Wednesday 2 November 2016

Day 2: Visit to Taipei Municipal BeiAn Junior High School


We visited the National Palace Museum this morning and learned about the rich history behind the many artefacts at the exhibitions. The famous jade cabbage was one of them. It was a gift and dowry of the Emperor's wife and represents the integrity and a lady's chaste with its colours, green and white ("qing qing bai bai"). Close examination actually shows many natural defects and imperfections in the jadeite material, but through the creativity of the craftsman, he has taken advantage of them instead. Perhaps by placing prejudice aside and thinking harder about how to use his skills, the imperfections became perfect in his hands. The exquisite craftsmanship of the artefacts attracted many visitors far and wide to the museum.

We also learned about the different perspectives of beauty across the dynasties with the sculpture of Yang Gui Fei, and the different idioms and symbolism carved into timeless artworks. After that, we visited the Garden of Perfected Benevolence beside the museum. It reflects the garden styles of the Song and Ming dynasties and we learned about the poets of the two dynasties and their inspiration.








After lunch, we visited the Taipei Municipal BeiAn Junior High School for the International Cultural and Dance Arts exchange. The principal, teachers and students were hospitable hosts and we were humbled by the experience at the dance exchange. We even had a chance to tour around the school and visited the Archery CCA and Volleyball CCA in the school. The students have won various awards in competitions and we are sure that it was not without great practice and commitment towards their own specialised skills. We will also remember their grit and spirit on our path to become stronger individuals and better dancers.





















The programme after dinner was held at the famous arts theatre, TaipeiEYE. It is the home for authentic traditional Chinese performing arts. We watched a Peking Opera of the Legend of the White Snake, a love story that holds much truth about courage and kindness. Peking Opera is a unique arts presentation that feature a variety of elements, including music, drama, dance, martial arts and even makeup and fashion art. Every member of the team is crucial to ensure the show runs smoothly. It was a professional performance and we enjoyed the courageous story of Madam White Snake.






During the debrief in the hotel, we thought about the dance exchange programme we had in the afternoon and were reminded how important it is to believe in ourselves for us to achieve what we thought is impossible. It will definitely take us some time to get to where we want to go, but the most important thing that matters is to know that we want and desire it enough to give our very best for a breakthrough.

Here are some of our reflections:

How can you apply this learning for SYF competition in 2017?


"I can apply the discipline that the BeiAn dancers have to the upcoming SYF trainings. With discipline and our fullest commitment, we can do well in the upcoming competition."
  ~ Jia Hui, 3C

"Seeing how the dancers from BeiAn Junior High School performed and trained, it gave me a great wake-up call for me to train harder for SYF."
      ~ Caitlin, 1C

"I can apply some of the movements that I have learnt from the students from BeiAn Junior High School and improve on my skills and attitude in order to reach to their level of success."
     ~ Nur'lin, 3N1

"I will try to pay more attention to my level of flexibility and dance skills in order to achieve success in the SYF competition in 2017."
    ~ Huifang, 1B