Acting Across the World

On a typical Friday afternoon, my Hindi class gathered to engage with some artists in India. Thanks to the wonders of technology, we were able to practice our Hindi and were challenged out of our comfort zones in the context of acting. I never thought of myself as quite an actor or even an artistic person. These sessions with Kaivalya plays allowed me to challenge myself. 

What made this experience so welcoming was how engaging the leader Varoon Ji was as we each entered the zoom room. He would ask each one of us how we were doing, taking an interest in every one of us. As we started the class, each participant was engaged with introductions, further getting to know my classmates and the artist collaborators in India. 

The real magic of the session began when Varoon Ji encouraged participating with every student through a mirroring exercise where we would choose one person and copy their movements. Through my computer, I saw the goofy side of my classmates shine bright as they became more comfortable with participating over zoom. This magic grew even further as we each got the opportunity to act out actions like spilling coffee on ourselves or going to sleep. 

By the end of the session, I felt exhilarated by how excited I was to participate in acting things out by moving my hands, props, or even facial expressions. But what exhilarated me even more is how we had spoken in Hindi during a majority of the session, without even realizing it—sitting in class, taking grammar notes, and learning Hindi have given each of my classmates the toolbox to speak with native Hindi speakers confidently.

I look forward to practicing this skill with more global collaborations in future Hindi classes.

This event was supported and funded by Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Duke Service-learning.