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A Manner of Speaking Jan/Feb '01

by Bonnie Neugebauer
January/February 2001
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/a-manner-of-speaking/5013704/

Children danced for us in Singapore - they practiced long hours, wore elaborate costumes and make-up, and took their participation seriously. When the music played, they danced beautifully. When the music stopped, they beamed with pride.

We knew there would be questions about the appropriateness of this performance; but we decided that since this was part of life in Singapore, the performance of children would be an appropriate way for culture to be shared with participants at World Forum 2000.

My colleague and friend Kirsten Haugen (who wrote for the Beginnings Workshop on Creative Dramatics in the September issue) and I have been having a cyber-conversation about all of this since our time together in Singapore. Is it appropriate for children to perform? What do they get out of it? Is there one answer or several to these questions?

Kirsten has been observing the effects of different cultural expectations on her sons during their recent sojourn in Indonesia and shared some of her personal reflections from outside a culture, looking in:

"I really have fewer answers now than I've ever had. A striking thing here is how much art in this part of the world seems to be so focused on reproducing rather than creating ...

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