There are about 100 million middle-aged women dancing in parks and on squares in China, and Debrah Roundy, a retired U.S. school teacher, is one of them.
Mrs. Roundy is the only foreigner on the Shanghai dance team at Tongji University, where she is currently teaching English.
Mrs. Roundy stumbled upon a dozen or so middle-aged women dancing to the tunes of Chinese songs in 2012. At the time, she felt unaccustomed to the new environment and wanted to have some fun in her life. She was invited to join the dancing team.
At first, Mrs. Roundy communicated with her teammates by exchanging notes or by asking her Chinese students to help translate for her. Now she uses a translation app on her iPad.
Language is not the most difficult thing for her, masting Chinese dance is. Mrs. Roundy used to do ballet. She said dancers in the U.S. always dance facing the audience. But in China, they change directions all the time, and it was very confusing for her at first.
After day-to-day learning from her teammates and lots of practice, Mrs. Roundy is now confident enough to dance in the middle of the team, and she sometimes shows them American dance steps.
They have developed good personal relations. Mrs. Roundy says they also go out to eat and on field trips together.
Square dancing opens a window for her to understand China, Mrs. Roundy said. Besides dancing, she and her husband have been active in community life, teaching English, and helping elderly neighbors.
