QUEEN Elizabeth High School, Hexham, is committed to building links with a Tibetan monastic school.
Head of dance and drama at QEHS, Kathy White-Webster, and Colin Dixon, a Hexham photographer, have returned from a trip to India where they visited Tashi Lhunpo Tibetan monastery in Bylakuppe, near Mysore.
Kathy is keen to learn about “mindfulness” in performance training for actors, singers and dancers.
She witnessed the monks’ disciplined and rigorous preparation for the sacred Cham dance in the eight days leading to the Tibetan New Year (Losar) when the exiled Tibetan community comes together to celebrate.
Kathy said she was fascinated by the 96-year old Tibetan dance teacher who had been taught by teachers in Tibet.
The dance has been handed down from 1695 and Kathy has returned with a Tibetan text which specifies every detail of the dance, music and mind training.
Kathy and Colin have returned with video footage and photographs which capture the colour, energy and discipline of the sacred dance.
QEHS now has a commitment to build links between the monastic school and the Hexham school.
Nine Tashi Lhunpo monks are making a return visit to Hexham QEHS on Monday and Tuesday next week, when they will begin a dialogue between the monks and QEHS teachers and students to share expertise and resources.
Head of science at QEHS, John Hartshorne, said: “I am looking forward to learning from the Tibetan monks about how they develop motivation and self-discipline in young people.”
Kathy and Colin are seeking funding so that they can exhibit and tour 60 photographs, and Kathy hopes to raise money from the exhibition and from a performance by the monks at QEHS on Monday, June 6.
All proceeds will go towards extending the basic school building in Tashi Lhunpo in India.
For more information, contact Kathy on (01434) 610302.
