To us as a UWC school the beauty is not just for foreigners trying to learn something Chinese, it is the unity of all cultures and the fact that they work together and respect each other which is the main point of our mission.

On 12th November, we had a special celebration of difference.

Living in China for quite a long time, me and my friends from around 16 different countries were super excited to sing a Chinese traditional song and dance a contemporary Chinese dance. With only one month to prepare despite of the many deadlines to meet as IB students, we participated in 2017 "Home in Suzhou” Foreigners Got Talent Show in Suzhou, successfully represented our school and won Excellent Performance and Outstanding Organization Awards. However, the fun and success we gained from the competition were the result of numerous hours of practices and our relentless efforts to overcome many difficulties.

Before the competition, UWC students gathered together and cheered (Author, 6th from the left in second row)     

Having dropped the beginner level of Chinese, but having spent three summer months in a pure Chinese environment, I accepted the challenge to learn a Chinese song. Even though I am not an official member of the school choir, I came to the supervisor and asked if I could join.  My request was accepted and I took part in the first rehearsal.  I was greatly surprised by the number of foreign students willing to learn the song. At first, it seemed impossible: our Chinese speakers were doing their best trying to explain to foreign students what the song was about, how to feel the mood of the song, where to stop, which words we needed to highlight, when to inhale, when to exhale and so on. Nevertheless, despite all of the requirements we were supposed to have for this song, first of all we were trying to have fun. So during the first two weeks of the practices,  we spent a lot time trying to pronounce the words correctly and sometimes could not help laughing at each other's awkward pronunciation.

When we realized that there were only two weeks left before the show, we began to have a sense of urgency as well as a strong sense of responsibility as members of the UWC community. We were learning the lyrics, forgetting it, learning it again and every day we were talking about our future trip and imagining our upcoming wonderful weekend in Suzhou.

Chorus Performance-"Shui Diao Ge Tou" 

When we arrived at the TV station the day before the show, we got to know that we were going to spend the night in one of the best hotels in the city. However, our sense of idealism did not let us be excited for too long. We faced some difficulties due to some stage arrangements, so we had to solve them on the spot and ensure our performance will run smoothly. Both the choir group and dance group rehearsed a couple of times and only when everything was set we went to take a rest.

All in all I would like to conclude that despite the difficulties of learning the song in an unfamiliar language, all the foreign performers feel very grateful to every Chinese student who spent their time teaching us the words. When we came to the stage together we realized how far we had gone.  We managed to overcome the difficulties all together and the feeling of unity is something we will probably remember even after we graduate from UWC, a truly multicultural community.

Violin and Erhu are in harmony     

The next day, we woke up, put on our national costumes and rushed to do professional make up. For me it was not the first time I represented the school on the stage, so I helped my first years to be calm and relaxed so that we could put up the best show. We knew that we could do it because of the support we gave to each other. 

Dancing lightly and gracefully 

Finally, we made it! And we came back to the School extremely happy and proud. 

UWC team won the Outstanding Organization Prize

 UWC team won the Outstanding Organization Prize

Just as Christoph, our music teacher said after the show, it was indeed a great example of collaboration and celebration of our diversity：

“Our choir consists of both Chinese and non-Chinese members. Learning that song was a great example of living our UWC mission of using education as a force to unite people! The Chinese speaking students worked really hard to teach the non-Chinese speaking students the words and the pronunciation. This was a really great example of collaboration – and it brought us together as a group.

The second verse of this song will be performed by violin and Erhu. The idea of choosing these instruments was that they each represent different musical cultures. At first each instrument will play individually – in the second part of the song they will play together, sometimes the violin with the main tune and the Erhu embellishing it and sometimes the other way around.

Again, I wanted to use this to symbolize the ‘coming together’ of both musical cultures. I know that this talent show is primarily for foreigners and the majority of the choir members is non-Chinese. However, to us as a UWC school the beauty is not just for foreigners trying to learn something Chinese, it is the unity of all cultures and the fact that they work together and respect each other which is the main point of our mission.”

Written by: Kseniya Kalaur, Belarus, DP2

Photo and Video: Incity Suzhou