The internationally renowned dancer Fang-Yi Sheu gave a speech “Do Not Be Afraid of Being Different” at Asia University (AU). She encouraged the students to find out what they were dreaming about and to be themselves heading to a unique trip of their own.

    Asia Museum of Modern Art at AU are now exhibiting the impressionist Degas’ works, including sculpture of ballet dancers, horses and female bodies. As an internationally renowned dancer, Fang-Yi Sheu was invited particularly by AU to give a speech on the importance of discovering one’s own distinguishing characteristics instead of going with the stream. She said that every moment of life was not repeatable or duplicable and that we should not miss any precious moment taking place in our respective “Live Show.”

  “Students should step out of the comfort zone, explore the world, and take challenges in any forms,” said Fang-Yi Sheu, pointing out that challenges were actually the greatest stimulation that could bring out one’s potential. She mentioned that she could not communicate with people in English when she first got in New York. Instead of giving up, she kept practicing and looking into mistakes she made. Thinking about “pretending I can” to confront challenges and difficulties, she began speaking English with the clerk of a breakfast stall. It was also the fantastic cross-cultural experience that made her grow a lot.

  Fang-Yi Sheu urged the students at AU to “set a goal and go for it,” just like she determined to be a professional dancer. It seemed to other people that she went well to pursue her dream and that her life was perfect. However, Sheu told the audience that she has actually been through a dark period of enormous anxiety. She used to feel nothing at all when she was learning dancing alone in New York.

  Sheu said that she had met the international director Ang Lee and been asked “what you are good at?” “Dancing!” she replied. Lee continued with two questions, “Do you know about the age of 40 without doubt?” and “Do you know how many people in New York enjoy your dancing?” The dialogue made Sheu immersed in deep thought. She started to explore her body all over again and realized that she could turn herself into a bright sun instead of following celebrities. In the process of beginning from zero, she discovered her true capability and value. Therefore, Sheu decided to found a dance company in Taiwan, striving to build an international stage for her mother country.

  Asia Museum of Modern Art at AU has held a series of master speeches since the opening of Degas’ exhibition. Fany-Yi Sheu is the third speaker following the aesthetics master Xun Chiang and the renowned artist consultant Wen-Rui Huang. Sheu is a former principal dancer of Martha Graham Dance Company and praised as “the finest present-day embodiment of Martha Graham’s technique and tradition” by the New York Times, as well as “the Outstanding Female Dancer” by the Ballettanz Magazine in Europe. She was also the first dancer in Taiwan to receive the Order of Brilliant Star given by the President in 2005 and the youngest winner of the National Award for Arts in 2007.

  Jing-Pha Tsai, President of Asia University, said in the opening of the speech that AU is a quality university which takes education seriously, cares for students and emphasizes establishing of good educational environments. It puts aesthetics into the buildings on campus where students can be bathed in the atmosphere of art and culture. Through the cognition of sense and sensibility in a variety of activities of beauty appreciation, AU expects its students to experience true arts and humanities, develop the ability of independent thinking and judgment, generate creativity and form a character of goodness.