Fuad engages with students in the Diversity Through Dance workshop offered at UGA to faculty and staff Dance is a vehicle for building human connection through kinesthetic empathy. If we move in sync, we feel in sync. We can question preconceived notions of dance as a talent reserved for the gifted, highlighting it instead as a means of universal connection. Through my work, I bring cultural awareness, promote cross-cultural and cross-generational communication, and foster cultural diversity through Latin-American music and dance. I created the UGA tango club as a vehicle to cultivate relationships with UGA student organizations and community groups. Developing these relationships, provides a mechanism to engage student in participating in dance performances as entertainment for fundraising events. My work isn't limited to college students. I have also worked extensively with k-12 public school students in introducing students to the Spanish language and culture using bilingual lyrics, rhythm, and kinesthetic learning strategies. K-12 students are particularly drawn to active learning environments that engage their bodies and minds outside of the classroom. Our goal should be to become something more than temporary cross-cultural tourists: to permanently extend the borders of our embodied selves, while learning the deep value of having fun together and experiencing the great power of dance in breaking through barriers. This helps each other step out of our often deceptive cultural comfort zones into a new, open space of experiential connection, collective empowerment, and democratic understanding. Throughout, the deep power of music in motion will bring us to feel and see each other as one. This web site is dedicated to exploring the ways in which I try to embody the values of learning and dancing through diversity.
