{"id":158234,"date":"2023-08-25T13:40:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T11:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=158234"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:56","slug":"arts-culture-night-gives-students-a-taste-of-culture-singing-helps-me-deal-with-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/08\/25\/arts-culture-night-gives-students-a-taste-of-culture-singing-helps-me-deal-with-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts & Culture Night gives students a taste of culture: \u2018Singing helps me deal with anxiety\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

First-year students photograph couples in the street, dance to Beyonc\u00e9 and sing Elvis love songs during the alternative programme instead of drinking and singing at the cantus. “I’ve had my dose of partying for now.”<\/p>\n

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During the workshop urban dance students learn a choreography within an hour and a half.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThanh Nguyen<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cMusic, let\u2019s go!\u201d, shouts the dance instructor, after which Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Ring the alarm<\/em> echoes through the large theatre and a group of around 30 students \u2013 both experienced dancers and newbies \u2013 starts to move. Tonight, as part of a workshop in urban dance (a style closely related to hip hop), these students will learn to perform a particular choreography in under 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Besides this urban dance workshop, SKVR \u2013 a creative network that organises arts and cultural activities in Rotterdam \u2013 also offers the street photography and pop choir workshops during this year\u2019s Eurekaweek. These workshops taught by SKVR in the centre of Rotterdam make up the Eurekaweek Arts & Culture Night, providing an alternative to the cantus that takes place in Ahoy at the same time. This way, students who don\u2019t really fancy a night of beer and sing-alongs can still have plenty of fun.<\/p>\n

New style of dance<\/h2>

\u201cAnd five, six, seven, eight\u201d, the dance instructor shouts over the music. The instructor first demonstrates the moves in front of the students, but once they pick it up, she dances among the group. \u201cIf I let you go!\u201d, she joins in with Beyonc\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Het Shah (22), master Strategic Entrepreneurship, is taking a quick breather. This is the first time he has tried urban dance. He has a lot of experience with dancing, but that was mostly with Garba, a traditional dance from the Gujarat region in India, where he\u2019s from. \u201cThat has tons of people dancing around in a circle for nine evenings in a row\u201d, he says. \u201cThat dance is part of my culture. But I was quite curious to experience a different style of dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Het Shah teaches his friends and dance instructor Garba, a traditional dance from the Gujarat region in India.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

After the students have had enough practice, they form small groups and perform for one another. Het\u2019s performance goes over well, with the instructor letting out an encouraging \u201cWow!\u201d Cheers and applause all around. Still, Het is not sure whether he would return to the world of urban dance. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting, but it sure requires a lot of energy\u201d, he laughs.<\/p>\n

No beer<\/h2>

Meanwhile, another group of students is roaming the city centre clutching their cameras. Their assignment: take three pictures that are all about the same theme. Crazy hairstyles, or men waiting outside a store for their partners to finish shopping, are among the examples given by the instructor.<\/p>\n

Hagar Khermjioli (22), master\u2019s People, Organisations and Change, has already picked her perfect theme: friends and couples. \u201cBut how do I keep things from being awkward when I try to take peoples\u2019 pictures?\u201d, she wonders. But shortly after, she\u2019s successfully snapped her first photo of a couple after simply asking them nicely. \u201cI don\u2019t have any experience with photography, but I do like art\u201d, she says. \u201cPlus, I don\u2019t like drinking beer, so the cantus is definitely not for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hagar Khermjioui takes her first picture for the assignment during the street photography workshop.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThanh Nguyen<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Angstig<\/h2>

The same goes for Carola Maria Puglia (22), who studies the master in Forensic and Legal Psychology. The cantus does not appeal to her one bit. She has signed up for a workshop on singing in a pop choir. \u201cI\u2019m quite introverted and anxious\u201d, she says. \u201cLarge crowds scare me, so I don\u2019t think I would last two minutes at the cantus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Carola Maria Puglia and Giulio Gallo sing together during the pop choir workshop.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThanh Nguyen<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

She is the only one who signed up for this singing lesson, aside from Giulio Gallo (22), who is starting in the master in Arts, Culture and Society. They join the singing instructor in singing songs like Elvis Presley\u2019s I can\u2019t help falling in love.<\/em> \u201cI actually like that there\u2019s just two of us, because I was pretty nervous when we started\u201d, she says. \u201cBut my nerves are starting to settle down now. Singing helps me deal with anxiety, also because you need to breathe properly to sing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giulio had already been singing in a musical ensemble back in Italy, but he is keen to keep improving. He has already signed up for the WILDe theatre company, and plans to take singing lessons in Rotterdam. Other than that, he was ready to take it a bit easier after all the other Eurekaweek festivities. Laughing, he says: \u201cI\u2019ve had more than my share of parties this week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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