Cloud Gate 2's On-campus Training Camp Changed Students' Body Langauge

Students learn to know their bodies by stretching their arms and straightening their backs.
Courtesy of Cloud Gate 2

    This summer, the well-known Cloud Gate 2 came to NTUST again to have a training camp called "Dance with Cloud Gate 2". The camp was crowded with excited student fans. At the end of the courses, two groups of dancers from NTUST, whose improvement of choreographic skills were recognized by CG2 instructors, were invited to join the Cloud Gate 2 Exhibition Performance scheduled on October 16.

    Cloud Gate 2 started to offer courses to train dances on campus at NTUST since 2009. This is the fourth year of the training camp. Participants of NTUST's training camp are different from those dancers elsewhere. They are mainly from disciplines other than humanities and social sciences. However, NTUST students are energetic in living and creative in thinking. They demonstrate equal passion for activities like dancing although they are mostly from departments of science and engineering. A lot of students mingled with CG2 instructors right from the beginning of the courses. From August 12, the "Dance with Cloud Gate 2" courses lasted for two weeks. As in the past, two classes are offered, the Beginning Class and the Advanced Class. One noticeable difference from the previous years, the promotion poster is designed by our own student at NTUST.

    Miss Shen Yun-Yi, a student from the Design Undergraduate Honors Program, attended the 2011 training courses. After completing the courses, she fell in love with modern dance. In order to be able to keep on polishing her skills in choreography, she founded the Modern Dance Student Club at NTUST to recruit schoolmates who were equally passionate about modern dance.

    As soon as she heard that Cloud Gate 2 is coming to NTUST for another (this year's) training camp, she volunteered to design the promotion poster, an idea stemming out of her love of dancing and her expertise in designing. The output is an eye-catching poster of an unconventional style, bold and refreshing, which earns words of praise from the instructors of Cloud Gate 2.

    From this year's on-campus training camp, a total of 108 students, who are mostly from the disciplines of science and engineering, have completed the courses. They are surprised to find joy in things other than logic and critical thinking. One participant who, being shy and introverted, has never taken part in any extracurricular activities as an NTUST student felt happy to muster the courage to enroll in this summer camp. In addition to overcoming his fear to mingle with others, he brought home a trophy for individual performance.  Another student was delighted to learn a new "foreign body language". Another admitted that Miss Shen's dedication and persistence is the main thing that motivated him to go on and reach the finish line of the tough courses.

    An instructor of Cloud Gate 2 Ye Wen-Bang also noted the change in students' bearing and body language. According to him, one day he saw one student from the camp standing at the bus stop near the school enjoying his sandwich while waiting for a bus, he recognized a changed demeanor in this young man from the one he first met, showing a warm glow of brand-new confidence.

    From the farewell performance on August 25, one group of the beginning level and one group of the advanced level did very well in their presentation. They were invited to join Cloud Gate 2 for their NTUST exhibition performance dated on October 16.  Among the exhibition works, we are expected to see "Light", "A Serous Joke", "On the Road", "UMA", "2:10 Monday Afternoon", and "Who Knows".