears on

Page B2

February 3, 2017

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Feature

Dancing in the park, forging Chinese friendships

AT 7am on the campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a dozen or so middle-aged women dance to the tunes of Chinese songs.

It’s a familiar early morning sight in parks across Shanghai. What is not familiar is the sight of an expat tripping the light fantastic along with a group of Chinese dancers.

Her name is Debrah Roundy, and she is a retired American school teacher now giving English lessons in Shanghai. She is the only foreigner in the Tianping Community dance group.

During breaks, Roundy communicates with her Chinese dancing friends by using body language or the translation app on her iPad. Most of the time, language is no barrier. The group has its own internal intimacy after practicing together four times a week for four years.

“Debrah has been with us for so long that we know what she is talking about even without the translation app, and it is probably the same with her,” explains team leader Chen.

Roundy has learned Chinese dancing from her teammates, and she sometimes shows them American dance steps. It’s obvious from the expression on her face that she’s having the thrill of a lifetime.

“I don’t speak Chinese and there is still so much about this country that I find confusing,” Roundy says. “But I have many friends here and I feel very comfortable living in Shanghai.”

When they retired from teaching in the western state of Idaho in the United States, Roundy and her husband decided to come to China to teach English. At the time, she knew little about China and had no idea that middle-aged women liked to dance in public areas in early mornings or evenings.

The couple had planned to stay a year, but that has now stretched into five and counting.

“Many people came to China and wanted to change things here,” Roundy says. “I just came to learn more about China and its culture, and to explore why the country has been so successful for 6,000 years.”

The former special education teacher was speaking as she guided me around the Tianping Community Center. As we moved about, staff and neighbors greeted her warmly, like old friends.

Roundy and her husband have been active in community life, teaching English and helping elderly neighbors.

When the couple first came to China in 2012, Roundy taught English at Jiao Tong University and lived on campus. Every morning, she walked around the campus, and it wasn’t long before she discovered the groups of middle-aged and elderly people dancing there.

“They seemed to be having so much fun, and I wanted to have fun as well,” she says. “I love dancing.”

At first, she was hesitant. She spoke no Chinese and she could see no other foreigners in the dancing groups. She wondered whether she would be welcomed.

Her fears were unfounded. After initial contact was made, the group welcomed her warmly. She joined different groups that met at different times for dancing, exercises and tai chi.

Roundy has since moved to teach at Tongji University, but she still boards the Metro at dawn to travel to Jiao Tong to join her teams four times a week.

“Every now and then, some foreigners join in dancing, but nobody has ever stayed as long as Debrah,” team leader Chen says.

At performances and competitions, Roundy always attracts attention. She dresses like the Chinese and shows great agility with Chinese dance steps.

Their most recent performance was at the awards ceremony of the Shanghai Get-Together 2016 — Writing and Photography Contest, organized by Shanghai Library. Roundy and five teammates closed the ceremony with a well-choreographed, three-piece dance in bright pink dresses.

She also took home the first prize for writing in an international category. Her winning essay was about dancing with Chinese women. She titled her work “The Builders of a Nation.”

“I love dancing with them, and we also go out on food and field trips together,” Roundy says. “We have a lot of fun together. When we aren’t together, members look out for one another via WeChat.”

She says dancing older women stay healthier and don’t become medical burdens to their families or the public purse.

“So much of the country is like this,” she says. “People contribute to society in some small way.”

It took Roundy some time to master the techniques of Chinese dancing.

“It was different,” she recalls. “I used to do ballet, and in the States, we always dance facing the audience. Here, they change directions all the time, and it was very confusing for me at the start. The first year was really a struggle.”

She eventually came to appreciate why Chinese dancers rotate their positions. It’s because Chinese dance is often performed in a stage area surrounded by audience.

Living in China has opened a host of similar revelations. For example, many of Roundy’s foreign friends have commented that older Chinese couples don’t seem very close or even acknowledge the presence of the other on the street.

“In fact, Chinese husbands and wives are very respectful of each other,” Roundy says. “They are not demonstrative about it on main streets, but if you walk along back streets where expatriates don’t usually go to, the couples are very sweet, often holding hands.”

She says the secret to living in a foreign culture is to keep an open mind and a warm heart — looking for the positive instead of fretting over differences.

“If you are happy with yourself, you can be happy anywhere,” she reasons.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend