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The Mongolia Dance Diary: Day 1

March 15, 2011, 2:39 pm

Burgess at the Tumen Ekh Company doorway in Ulaanbaatar

George Washington University’s Dana Tai Soon Burgess, chair of the department of theater and dance and founder of Washington’s premiere Asian-American contemporary dance company, Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Co., travels this week to the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, to lead master classes in contemporary American dance. Accompanying him to Mongolia are George Washington University colleagues Connie Lin Fink, Kelly Moss Southall, and the G.W. alumna Sarah Halzack. At Arts & Academe, Burgess will be sharing, in words and photos, his experiences.

The U.S. Embassy in Mongolia and the Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs are supporting the trip with an $11,000 grant. Burgess has completed more than 20 international tours, including trips to Egypt, India, Israel, Peru, and the West Bank.

The master classes are scheduled to include 20 students from ninth grade through university level, most of whom come from rural areas in Mongolia. The program is slated to culminate with a performance by Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Co. in collaboration with eight dancers from Tumen Ekh Ensemble of Ulaanbaatar in a dance choreographed by Burgess.

*

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA

Burgess choreographs with dancers from the Tumen Ekh Company.

After a 32-hour trip from Washington, we arrived safe and sound Monday night in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbataar. Our trip was delayed by a day due to the tragedy in Japan. We were rerouted through Korea on Sunday.

(Mongolia is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.) Tuesday morning, I began teaching the Tumen Ekh Company, one of the main folkloric companies in Mongolia. My assistants were Kelly Southall and Sarah Halzack. Kelly teaches in the department of theater and dance at George Washington University and Sarah is a G.W. alumna.

Burgess teaches class.

I taught a two-hour modern-dance class and, after a quick lunch break, began a new choreographic work. We danced to a recording of traditional Mongolian throat singers associated with the Tumen Ekh group. The sound is quite startling, much like a human didgeridoo.

The dancers of Tumen Ekh are quite talented, eager, stylistically versatile, and very interested in Western forms of contemporary dance. There have only been a handful of contemporary European and American dance companies to make it here in the last decade.

The Tumen Ekh company performs.

The Tumen Ekh dancers will perform with Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co later in the week. So far, I have choreographed six minutes and 30 seconds of the piece. I am especially pleased with a duet for two male dancers which evolved throughout the day. The dancers have an incredible openness to new forms of dancing and undoubtedly are the next wave of Mongolia’s arts scene.

After a long day, the director of Tumen Ekh invited our team to a performance of traditional and contemporary music and dance. I was taken aback by the live throat singers and their range of sounds. The venue was small but we saw the best of the traditional arts here in Ulaanbaatar. I was struck by the beauty of the Buddhist dances which have been handed down generation to generation. Bright masks, intricate embroidered cloaks, and jade and bone beads adorned the dancers as horns and drums surrounded their rhythmic movement.

Ulaanbaatar is a unique combination of Western and Eastern aesthetics. Block cement building and gers (or yurts) and other traditional Mongolian structures coexist side by side.

Today’s high was just above freezing and as the evening temperature plummets to well below zero, I realize it is time to sign off.


(Photos at Flickr, used by permission, courtesy of Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Co. and George Washington University)

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  • keis8427

    Does this really surprise anyone?

  • tdb489

    When teaching at a foreign university, one does not demonstrate or protest regarding American or host country issues. Americans who do so are called “ugly Americans” and taint the reputation of all other Americans. If Libyian or any other foreign students/immigrants wish to demonstrate about their home country problems, I suggest they go home to do so.

  • raza_khan

    That has been one of my desires – to learn about Mongolian culture. It is amazing that as large as that country is, how little (if any) I know about that country.

    Raza
    ______________________
    Dr. Raza Khan

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Oyundelger-Nansaljav/1169376228 Oyundelger Nansaljav

    When is the performance?

  • michener1

    There is a lot of palaver around the rightness, wrongness, relevance or ethics of using SN’s. blogs, etc. to make decisions on a candidate. But in the end its just lazy! 

    Somehow the vast majority of current academic and corporate positions were filled without social networks being a factor. It is likely that no member serving on an employment search committee as of this date had their personal lives checked in the same manner as is now being done. Now that we all have an internet footprints, perhaps previous to committee assignment executives, faculty and professional staff should  have their SN’s, blogs, electronic communications, etc. scoured so that their promotions, currently held positions, and tenure can be reevaluated.  While SNs are not secure, they are also not open. While a case can easily be made for reviewing Linked In, one must exert more than normal effort to see your FB posts and pictures (depending on how it is set up). Friending people or people you have in common, to gain access or viewing pictures posted by someone other than the candidate on which they are tagged goes way beyond unethical. Looking at SN’s to mine information is like listening in on conversations as people pass by, seeing someone at a pub with their friends being less than professional on their time off, or viewing someone’s open mail or pictures left on their desk after they’ve left the room. Would anyone consider those activities fair or ethical methods of evaluating a candidate? Why not hire hackers to get the candidates emails as well, since apparently nothing electronic is private? There is a difference between reasonable research and snooping. I’d expect the highly educated to know and do better.

  • robjenkins

    As a department chair, I always tried to include the adjuncts in my department, but I never felt like I really succeeded. A few came to department meetings, and several showed up for social events, but I always sensed a divide between the full-time and part-time faculty that I never could quite figure out how to bridge. I wonder: Is it possible to bridge that divide? Or is that just the way it is?

  • midtownlabgeek

    “… make us feel less like loners”: You don’t say to what extent you’ve acted like a loner.  Did you go to the social gatherings?  Have you asked if it’d be okay to sit in on a departmental meeting once in a while when (if!) you have time?  Have you talked to other faculty in the same department/unit about teaching tips?  That ties into retention, as you pointed out, so it should be a “no-brainer” priority to make sure that “even” (or especially!) the adjunct(s) know about shared strategies there.

    I sympathize with adjuncts in departments where they’re definitely shunned or looked down on.  I wonder whether all of the “shunning” is intentional, or if perhaps some of it is as simple as “we never thought to make sure you got added to that mailing list…”.

  • http://www.jhkayejr.com Joseph Kaye

    I think it’s difficult for adjunct professors to “link up” because they’re a splintered group by nature. In my limited experience acting as an adjunct coordinator, it seems that you have a segment of retired professionals who simply teach for the love of teaching or to supplement their income, a group of currently working professionals who split into the same two subcategories, and a segment who adjunct primarily to gain a foothold for full time employment. Each group has a markedly different agenda. I would say that seeking out colleagues with a similar agenda would prove the most fruitful.

  • missoularedhead

    At my last school, I taught one class, at night, and never really felt like I was part of anything. But I had another nearly full-time job, and I never really worried about it. At the school I’m at now, I do more, including campus meetings, training institutes, social events…I do find myself feeling a lot better about being here. That may ba a function of the school, but at the same time, I think it’s function of me just…butting in…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Eliana-Osborn/572634960 Eliana Osborn

    I don’t think it is intentional, for the most part.  Those I have made an effort with have been more than gracious.  Some of the time I feel inferior because of my part time status, so it becomes a self perpetuating situation.

  • ardvaark

    Not in any way to minimize the hardships and loneliness of the adjunct life, but consider the reality that for many full-time faculty there may also be alienation, distance, and tension with colleagues. The inner circle may look more desirable or even more real than it actually may be on some faculties.

  • syoder

    Please remember some adjuncts teach multiple courses at multiple locations. Attending meetings or social events may be impossible for them.

  • ejb_123

    The situation of an adjunct sounds similar to teaching in a small high school where you are the only English teacher or science teacher or history teacher for grades 7-12, where you spend all day in your classroom teaching, and where the only time you really get a chance to talk with other teachers in the building (unless you happen to meet them in the hallway during the 2 minutes between classes) is during the 20 minute lunch break.

  • emack

     I have been an adjunct at 4 different colleges, from community to a private Jesuit university. I felt most a part of the private university, as when I came on, I was immediately invited to the pre-semester get together, the department meetings, and was taken around by the chair and introduced to the FT faculty, who were genuinely kind and welcoming. Although the other colleges (some begrudgingly) included adjuncts in meetings, workshops and get togethers, they individually didn’t  make much of an effort to be welcoming or inclusive, and were a bit standoff-ish towards adjuncts. Sending out a blanket email to adjuncts inviting them to a meeting or workshop is nice, but collegiality and inclusiveness come from an atmosphere of mutual respect and genuine camaraderie, which must come from the chair down to the TT faculty. If adjuncts choose not participate or become involved, then it’s on them.

  • missoularedhead

    The grass is always greener, right?

  • kellycooper2

    I am on LinkedIn. And this past year I was a candidate for hiring. On my LinkedIn there was a steady stream of Anonymous LinkedIn users. And the same days I saw Anonymous LinkedIn users, LinkedIn offered Potential People I May Know. And those people were in the departments of universities I applied to. The pattern was pretty clear.

    Taking a look at this post in reverse. I looked at the those recommended people and saw misspelled words, odd notes, and was surprised by their lack of professionalism, in some cases.

    Two quick comments: I teach web development. I talk with students about their public and their private persona. Private does not belong  on the web.

    And yet, one major surprise for me this year was how many universities are looking for “well known” faculty. Teaching, writing, and a “nationally recognized name”. Seems we’re also a bit in the marketing business. And, if so, sites like LinkedIn do provide the opportunity for a managed form of networking.

    If we are not “connected” we are well within our rights and are probably smarter about this business. And we are probably not getting interviews.

    Either way, we should use our real name.

  • http://twitter.com/Teresaneal Teresa Neal

    Mine either.  I have never used my real name on the Internet.  A couple of organizations I belong to, including my current job, have put my real name along with my work…nothing personal or embarrassing.  However, there are at least four others with my exact name.  One of them is a high school swim coach.  One is a furniture-refinishing enthusiast.  (Perhaps the same person as the high school swim coach.) One is a Mennonite baker.  One is a Filipina who received my exact name by marriage.  

    What are the chances two people with the same rare first-and-last-name combination will live in the same city?  Pretty good, actually.  The Memphis library got our library cards mixed up when two of us lived in Memphis.  And now that I live in Kansas City, the mom-and-pop video store (may it rest in peace) was always getting me mixed up with a man whose full name was only one letter different from mine.  

    I like to google-stalk an ex of mine with an equally rare name.  Would you believe there are two of him in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the same profession?  

    For that matter, there are two economic book authors named Robert Frank and they write about the same topics!  One wrote _Richistan_ and the other wrote _Luxury Fever._  Imagine my confusion when listening to _Richistan_ on Audiobook and the first Robert Frank quotes the second Robert Frank.

  • raza_khan

    Hi Eliana

    I share your concern and perhaps feel your frustration as well. As a full-time faculty, I had the pleasure of being an adjunct two times during the past 12 years when I had to teach a course during a summer at different institutions. I believe that:

    1. Academic institutions and department need to acknowledge (publicly) that the higher education both at 2-year and at 4-year institutions is now being taught predominantly and if not at least 50% by adjuncts. They need to value dialogue and ideas that the adjunct faculty put forward and in fact facilitate it. Not only should the adjuncts be encouraged to attend college wide committees and departmental meetings but dare I say… they should be financially compensated for those hours. This needs to an institutional commitment.

    2. Adjuncts need to realize their value that they bring to the table. Some adjuncts who work elsewhere as full time do value their part-time work as “the other job”, or “part-time responsibility”. They need to rise to the occasion and make a commitment to attend departmental meetings at the very least and see it part of their teaching obligations for the benefit of the students.

    Best,

    Raza
    _____________________
    Raza Khan, Ph.D.
    Dr.Raza.Khan@gmail.com

  • rwfoster43

    After almost a decade as an adjunct at a community college in greater DC, I do know fulltime faculty members and in a few instances feel I can talk to them on what seems like an equal basis — given the caste system we all operate under. As to adjuncts themselves communicating amongst each other that is a lot easier, especially now that a union to represent adjuncts has been created. I participated in a small group that worked with SEIU to create the union and got to know fellow organizers as well. As to socialization and/or consultation with fulltime faculty members, I have found in several instances — one in which I was teaching a course for the first time and needed advice from a fulltimer and got it – that many fulltime faculty when approached will respond without pulling rank or being so condescending as to be offputting. In the deparment I teach in — dominated by women — male professors have a drinking group that includes both fulltimers and adjuncts. In this case, male bonding trumps fulltime/contingent alienation.       

  • davi2665

    One reason why academic senates should NOT be given new powers of fiscal oversight is that they are a highly self-interested group and not even close to being objective.  Such oversight power would end up in many institutions with decisions by the faculty union for the benefit of the faculty union.  The real fiscal oversight needs to be handled objectively with a “big picture” view.  Unfortunately, many boards consist of “good ol’ boys” who are far from this level of objectivity.  I have seen many board members who believe their position allows them to use university opportunities to feather their own personal or business nest.  Pathetic.

  • academicentrepreneur

    OK, now I’m really feeling old even though I’m only in my 50s.  When I worked on a student newspaper, we set the type on a linotype and sent photographs to a specialist who etched the image onto a zinc plate using acid and then mounted that plate onto a wooden block. Our 1920s-era Kelly-B press dried the coated paper by shooting it over a gas flame and then squirting it with talcum powder!

    I think it’s a great idea that these students get some experience with older technologies. One of the advantages that they held over today’s technologies is that making changes took significant time and effort. That meant that you spent time crafting quality copy the first time and  thinking about whether any changes were worth the investment.

  • rpm13

    There is an obvious lack of accountability here. The assessment vice-president needs to get on this right away and require that the building objectives be assessed to make sure that they contained the proper “action words,” that the building objectives were put in writing on the syllabus given to the architects, and that they are measureable using the same rubrics used by the University of Southerrn California and other campuses with a lot of buildings. Otherwise, how could we compare whether buildings at Belmont University are actually helping the university increase revenue compared to other universities? If something doesn’t look right, the president needs to exercise strong leadership and fire somebody before building the building. Finally, the entire university communications operation needs to make sure that the truth is never again made public in such a naked manner.

  • graddirector

    The president of Belmont should be fired.  No small college can afford to spend so much money in such a trivial way.  Academic buildings are not typically that interchangable, the needs of the theater department are completely different than that of Chemistry which is different from that of English.  It sounds like this poor university will be saddled with a building that “fits nothing right”.

    That said, we are so short on academic space for all activities at my institution, I would probably be grateful for anything they did, including additional classrooms.  Of course, my department would be most deserving though :) That would let us hire more professors to get our average class size down below 70 students although I guess that would not help without the new classrooms.to offer the classes in….  Catch 22

  • electronicmuse

    Hey, simple!

    Use it as a meeting place where the public can have photo ops and autographs of your famous students.

  • manoflamancha

    Take the cash and buy GOLD, and defer the unenlightened building until needed.

  • kerrykind

    A $48 million investment in search of a purpose?  Doesn’t seem to speak well for Belmont’s master planning process.  There must be a lot more to this.

  • kingericred4ever

    I think they should build an institute that will create weed that doesn’t look or smell like weed so the next time Willie Nelson’s tour bus gets pulled over by some overzealous state troopers he won’t get arrested for possession. Also they should develop another flavor of pop tart that’s just as awesome as Brown Sugar Cinnamon without, of course, it being Brown Sugar Cinnamon part 2. And a brewpub or since this is a university they should call it the Albert Gore Jr. institute for Beer . Tennessee is seriously starved for good beer.

  • hoodlib

    Center for e-Learnin’

  • jrllanes

    This is either a joke or absolutely crazy

  • Babagranny

    If it really is in the middle of the campus, how about five stories of parking below and five stories of parking above, with a vendor on each ground-level corner:  Starbucks, a collegiate clothing outlet, snacks and ice cream, and trade books.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Charlie.Rand Charles Rand

    How about moving the parking spaces to the school in Canada that doesn’t have enough parking.
    http://chronicle.com/blogs/tweed/professor-abandons-his-eternal-search-for-a-parking-space/28959

  • cclabstaff

    I’m fairly certain that Brady Haran is English, not Australian….

  • Unemployed_Northeastern

    Because I am cynical by nature, and because I have gone to institutions of higher education that have made me much more cynical, I have to pose the following questions:

    1) In regards to the 3.0GPA needed to retain the scholarships, does Seton Hall have a curve, and if so, what is it?  Will there be a special curve for these reduced tuition students, so as to ensure that not all of them can keep it?  Before you start booing this suggestion, know that what I just described has been standard practice at many law schools for years, including Seton Hall’s law school, if I am not mistaken.  Give giant scholarships to the most qualified so as to boost GPA/LSAT (and the rankings), set a baseline to keep the scholarship, and set a forced curve well below the baseline.  Some law schools even put all of their merit scholars in the same section, so as to mathematically ensure most will lose it.  The New York Times wrote an extensive piece on the practice earlier this year, leading Senator Grassley (head of the Judiciary Committee) to send some harsh letters to the ABA. 

    2) As pointed out on the New York Times discussion of this article, this might be a rankings gambit.  More students will apply (US News check), only students with high SAT scores accepted (with lots being rejected – US News check), and virtually all of those that do apply will enroll(US News check).

    3) These tuition breaks will inevitably be covered by larger tuition increases on the rest of the student body or by increasing the number of admits who can pay full boat.  The school has to make up the “lost revenue” somewhere, after all.

  • katrinaantone

    I definitely agree that the lost tuition will need to be made up somewhere else. This tuition discount reminds me of when California state schools charged virtually nothing for their tuition (back in the 70s), and now look where their budgets are. It may not happen right away, but, the fiscal structure WILL crumble somewhere down the line. 

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