Dance as a Second Language™ is a new 
umbrella for series of instructional dance 
workshops at the Old Town School of Folk 
Music, created to introduce students to dance 
forms and traditions they might not be exposed 
to elsewhere, with Chicago-based and visiting 
professional artists who are masters in these 
specific forms. Each series of workshops, 
beginning with the Hindu-Buddhist Diaspora (in 
collaboration with The Kalapriya Foundation, 
www.kalapriya.org), will be centered around a 
geographic, ethnic, or artistic area, and is a 
format to explore dance forms that are not 
regularly offered at the School. The knowledge 
and technique students take away from these 
exceptional workshops will inform and enhance 
whatever dance form they currently practice.

The first series of workshops, The 
Hindu-Buddhist Diaspora, focuses on classical 
dances from the temple and court traditions of 
India, Indonesia, and Thailand. The series kicks 
off with an ODISSI dance workshop with Asako 
Takami, well-known performer and instructor of 
Odissi from the San Francisco Bay area.