Being a part of the exercise where one leads and the other follows as they are moving around the space in different ways and switching their roles was what fully engaged me in Ondrej’s workshop today. The sense of playfullness, excitement and unpredictability of what the next move of your partner or your own would be kept me longing for more as the exercise was going on. I loved the dynamics between me and my partner,Tegan, as we turned out to be a great and very effective team with lovely team energy and collaborative spirit so to speak. I found it really satisfying and fun to follow her around the studio in any possible way. This, I would say, must be due to the fact that her energy,movements and presence overall were really complementing my own understanding of what a good teammate should be. Furthermore, it was also her willingness to experiment,have fun and try out anything that could be considered outside of the box in a sense. Throughout the exercise I felt physically liberated, emotionally excited and mentally stimulated to be partners with her which eventually resulted in brightening and energizing the rest of my day.

Trajal’s class today felt really different and even more stimulating in the best possible way as we visited the costume shop in search for an outfit that would complement the category will be representing tomorrow as if we are on a runway. What felt great about this experience is that,as in Ondrej’s class this morning, Trajal’s workshop gave us this awesome chance to explore, experiment and enjoy ourselves while doing the first two things I mentioned in terms of picking up clothes and all kinds of accessories we find useful and provoking even in some way. As a result of that, a very intellectually stimulating and enriching for me discussion was born out of the topic of cultural appropriation which we touched on at the end of Trajal’s class in relation to our costumes.

During Debra’s class,theconversation on research and cultural appropriation  we had with her was one of the most fulfilling and thought-provoking we had so far in this section of the class, in my opinion. The reason for me saying this, I believe, stems from the fact that this particular topic is something I have experienced personally in terms of witnessing how people ‘borrow’ anything from a culture, even in the case of my home country- Bulgaria, for instance – a folklore pattern used on traditional clothing, and commercializing it mainly to gain profit or whatsoever. This concrete aspect of the discussion was the one I could have related to the most, but definitely not the only one. What else stuck with me was the observations,comments and insights a great deal of my colleagues as well as Debra and Ondrej brought to the table and challenged as the conversation went by. Moreover, the examples used by each of those people really enriched me and even inspired me to have a one-on-one conversation on it later today with a Bulgarian friend of mine. It was so interesting and amazing to have the chance to takeaway what you’ve learned from a discussion such as this and have it with people outside of class.