introduction/home technique.

I just finished an assignment for my History of Dance:Africa and Asia class, and it's pretty much an introduction paper, so that we all know where we are based and what experiences shape our views on things. We all come from a "home base", whether you want to think of it as a bias, or just a set of experiences/conditions that impact how we view the world around us. I figured it would be good to share a bit of that with you, so here it goes:

I am both Guyanese- and African-American, so I have some diasporic ties to Africa. I am also a young adult that was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, which I feel has shaped my cultural experiences significantly. I am a dancer and choreographer, although I have been dancing longer than I have been choreographing. I am currently taking African technique classes here at Swarthmore, and the base technique for that class is Umfundalai. Prior to this semester, I had 2 weeks of training in African dance. I plan on studying in Ghana next semester, and as both a Black Studies major and diasporic dancer, have an interest in both Ghana specifically and Africa as a whole. I have no substantial experience in Asian dance, but am very interested in learning more.

I don’t consider myself as having a particular home discipline in dance, because I don’t feel that I’ve retained one particular technique. I have been dancing for fifteen years, but prior to Swarthmore, my dance training was such that I rotated through various techniques in one class setting. The techniques I am most comfortable with are modern and lyrical, because that is what I have been most recently trained in, but I am also drawn to hip hop and step.

I want to learn more about dance culture, history, and scholarship. I also want to see how my classes this semester (African I, Modern III, Dance Lab II, and History of Dance: Africa and Asia) influence and inform each other. I am also hoping that this class will inform some of my studies in Ghana next semester, and allow me to approach my experiences as open-minded and informed as possible. I also hope to gain more of an interest in and appreciation for Asian dance.

Video of the day: Jamie Foxx-Heaven. Currently playing on my computer. It's one of those sings that touches me. Hope the video works, because I can't hear things from my work computer. Enjoy!



-b.blessed.