My "Why" and how I'm letting it lead the way

Whew! What a whirlwind of a weekend! If you don't get on social media much, first off...good for you. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this, you may have missed all the emotional, passionate discussion on cultural appropriation in bellydance. While I will not be recapping here, I can point you in the direction of a positive conversation between Nawarra and Karim Nagi. Their conversation was a great example of why this is so complex, there is no right answer, but we can still have respectful dialogue. 

This weekend I asked the dance community to post their favorite photos of their group and tell me why they dance. See video below for their results.
so today I thought I'd share my "why" and what fuels my passion for this specific style of dance.

In high school, I had the amazing experience of living in a community where everyone had the same housing, access to the same education, free healthcare, and the population was so diverse that white people were the minority. Not just diverse, but mixed. Multiple cultures from around the world all lived together and when I and my friends went to someone's house to hang out or eat we knew we were walking into another culture's home and we just fell right into their family traditions. Hang out with my Slovenian/Filipino boyfriend and you'll get one experience, head over to my Korean/Black friend's house and you'll have another cultural experience. I LOVED THIS! Everyone was friends, we were all equal and all had access to the same education, healthcare, housing, etc. It's like my Utopia. Ironically it was an American Government military base. 

Eventually, I went through a very emotionally traumatic move to Alabama. This was a major culture shock. I got made fun of for being the new kid, bullied because they thought I was German, when I tried to explain I was actually half Cuban it ended up worse. It was completely backward from what I had experienced for the previous three years.

Then I found FCBD® Style. A dance that was inviting, accepting of everyone, celebrated the blending of multiple cultures, invited ethnic music, was empowering, feminist and reminded me of the world I KNEW existed. A world where everyone was equal, everyone was beautiful, every voice was important. PLUS, now there was an added magical, even spiritual connection created with fellow dancers. 

So when the discussions began and I heard people say that this dance was appropriating cultures, this is the exact opposite of what I felt I was doing. At Devyani we were heavily influenced by Indian culture, but we knew about it and were immersed in it. For instance, Megha and I would go to temple, take Sanskrit classes (with all the children no less) and attend Dandiya dances and Goddess pujas. We also rented the studio to other ethnic dance companies so together we were all one big happy family. We had haflas together, celebrated birthdays, and learned about each others' cultures. It was our international bliss bubble in the middle of the very racist South.

Fast forward to now. Living in the very white Portland, Oregon. I realize that I've missed this part of my dance so very much. This is why I'm focusing my studies and time, not on removing aspects of my dancing or costuming, but on ADDING to it. A therapist and some deep sessions revealed that my mind and my heart are not great with "removing" things. It helps me to focus on adding other things in.
So instead of removing cultural elements from my dance, I'll be adding more cultural connections, history, and context into classes and blog posts. Will some things fall away, sure...but this will happen as a result of learning through adding, not as a result of removing which can actually cause more problems (I explain later in this blog).

I've been working with Lei in some coaching sessions as well as working through some yoga courses on cultural appropriation and they have helped me realized is these two main things:

1. I want to live in my Utopia world and while that may never happen in my lifetime, I can do my best to work towards it. That means equity for everyone! Lifting voices that have not been heard, learning more about cultures I admire and this includes their oppression, colonization, and appropriation. I want to create more connections, learn what I can, and be part of the solution. Having a taste of this world for a few years was magical and makes me want it for everyone. And as my friend Lei says...don't focus on sending money or seeing these cultures as a charity. Most people want recognition and respect, not charity. This costs zero and makes a HUGE impact on the world. 

2. If I love something THIS MUCH, have dedicated my life to it, and know it can change lives (and has) then why would I water it down by not sharing the cultural aspects of it? This was a huge eye-opener for me! In speaking with a friend the other day I shared this and she replied, "You mean I can share more information with my students?" So while I definitely have more to learn in order to share, what I can do is share my cultural resources, connections, and references and hopefully inspire others to learn more about these topics directly from the source. 

Are there changes to be made, absolutely. But removing things is what got us here. We need to be sure we are making the right changes and not jumping to change what we "think" is best. For instance, there was a short time in the yoga industry where people would not say Namaste because they thought it was appropriating.  Now they are learning (from people of origin) that NOT saying Namaste is actually appropriative because you are dismissing the origins, culture and language. So all those "woke" people that were shaming the rest of us are now backtracking. Be careful not to replace one form of appropriation with another. 

My point is this. Add education, research, and co-work with native people to find out how to move forward. Let's understand, on an individual level, how we feel about the elements we add to our dance. We will all have a different outcome. For instance, I wear a bindi for reasons I'm sure someone else does not. I shouldn't be shamed for wearing one when someone doesn't know my "why".  We have dancers from all over the world with different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and cultural experiences. Honoring diversity, different paths, and different choices is part of what we teach in group improvisation. Let this also guide us towards the future. 
 

Thumbail image of blog post: abstract ink paintings, illustrations and art journal pages by Asja Boros. www.asjaboros.net // my other tumblr for photos // shop