This graduate study abroad trip fosters cross-cultural collaborations by teaching dance to children.
Study abroad participants at Ssezibwa Falls. Photo by Herman Bagonza.
Spearheaded by Steinhardt’s Dance Education program, students from across NYU visited Uganda over the 2025 J-term for a cross-cultural collaboration of working with children through the performing arts. The week-long trip culminated in the Dance Your Rhythm Performance on January 11 at the National Theater Auditorium in the Uganda National Cultural Center.
The collaborative program between NYU and Uganda was founded in 2007 by invitation of the Queen of the Buganda kingdom to create a partnership to encourage cultural exchange by teaching dance to children.
Deborah Damast teaching.
“This year, we had 10 NYU students—five from Dance Education and five from other programs—attend the Uganda study abroad trip,” says Deborah Damast, director of the Dance Education program and a clinical associate professor. “We worked with 10 students from the University of Kisubi, as well as 10 master teachers and musicians from the university who have been working with us for years. It was a beautiful synthesis of backgrounds and styles.”
During the first few days of the two-week trip, the NYU students immerse themselves in traditional Ugandan dance, drumming, rhythm, and culturally relevant pedagogy. Students were combined into five groups who then worked with children aged between around 7–12 from local centers, schools, and community-based organizations.
Class with Breakdance Project Uganda.
“The student teams come up with lesson plans geared toward teaching children, and with this exchange they are sharing pedagogical practices across boundaries,” says Damast. “This year’s larger theme was the environment, so the teams created smaller themes under this umbrella and then translated that into dance movements, which they then taught to the kids to get ready for the dance performance.”
Subthemes included the circle of life, sights and sounds of nature, and engaging with the weather. Each team works with a dedicated musician who develops original music for their dance. Community partners included Breakdance Project Uganda, Baraka Performers, Break Light Kids Africa, and Namunye Foundation.
Dance Education master’s student Erin Yoon, who studies and shares Korean traditional dance, says that the experience showed her how dance can create meaningful exchanges between cultures.
The Watmon Troupe performs.
“My time in Uganda was truly life-changing,” says Yoon, who brought a traditional Korean drum on the trip to share the sound and style with the other participants. “Although I had studied West African dance before, this was my first time learning East African dance. The opportunity to see traditional performances, learn the dances, and even perform them on stage was incredibly meaningful. This program allowed me to fully immerse myself in Uganda’s culture and learn in a way that felt both authentic and impactful.”
Students were also invited to the first installation of a UNESCO Chair on Dance for Global Citizenship Education with the Secretary General of UNESCO, where Damast was asked to present a speech and speak on a panel with many distinguished guests and cultural leaders.
“This is rigorous for the NYU students, but is transformative,” says Damast. “The performance is packed and its very celebrative—former program alumni come back to visit, some of whom now run dance-based community organizations of their own. It’s so amazing after all these years to see how much of an impact this program has on the community.”
Oya Bangura with children from Break Light Kids Africa.
“It is difficult to explain in words the transformative processes that took place just in two weeks during the Uganda trip,” says Oya Bangura, a Dance Education master’s student and dance teacher at Stage Door School of Dance who is originally from Sierra Leone. “It was nothing like I expected. Each day was painstakingly curated to give each of us an individual, collaborative, immersive, learning and practical application, teaching experience.”
Since the group’s return, Bangura has incorporated some of what she learned in her teaching here in New York and is in the process of learning how best to apply other methodology by staying in daily contact with her Ugandan cohort.
“Every single day we are connected, sending pictures, sharing videos, checking in,” says Bangura. “We ask questions, give reminders about how to dance something or we share something else we're learning while apart. We are still learning and growing together.”
The Ndere Troupe, under the direction of Dr. Stephen Rwangyezi, performs.
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