LAHORE: Gillian Rhodes, an American choreographer and dancer, will hold a three-month certificate course in dance for women at the National College of Arts (NCA).

The college will advertise the terms and conditions for admissions in the print media for the course starting next month, said Professor Majid Saeed Khan, head of its Film and Television Department, adding the course, in a way, supplements the idea of women empowerment.

Ms Rhodes is a dancer who has also taken up riding bike on the roads of Lahore. She is also a choreographer and residency artiste at the NCA.

US dancer Gillian Rhodes to hold three-month course at NCA

She admires Pakistani talent in performing arts and is excited about initiating the certificate course at the NCA where she would teach women not only dance but also about movements of the body and expression.

She has done major in dance from Columbia University, New York, and (honors: magna cum laude). She got a residency programme at NCA after applying online.

In a recent chit-chat with Dawn, Ms Rhodes says Pakistan has immense talent in performing arts but it lacks training. To her, training more specifically means the theoretical knowledge in performing arts such as dance and theatre.

“There is immense talent in Pakistan but theoretical material is the area where perhaps it lacks substance a bit,” said Rhodes who came to Pakistan at the end of January last year and had performed at different venues.

Rhodes upcoming performance is scheduled at Olomopolo on Dec 22 where she would be performing with a group of dancers. She has worked with a number of dance companies in the US, South Korea and Pakistan. She has also performed in these countries along Cambodia and Malaysia.

To the question that how she manages to ride a bike being a foreigner amidst the rough and tough traffic of Lahore, Rhodes says she used to ride a bike in Cambodia as well where the traffic was even worst.

“Wherever I go, I like to have my independent conveyance and residence. That’s why I have also rented a flat near Ichhra to live in”.

She says she wanted to live at a place surrounded by people to feel the pulse of society.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018