Austin-based Tapestry Dance Company, the only full-time professional tap company in the United States, departed for a month-long tour of China on October 1. In preparation for their upcoming performances, Artistic Director Acia Gray and her troupe of skilled dancers have been working with a Chinese tech crew to stage their performance,The Souls of Our Feet, at the International Arts Festival. Gray took the time to give CultureMap an exclusive report on Tapestry's first full week in Shanghai, China where Tapestry will represent Austin during the International Arts Festival; jetlag, culture shock and rehearsals included.

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It's been a journey: An amazing, frustrating, culture-shocking, life-long memory. And we've just started.

From day one through seven, we never stopped. Not only feeling the 13 hour time difference and 24 hour journey, the week was a constant and flowing randomness. Our Chinese producers want the best, just as we do, but their priorities and non-systematic ways of getting things done make no sense to those of us who live and work in the West. Although I find it hard to believe that this is how the entire culture operates (as I travel through the cleanest and most organized subway system I've ever been in), finding the collaborative way to "get the show up" has been our biggest challenge.

This is truly a Culture Shock Report.

We all want the best for the success of the tour, our producers intensions are the same as ours. They just have a very different way of doing things here. The good news is that we have discovered what we are capable of through perseverance and survival.

What I've learned (In Random Order)

1. Chinese producers aren't trying to be rude, their intensions are the same as ours: A successful tour. The challenge? The Chinese language (in this case when dealing with technical production issues) sounds like you're being yelled at... a lot.

2. I have the best tech crew in the world. I owe them a really nice dinner… or actually, a vacation to the Caribbean.

3. Don't leave for a tour of China without a yoga instructor/massage therapist.

4. Brushing your teeth with bottled water is truly a different reality.

5. You get good thighs from squat toilets (although we've only had to endure this on one excursion).

6. Your clothes will survive being your new paper towel.

7. The roll: Don't leave home without it.

8. 2:30 am is a good hour to have quiet time in the lobby with my laptop as jetlag still has a hold of me.

9. The Chinese like to talk during shows.

10. Pay attention when crossing the street: Red lights don't really mean anything here.

11. Roasted pine nuts and ants are really good! The chicken feet, fish eyeballs and other delicacies are being handled by others in the company.

12. Chopsticks! I rock now.

Images That Have Stuck In My Mind

1. The most beautiful children in the world with their moms and dads on the streets and parks. Most around 1 year old.

2. The "lazy-susan" full of food at a circular table for 25.

3. Shanghai fashion on those under 30 is really cool and hip.

4. The old and the new, side by side: A sparkling hotel on one side of the street juxtaposed against a family cooking dinner on the other.

5. The smiles are beautiful when they relax and share them.

Hats off to my incredible company and crew. They have endured. Here's to the next three weeks... breathe.