Dance major and religion minor Chi Rung Chan received a Sally A. Radell Friends of Dance Scholarship to attend the Bates Dance Festival this past summer. Read on for a reflection of their experience.
Photos by Olivia Moon Photography
Throughout my time at Bates Dance Festival, I have been seen, moved, challenged, inspired, encouraged, and transformed by its cultivating and supportive community.
Dance is beyond just moving your body – it is how people live their lives, find their voices, celebrate their ancestry, tell stories, and strengthen community. In Cynthia Oliver’s class: Making Dances (History and Present), we discussed our preconceived notions of choreographic components, what have we been taught as “good” choreography, and how relevant are those teachings in our own artistic expression? Many of us have recognized that we’ve been taught a certain “recipe” of good dance, however, when we were asked to describe dances that really resonate with us, these memorable works don't necessarily abide by those rules. Cynthia advised us to take this so-called “recipe” of “good choreography” with a grain of salt: question them, abandon some, and hold on to some. Moreover, what history (what groups of people) have influenced these dominant values of choreography, and how do we negotiate those expectations as dance makers? How do we produce works that support our vision, practice a process that best supports our aesthetics, and invites creativity in the unknown? These are all questions that have transformed the way I think about making dances.
I also witnessed the value and necessity of experiencing dance as culture – especially being aware of whiteness in our systems. I was able to be a guest of a foreign, unfamiliar, rich, and ritualistic culture in Afro Fusion. Kimani, the dance instructor, and Okai, our musician, created a community that celebrates their individual Caribbean cultures and ones from their ancestors – who didn’t have the space to freely express their art, that were oppressed, that couldn’t practice their culture in a white-dominant space not just decades ago, but still in some places today. We learned movements, rhythms, songs, chants, values, and stories from people in West Africa, Brazil, Ghana, and Haiti.
Each dance form reflects a specific cultural context, specific history, and specific human experience; therefore, in order to practice dance authentically and preserve its utmost integrity, it is important for artists to expand their knowledge not only in movement, but also in the culture of a dance. For many Black Americans, dance is a way for them to reconnect with their lost ancestry, to celebrate their identities, and to use it as activism. However, their dances, culture, and lingo are often overlooked and appropriated by people outside of that culture. Black culture such as Hip-Hop and West African Dance is being used as a way to entertain non-Black people. Cultural, ethnic dance styles are treated as less-than compared to Euro-Centric forms and ideals. As dancers and artists, it is our duty to honor and give space to these dances not only in a way that serves ourselves, but also in a way that honors the history and deeply rooted cultures that transcends them.
There are not enough words to describe how thankful and fulfilled I am from this opportunity, and it has definitely left me craving more growth, exchange, training, and community from a program like this one.
Thank you for sharing this reflection Chi Rung! Click here to learn more about The Friends of Dance at Emory.
