Young Shanghai Dancers, in New York to perform with the National Dance Institute, meet with their families back at home in Shanghai using Cisco TelePresence over Tata Communications network
27 July 2010. The first virtual dance rehearsal of young dancers of the Children’s Palace in Shanghai and their counterparts from National Dance Institute (NDI) in New York was enabled using Cisco TelePresence(TM) equipment earlier this month.
These talented children began preparations for their joint performance from opposite sides of the world using Cisco’s High-Definition video collaboration technology.
Now having performed with more than 100 children from NDI in New York, these young performers, “The Shanghai Five,” will reunite with their loved ones back home who are connecting to them in New York from the Cisco(R) Pavilion at World Expo over Tata’s global TelePresence network.
This event marks the beginning of an initiative by Cisco and Tata Communications to use technology to virtually reunite families separated by distance.
The two companies will open their Cisco TelePresence facilities for two Sundays so that families in Shanghai can have a rich in-person interactive session in real time with their relatives living abroad. The Cisco and Tata Communications Family Reunions program will run for the duration of World Expo which ends on 31 October 2010.
The children who participated at tthe 27 July family reunion traveled to New York to perform at the invitation of National Dance Institute, a non-profit arts education organization founded by Jacques d’Amboise, former principal dancer of New York City Ballet.
d’Amboise, along with Artistic Director Ellen Weinstein and several NDI dancers, joined the “Shanghai Five” to meet the Chinese dancers’ parents who were in the Cisco Pavilion at World Expo in Shanghai. Over the course of their reunion, the children will share the details of their trip and what they have missed most about being away from home.
Benny Lee, managing director of Unified Communications and Collaboration, Cisco in Greater China, said. “The Cisco TelePresence experience is a key aspect of Cisco’s vision of a smart and connected life, and by reconnecting families, Cisco’s technology is able to spark the imaginations of a wider demographic, from children to grandparents, and to change the way people live, work, play and learn.”
Peter Quinlan, senior director, Managed Telepresence Services, Tata Communications, said: “Tata Communications is excited to expand accessibility to TelePresence technology beyond the traditional role of being a tool for businesses. Although these families are separated, they can use our TelePresence rooms all over the world in places like Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, London, Singapore, and Sydney, to meet with one another face to face in part of this seamless global network.”
The Shanghai Five have been participating in NDI’s Irene Diamond Summer Institute, an intensive month long dance workshop, along with talented dancers from the US. While with NDI, the Shanghai Five have also been teaching their New York classmates elements of Chinese folk dancing.
To see a video of NDI’s dance rehearsal over Cisco TelePresence, visit:
http://www.cisco.com/web/CN/expo/en/pavilion.html#video