I designed this class, “How Movement Makes Meaning (HMMM)” to interact with Aakash Odedra’s residency at the NYUAD Art Center. This is the first time NYUAD has held a collaborative class with an artist who is in residency at the Arts Center, and what you see here is the result of a lot of careful coordination and much thrilling improvisation. I chose dance dramaturgy as the lens through which we would examine the making of #JeSuis because dramaturg and dance studies professor Katherine Profeta said that a dramaturg moves between being inside and outside the production, jumping in sometimes and other times watching from afar. That choreography of observation and engagement engenders intimacy with the artist collaborators and also enough critical distance to see how the overall artwork comes together over time and to observe its structure. In this class we followed Profeta’s lead. We danced with Aakash, we moved through some of the places that contributed to the making of #JeSuis, including the refugee camps in Athens Greece, and we taught some of what we learned at NYU Abu Dhabi to the refugees stranded in all sorts of improvised shelters in Athens: City Plaza, Eleonas and Skaramagas. We also taught dance classes at the Apostoli Community Center for Greek at-risk youth. We negotiated the multiple ways that movement (or the lack of it) makes meaning in the political sphere and in the artistic realm. And we’re still dancing.
Please enjoy this book. There are many ways to produce knowledge. We’ve found that dancing allows us entrée into the most incredible worlds.
Below are some of the student’s observations about their experiences in the class:
Ana Karneza: I went to this class not knowing what to expect. I knew it was a collaboration with a dance company, which was the main reason for why I wanted to take this class as I always wanted to extend the conversations with all the previous artists that performed on campus and learn from them. I used to think this class was going to be just an extended workshop with Aakash and I was not expecting to get so much out of it. The first four days of class were packed with dancing, readings, watching rehearsals and some writing and all the changing components together made for a really intense class. Sometimes I wondered how will all the pieces fit together, especially how to incorporate all the reading about the dramaturgy with the dancing and especially our role in Greece, where he taught dance to refugees.
I remember going through different impressions of this class and they changed fairly often. At the beginning, I was really impressed with our morning dance sessions and Aakash’s thoughts at the end of our sessions. It changed my mood for the better and I was always looking forward to the next session. Then we entered the “Greece mode”, which revolved around a lot of food, dancing, and good people. It’s quite difficult to briefly describe my impressions of this trip. There was a lot of smiling and laughing, but also a few tears and interacting with people who are living in the camps, gave me a lot to think about. I really appreciate the making of our digital book, which gave me space to express what I was thinking and connect it with the experience of other people, as well as have a memoir for when we’re old and wrinkly. And yes, the people involved in this process truly made the class great and I would like to thank each person for their unique contribution.
Anastasiia Smyshliaeva: I remember choosing classes for J-Term. I sat down and carefully went through the offerings. In the process of making a choice, I have been changing the order of my preferences a lot but the only thing that remained the same was the existence of How Movement Makes Meaning in that list. My first pick was a study away class in Japan. While I almost prayed to get my prioritized option, I knew that it would be very unlucky. Nevertheless, I set this class as the second pick. Believe it or not, I knew internally that my J-Term I am going to spend partly in Greece. But I did expect nothing, and I couldn’t expect much. The only knowledge that I’ve owned was extracted from the course description. This class revolves around #JeSuis performance and thus implies that we as the students will also be entering into refugee issue discourse. So I figured it would be more than just a theatre class.
I have never been to Greece before, but many times to Europe. When I saw downtown in Athens for the first time and visited refugees in the camp, I unawares thought to myself “Athens own the atmosphere of despair.” And I couldn’t help but adopt that mindset. It was especially hard for me to see a part of always modern Europe decaying: dirty streets, graffiti painted seemingly everywhere and to my surprise located even in the historical center of Greece’s capital. The readings that we have read before the trip should have prepared me for the urban and social landscape that remain in the critical condition. But they didn’t. What I thought will be an easy trip at first turned out into an uncomfortable experience.
I was shocked when my perception has changed on the second day of the trip. I was taking notes about women’s workshop when all of a sudden it hit me hard. “The time that we spend in refugees camps is truly priceless, and so is the experience that we get”. And I have automatically written that down. What I would never ever expect to see in the context of refugee crisis was women’s desire to move their body, to explore new dance style (salsa) and to express their positive energy. The same truth is applied to everyone I have met and engaged with in the camp. I cannot really stress enough how lovely, open-hearted and open-minded people changed my perspective on the refugee issue. I was deeply touched by personal stories and aspirations of immigrants, and that has resulted in me deeply accepting that the word “refugee” is not more than just a label that the society has put in the process of inhumane marginalization.
We often hear on the TV, read in the newspaper or on The Internet that refugees are the same people as we all are, and, of course, it is the axiomatic truth. But taking a passive position of the observer is never a chance to truly understand something. Just like if we were not dancing with Aakash and on our own, we would be completely unable to feel dance and learn about its inside aspects. In my life, there were barely a few turning points. And as much as I hate making cliche statements I have to acknowledge to myself fist that this unique experience we had in the camp changed my mind. I couldn’t completely realize from the distance that in the city that have absorbed all the consequences of social, economic and humanitarian crises people can keep living happily, bearing within themselves real optimism and the hope for the bright future. And perhaps for that change, I am grateful the most.
Gabi Branche: I have decided to be very honest in this reflection as this is truly a class I want to see continued and if my thoughts can help even in some small way to its maintenance and improvement I would like to contribute. I must admit my first impressions of this class were not the most positive. Having received the syllabus on the plane, I was slightly bitter about having to read after 28 hours of travelling. Yet I could not help but still feel excited because in that same email I learnt that we would be dancing every morning. I have been doing modern dance for the past 17 years and have done a number of other dance styles. Dance is an integral part of my life and I was slightly disappointed that this university offered no dance courses. Hence, I was very much looking forward to this class because of the dance aspect. The first class I was very happy after the dance session. When I heard we were going to be actually working with refugees in Greece this also excited me. Again, these was something that I know and enjoy doing. Having lived in Germany, in my school working with refugees was a regular pastime. I must admit however that I was not looking forward to the keyword essays. I was tired from travelling and excited to be back and reading and writing after dance, seminar and observations simply did not appeal to me. Nevertheless, I got through it. I must say because I was racing the clock (or rather the midnight deadline) each night was quite tiresome particularly for me who prefers to do academics (reading, writing,) in the morning. Still I would be lying if I say it did not get easier. The epitome of this class for me was Greece. This was not due to the lavish dinners or the brilliant sites we visited. This was in fact due to working with the children. For most of the trip I was ill because my period was about to arrive. Yet no matter what plagues me during those five days (headache, stomach, diarrhea) when I began dancing with the children, I somehow seemed to pull through it. They fueled me with energy. Even before we left, the thought of working with them prompted me to choreograph little sequences particularly for hip hop and salsa to share with them. Nandini and I also met to choreograph together and plan a structured time with them. Naturally this structure was completely shredded when actually working with the children but it still provided a framework that allowed us to adapt accordingly. Finally, after Greece we have been working on the digital book. I think the idea is highly innovative and am looking forward to seeing it all put together. Right now, this is difficult for me as I personally don’t find Tome user friendly and as such cannot see the bigger picture well. I guess I will see tomorrow. Before concluding this reflection (which I know is much longer than it is supposed to be) I would like to give some ideas of what worked and didn’t work for me. This may not be the case for everyone but this is my opinion. I will do what didn’t work then what worked to end on a positive note:
What did not work –
The time the syllabus was received because since I live on the other side of the earth, it would have been nice to receive before so I could have planned my readings at least for the first day before the long journey and changing to 8 hours ahead
The 2-hour observation sessions we a bit long for me partly because I thought it difficult to sit still but also because after the morning session and adjusting to time different I was often tired. Additionally it was easier to write when the dancers were going through sequences or other parts as when they were repeating new steps the monotonicity made it hard to write or concentrate. This issue was greatly improved when we split the time into prep for Greece/Practice of the dance and observation. I think that was immensely beneficial
The changing of the schedule each day. I know that the times were fluid to accommodate Aakash but at the same time it made it extremely difficult to plan around the class, which I personally needed to do to accommodate my visitor. While this was quite individual I know this problem also affected others who have jobs on campus etc. I think also if I had known that so much time out of the 9-12 which is written under the course description in Albert was required, I would have told my best friend that this was not a good time to visit. Hopefully next J-term having now run the class, the structure can be more solid.
What worked –Jumping into the dance. I think the fact that we just had to jump into dance made the class more engaging and allowed for those who would not usually dance to be forced to challenge themselves. For me this was my favourite part of the daily classes as it stimulated me for discussions after.
Greece! Although I was (and still am) a bit unsure about how I feel about flying to Greece for a week (sustainability and economic reasons) I think it was still extremely beneficial to experience the refugee camps. It reminded me of reality out of our Sadiyaat bubble and helped me recall why I wanted to come to this university in the first place. Additionally, I do value experiential learning and think that this trip was helpful in improving social skills and culminating the concepts of dance, choreography, social issues and research.
Meeting the Dramaturg. I think I learnt the most as I was able to ask all the questions that I had from the books and about dramaturgy. Lou could summarise what we had been reading in the previous week and a half through dialogue. The time constraints and the logistics of explaining Tome and preparing for Greece limited discussion so I really appreciated this session as it made up for the lost time
Hetvi Shah: Reading the description of ‘How Movement makes meaning’ on the J-term course list website drew me in, instantly. I mean what could be better than a course about Dance with a trip to Greece? I expected it to serve as a break from my intensive economics schedule with some dance, interesting readings, and European sight-seeing. While it did bring in a breath of fresh air from my intensive economics schedule, it wasn’t just any other class with some dance, readings, and sightseeing – it turned out to be so much more. During our first class itself, we jumped straight into an intensive dance class with Aakash Odedra, followed by a discussion of the number of readings and many assignments to complete within the two weeks. On the first day itself, we had a keyword assignment and had to attend a rehearsal and take notes. This became an intensive, daily schedule and I was just becoming physically tired. We then found out that we’re going to be conducting dance workshops in refugee camps in Greece and it was quite a hectic schedule. At that point, I really started to doubt my performance in Greece; whether I would be able to handle the experience, emotionally and physically. But that trip and interaction with the Refugees completely transformed my image of refugees from being lifeless and hopeless to one filled with a lot of trauma and sadness but hope and positivity, too. It also changed my perspective on Greece’s stance as I realized the depth of their economic crisis and even though there aren’t enough jobs for Greece’s own citizens, it continues to support and give asylum to hundreds of thousands of refugees. My interaction with the refugees also made me realize the two -way exchange of our relation, I wasn’t any kind of a ‘savior’ in their lives but this simple contact and exchange between us made me realize that the only thing that’s caused this difference in my life and their life is fate and time. Moreover, receiving such an insight into the dance world through Akash’s work and experiences and professor Debra’s experiences has allowed me to view my childhood hobby from an academic and professional perspective and appreciate the power and beauty of the theater world. This class has grown to become my favorite class at NYUAD so far.
Hoya Liu: “How Movement Makes Meaning”, wow, sounds like a cool dance and theatre class. I might get to move around a lot and learn some dance for three weeks! – That was honestly why I chose this course. I imagined us being in an wide, open space, learning some dance techniques and theories, preparing for some sort of a performance piece, and just dance the days off. I didn’t even know that this course had a trip to Greece before I got an email from Global Ed about visa applications. I entered the black box on the first day, a bit confused by the readings I did a night ago, not really knowing what was going on, and danced for a whole hour with Aakash on the stage. I have never worked on stage with a group of people and someone observing and taking pictures of us. I have never danced or even heard of Kathak. I have never thought of what dance had to do with reading, with the refugee crisis, with optimism, with gender. And suddenly, hey, we are going to teach dance to people in a refugee camp in Greece! I was so unprepared, but also so ready to see what will happen next. By the end of this course, I now have a deeper understanding of the word “dance”. Through the readings that we did, the dance classes that we had, and the trip to Skaramagas, dance is not only just what I do for fun because I like it, but also a way that I am able to connect with people. I can learn a dance from Aakash, and understand the way he uses the energy in his body. I could feel the balance, the focus, the flexibility, and the openness in his movements, and relate these to his person. It tells me about compassion, about responsibility, and about hope. I can also share dance with children, women, and teenagers in Skaramagas, and though that, feel their urge to learn, to share, to express, and to connect. Their dance showed how they cope with struggles, how they embraces each other’s cultures, and how they open up themselves to new things. Before, I thought the answer to “How Movement Makes Meaning” may be very theoretical, probably referring to performers, perceivers, techniques, and composition. Now, I have found that “meaning”, and it is in every single connection I build with the people through dance.
Ivy Julia Akinyi: I love children. But before leaving for Skaramagkas, I was worried that it would be difficult to work with young children as they are very energetic, can be stubborn and uncooperative. So, I set my mind to working with teenagers, but to my surprise, the children turned out more cooperative and their energy was incredibly necessary. They learnt the steps faster than I expected, and were always willing to go over the choreographies and learn more steps. As a matter of fact, it is the children that took over the last show at the market area. They had choreographies of their own, and were confident as they danced them away on stage. I learnt several moves from them. One girl particularly amazed me because she knew every step and every turn, and danced with the rhythm without looking over to her friends to confirm what she was doing. She was completely involved with the music, and sang along as she danced away. She inspired me. I actually asked myself, “What was I doing at 7? What did I use my energy for? The children’s love for dance and their energy made me realize that it is never too late for me to rediscover myself in dance again. Stubborn or otherwise, when one is interested, a child, a teenager or an adult, they get into it with their all.
Julie Liu: Coming into class, I expected to learn ABOUT dance and situations in the refugee camp, which I regarded as my subject of study. But then I ended up DOING the dance and even CHOREOGRAPHING for myself and our group. And at the refugee camp, I taught people dance, danced WITH them, and learned so much FROM them. How movement creates meaning? What I would add to my original speculation is: by closing distance. Dance for me used to be only about private personal enjoyment and, in times of performance, transferring message in one direction—from dancer to spectator. Now as I have devoted myself into it and have been thinking about it in context of a group and a larger social background, dance carries more meaning. Movement is created with some purpose, with some energy, with some exchange, with some people, and within close contact between and among the people. A concrete exemplification of this idea is the playing of energy ball that we did both in Aakash’s class and in Skaramagkas. Simple yet magical, this group warm up exercise brings people together, which I now consider as an essence of dance.
Lubnah Ansari: I expected that I would learn about dance and the refugee crisis, but not in the manner we did. I thought our research would take place in texts and media, which it did, but I wasn’t aware that we would also be our own embodied archives. I wasn’t aware that we would actually experience dance instead of just reading about dance. I wasn’t aware that we would be participating in real refugee camps in Athens instead of simply reading about the refugee crisis. I hadn’t experienced such a hands-on class in a long time, and I forgot the kind of imprint it leaves on an individual. As Aakash said in an interview I interviewed him in, “Wisdom is knowledge applied, knowledge is power and experience is your true teacher”. I left with a much greater appreciation for movement and dance than I ever had. The amount of attention I now pay to people’s gestures and movements is incredible. I had never in my life felt more happier and immersed in the moment than I did at Kipseli while dancing with the team. I didn’t expect to understand more about the Refugee crisis by simply travelling to the camps, but I did. Although there is still so much I do not know, I have received a greater understanding of the crisis, and a much greater appreciation for so many individuals involved in creating inclusive communities. There are so many more things I have taken away from this course, but it would be a disgrace to summarise them all in one tiny paragraph, I guess this is where Tome comes in handy. I am still confused as to how I will bring what I have learnt to the future, what can I physically do to make an impact? However, I realised something while being my happiest at Kipseli, I wrote this in my diary: “One of the best days of my life. There’s a different type of consciousness when you’re dancing. I feel fantastic, so immersed in the moment, not caring about anyone’s negative judgment but still caring for everyone’s wellbeing and enjoyment. Everyone around me seemed to be enjoying themselves. And that’s when I realised that just feeling fantastic and being immersed in the moment is enough to spread wellbeing and positivity to others.” I always assumed I had to do something huge for the refugee crisis after coming out of this class. However to simply change something that is within, or to just be you, can be enough. It doesn’t solve the crisis, but it’s one step towards something progressive.
Marukh Tauseef: Before taking this class, I was really scared as theater was something completely new to me. I saw my friends perform and dance and I never saw myself amongst them. I always thought of myself as a science geek. The first day of class was kind of disappointing for me because I felt that I did not belong. But after a couple of days, I was proven wrong. I was no longer conscious of the way I looked when I got my steps wrong. I started enjoying dancing. But I still wasn’t able to make sense of how can our trip to Greece and teaching refugees how to dance can make a difference. I believe it makes sense to me now. As a person who was supposed to conduct the workshop, I felt that everyone had a certain role. Hoya and Waseem were the teachers, Ana was the ice-breaker person and I was the one whose focus was on people who seemed self-conscious. I knew what it felt like and how I came over it. There was this one fifteen years old girl Hala, that I particularly loved helping. It was great to see her move from the line at the back to the one at the front.
One thing that I learned from this experience was that ‘making a difference’ does not only mean leaving something with the refugees. It can also apply to taking something away from there. Meeting all these people, I was able to see life from a different perspective. I really want my life to be about doing something that contributes towards social work. The opportunity to see this side of the world stirred this sense of responsibility that I need to remember them and consider fulfilling my responsibility towards them when I have a career.
Nandini Kochar: I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when we started this course. I just recall the words movement and refugee lingering in my mind, intrigued by how two seemingly divergent things, both of which I am deeply passionate about, could come together to mean something. As a dancer, I thoroughly enjoyed the morning sessions with Aakash – they reminded me of how much dance meant to me, enabled me to re-tap into my potential as well as recognize how much more I had to work on myself, and most importantly, the classes introduced a kind of spiritual, mindful element to dance which I hadn’t discovered before. This was the beginning of my introspective journey through this course. Greece was another story. From focusing solely on myself, my body and my growth, I was opened up into an environment where togetherness, community and teamwork were of paramount importance. And it was just beautiful. I moved from the self to the us, and witnessed the power of sharing – the satisfaction and sense of fulfillment I experienced at the camps with the children was absolutely unparalleled. And I think for the first time I truly realized what I want to do with my life – this – bringing art and humanitarianism together. I knew of the term Artivism before this course, but How Movements Make Meaning shaped my understanding of it in the most organic and authentic sense. In all honesty, this is one course which has not just impacted my thinking and my perspective, but my sense of self as well as the world around me – and for that I’ll forever be grateful. Thank you <3
Rodrigo Silva Ferreira: This class has definitely been a life-changing process for me. At the beginning, I was very skeptical about teaching dance in refugee camps because I thought that this action would be irrelevant, bearing in mind the magnitude of the challenges faced by refugees. Today, my perception of the class has surely changed, because now I am able to value the work we did in the camps, as I witnessed people, in different places we passed by, deeply valuing our action and engagement.
When coming into this class, about two weeks ago, I was thinking that this class would just be about dance and that I would not become very engaged with the material. During the first day, the readings seemed too abstract and vague, making me realize that I was not used to reading about the arts. Nonetheless, I decided to persevere in regards to the readings, and I believe that this decision to remain open to the material was crucial to change my perception of this class and of dance/theater in general. By engaging with the material, I started to realize that the concept of dance goes beyond the abstract transmission of ideas and messages through choreography. Dance can have objective, practical applications as well.
By reading parts of the book I Want to Be Ready: Improvised Dance as a Practice of Freedom, by Danielle Goldman, I learned that dance can be used as a powerful platform that encourages civic engagement through the use of improvised, strategic movements in nonviolent protests. I never thought about how dance (and theater) can be actually applicable in social circumstances and spaces (e.g. protests). Therefore, this class made it possible for me to reimagine the possibility of using the arts as a means of promoting social change, at least indirectly. In spite of all these new discoveries, I feel that I am still not able to comprehend the nature of theater, hence why I now actually consider further exploring this field. Before taking this class, this possibility was unimaginable for me.
I would like to thank Professor Debra Levine, the Teaching Assistants Leslie Gray and Sebastian Grude, my peers, Aakash Odedra’s company and the Arts Center for exposing me to the beauty of artistic performance, while making me question the nature of artistic performance, whom it may serve and how. Ultimately, I hope that this collective digital book will remain in our memories as something we did together in order to crystallize the memories of this class and of our trip to Greece. Hence, I hope that this book will be a gift that will remain materialized, allowing us to revisit the work we did as a class as well as providing our friends and family with an overview of what we did during these incredible two weeks of our lives.
Tyeece Hensley: I never really had any expectations walking into this class. I really chose it based on the fact that it had Dance in the title and that there was a trip to Greece. But the first day was really something different. I had no formal introduction with anybody in the room and I had to dance with them which was a bit uncomfortable. Even our dance instructor didn’t introduce himself which was quite odd. But after getting to know these 14 other people I came out of my shell. In all honesty, I wasn’t really up for dancing every day in the early morning and at one point I basically gave up on the class. I felt a bit out of place and like I was falling behind since the second day. However, the trip really changed all of that for me. Maybe it’s because I like flying and going to new places or interacting with little kids. I myself don’t really know the true reason behind it was. But all I know is I was happier in Athens. The children were amazing. Every day I went there, I was filled with glee. I loved how they would be a little bothersome and not listen. I loved how they insisted on playing in my hair and getting piggy back rides. I loved how when the little boy saw my nails his first instinct was to put it in his mouth. All of this reminded me of my little sister, who isn’t that little anymore. I missed playing with her the way I did with the kids and after only having 10 days to spend with her I guess it made me homesick. So every day, I would see the little kids and it would remind me of her. And when we had to leave on the last day, I cried because I know I am going to miss them an also because I missed my little sister. But, the trip wasn’t all that sad, I made lots of memories and laughs. So in all this was quite an amazing class.
Waseem Chaudry: At first, I was not familiar with cotemporary as genre of dance, hence it was difficult to cope up with it. But sooner than I imagined, I fitted in well with the stride of the genre. In Greece, I had a pre-conceived notion of how the refugees in the camps would be, in my mind I thought they lived in utter poverty. But I was completely astonished, despite the fact that they are refugees, they are certainly making the most out of what they have. Most of them have smart phones, they all dress well, and most importantly is that they smile. In addition to that, I was surprised by the extent in which the children are involved with dance. They all make an active effort to learn dance from YouTube and I was very much impressed by this. I personally wish I would interact with them on a much deeper level, as in getting to know them for who they actually are. I believe this would have had a greater emotional impact to me personally, as I would empathize with them better. However, I am very grateful for Professor Debra for creating this class and to NYU Abu Dhabi for giving me this opportunity, I feel grateful for everything I have as the trip acted as a reminder of how privileged I am to be a student here.
Yaozhong Xu: When I was choosing my J-Term class, I wanted something different, something innovative, and something challenging. It was not until I scrolled to the bottom of the page did I discovered this course. “Be prepared to think, to write and to move.” It was the last sentence in the introduction of the course, and I have to say it was this sentence that prompted me to select this class. Since it was categorized as a theater class, I was simply wishing to learn something related to theater, which I thought could be related to film, something that I am really interested in. To be honest, I didn’t have any concept of theater before the class, just a naïve thought that it resembles film in some way.
As I expected, the class turns out to be quite challenging for me: I’m never a sportive person, so the 90-minute dancing class every morning sounded really intimidating to me, and the assigned readings were usually of 60-70 pages filled with professional terms in dramaturgy. Also, when I realized we had to teach dance in the refugee camp, I felt like that would be a “mission impossible”. Overall, I felt a lot of pressure.
As a Chinese saying goes, “The beginning is always the hardest part.” Once the class began, I started to get used to it and grow more confidence. Although I couldn’t really dance well, I still tried my best to move my body. The readings were hard to comprehend, but I kept reading repetitively until I got the gist of them. What is more, I collaborated with other people in my group and together we carried out our dance class successfully. For me, this class is not just a simple theater class or a random J-Term class, it is a class that helps me fully explore my potentials and dares me to do something I couldn’t imagine. In conclusion, the class helps me to know myself better, in terms of not only academics, but also personalities.
Yohannes N Bogale:
Children are always children and hence they behave like children. It was a nice discovery for me to see these refugee kids being naughty, lovely, smart, curious, and never ease like any other kids we all know. Spending those couple of days with those kids helped me to realize that the traumatizing history they went to through to get to Greece didn’t fade away their childhood behavior. I saw Greece and the course in general through the lens of those kids which made me love everything including theater which I never had any idea.
I remember last year, I went Shanghai and the first thing I encountered was a Chinese food that I couldn’t dare to try and dishonest drivers who charged me twice the normal taxi fare from the airport. From that state, I began to see China through that lens and my experience turned out to be not good. However, in Greece, it is the other way around, I learned love from kids, generosity from the people who work in the refugee camp, joy from trip mates, dance from Aakash’s company. I was so thrilled to see some volunteers from other countries including NYUAD students which inspired me to do in the future.
In general, besides, the theoretical knowledge on theater and dramaturgy that I had no idea at all, I experienced, love, generosity, purity, humanity, and a broader scope about current situations that the world is facing.