As many student organizations find their way back in-person meetings this year, Dance of the Soul from China, a non-competition based and Chinese cultural dance group, is finding its way back to the stage. Credit: Courtesy of Angela Li
Despite facing difficulties during the pandemic, one dance-based student organization is back on track, learning traditional Chinese dances as a group.
Dance of the Soul from China is one of many dance-related student organizations that are not competition-based, Angela Li, a third-year in neuroscience, said. She said the group focuses on teaching traditional Chinese dances while putting its own modern spin on them.
“Our initial focus is to spread more culture to campus, to add a little more cultural spark to it,” Li said. “So the traditional Chinese dance is usually what we do. On top of that, you know, we’re pretty free in terms of what people want to do.”
Li said the group likes to stick to the fan-and-ribbon style of traditional Chinese dance, but members are open to expanding into more modern styles as well. She said the group comes together to determine what styles they want to learn.
“It doesn’t have to be solely traditional Chinese, but it is the main focus,” Li said. “We don’t want to lose that either.”
Like most student organizations, Dance of the Soul was unable to hold meetings or practices in person during the height of the pandemic, Li said. She said they could not hold practices via Zoom because many of the members who returned to their home countries abroad were in incompatible time zones.
“Mostly during the COVID, we tried to find time,” Chi Weng Lam, Ohio State alumna and former group president, said. “We tried to find more time for people who are in the state, like, we tried to request a room when there is a chance.”
Despite having graduated in the fall of 2021, Lam said she wanted to take time to do some of the things she missed out on during the pandemic.
“After graduation, I still plan to stay at Columbus for a little bit more,” Lam said. “I guess I would try to attend the performance that they would have and, like, try to dance with them for like a couple more times.”
Lam said members of Dance of the Soul typically learn three to five dances per semester and have about three performances a year, with their biggest performance taking place at Taste of OSU, an annual multicultural event held in February at the Ohio Union.
Although Li said Dance of the Soul focuses primarily on learning and performing traditional Chinese dance, she said membership is open to everyone regardless of race or ethnicity.
“This does not mean that you have to be Chinese, or Asian even, to participate, you know, just because the dance is focusing on traditional Chinese,” Li said. “Anybody is welcome to learn it, or have fun doing it.”
Li said one of the things she was looking forward to after being unable to perform as a group was the opportunity to collaborate with other dance-based student organizations on campus.
“We were going to collab with different groups, in terms of we can teach you something from our group and then they can teach us something from their group and then, you know, perform together and in an event or something like that,” Li said. “That’s something that we would love to do.”
Li said rehearsals are once a week in the Union and the group has a $15, one-time fee for costumes. Those interested in joining or coming to a meeting can email [email protected].
