I was partnered up with Marika for today’s exercise of initiating movement from a specific part of the body. I went first, before Marika, and whenever Marika touched a certain body part of mine, I tried to move from that exact point and connect it to other movements. I tried to vary the position of my body every time, from curling into a ball to stopping mid-stretching from the floor to the air. When Marika went after me, I had an aha moment. Her movements were almost the opposite of mine—slow, subtle, and delicate. It was beautiful. Like a fetus swimming in her mother’s uterus or a plant slowly sprouting with the touch as if it’s the source of water. Her movements were small, but they were by no means less significant or elicited smaller magnitude of emotions. They reminded me of my misconception that movements in dance should involve movements of the body, in a quite literal sense that there is a noticeable change in the position or location of the body, such as taking a different footstep or swinging the arm back. I tend to forget how much potential power small movements have, the beauty that comes from the delicate control of the power. I found it quite difficult to move my fingers with good control during the exercise and I think it could be my area of focus for improvement in dancing.

I found the fact that Professor Harrell did not talk to anyone for 12 years while he researched the vogueing scene surprising and fascinating. I assumed that he would have interacted with the voguers to get a real sense of the community, but I understood why he kept a distance from the community as a spectator, for more objective research. This topic of discussion naturally flowed into the discussion with Professor Levine as we discussed about the topic of cultural appropriation. No one in the class was able to draw a clear line between what is right and wrong when borrowing something from a culture, whether it is a mere inspiration or a replica. However, I believe it is impossible for anyone to draw such a distinct separation between the two. In this era of globalization, a myriad of cultures blends into each other, blurring the ownership of the culture. An interesting topic that arose was EXP EDITION, a ‘k-pop group’ (quoting for the purpose of showing the existence of the debate about its label) composed of not a single Korean. I valued their act of appreciating our music and culture, but a YouTube comment, expressing his/her discomfort about their insufficient training, offered a different perspective for me. I agree that they could have underestimated the effort and time that goes into being an aspiring k-pop artist (not even actually becoming an artist)—all those training for singing, dancing, acting, or even learning a language(s) that could go on for years without a definite promise. Also, even from my judgment, their Korean certainly had tremendous space for improvement. Their Korean pronunciation from their music was enough evidence alone of their Korean proficiency. However, I believe that they can always improve and it is their tenacity and passion that matter (not all of k-pop idols are great at everything anyway, some sing in a way that makes me ask, really?). In general, I think we have a tendency to be harsher towards foreigner when, for example, they perform a cultural dance than we would be to a native. For me, what should matter the most is the intention of the person who is ‘borrowing’ something from a culture—genuine appreciation of the culture and respect. Wouldn’t it be beautiful to see Korean Hanbok dress, Ethiopian Habesha dress, and Indian sari and lehenga at a common highschool prom?