"Meet the Dancers!" at the American Corner

Rachel here! Besides teaching and performing, we also get to visit with and talk to local people at the American Corners in each city we visit. The American Corner program is a State Department-sponsored initiative started about 10 years ago that provides information and other resources about America to almost 400 cities in 60 countries worldwide. So far we have been to American Corners in Ashgabat and Mary and I think we all agree that these to “Meet the Dancers” sessions were some of the most satisfying events of our trip. Meeting local people, mostly teenagers, and seeing how interested and excited they were in general as well as about us and what we do was incredibly inspiring and moving. While performing is in its essence a presentation and certainly a way, as a performer, of showing who I am that I’m very familiar with, I really enjoyed actually getting to speak to individual people and answer their questions in a more personal and direct way than from the stage. Sean told his personal story and talked about the company and then one by one each of us talked a bit about ourselves. Afterwards, we got to hear from the kids and what they do and they got to ask us some questions about our lives, dance, and America. Not only was it so inspiring to hear the passion the kids have, but it was amazing to be reminded of just how awesome the other dancers I work with are hearing their stories. I feel so fortunate to be on this tour!

Luckily almost all the teenagers we met in Ashgabat were able to come to our show and the reaction was overwhelming. It was like “Beatle-mania”, but we’ve dubbed it “Curran-mania”! The people we’d met through classes, meet and greets, tours, and while out over the course of the week basically mobbed us as we exited the theater after the show for photos and autographs. I have never experienced anything like it and I’m not sure I ever will, but by the end my entire head was aching and throbbing from smiling so much. It was an incredible honor to be the first modern dance company allowed to come to Turkmenistan, and though it was a big responsibility, it went even better than we could have imagined. We had a fantastic last night in Turkmenistan doing what we love for an oversold crowd (we had 1100 people and at least 100 of them were just standing or sitting in the aisles) and I couldn’t have asked for a better send off to Kazakhstan. Thank you Turkmenistan!