Okay, so I am inspired by the other students who posted — and I want more people to post before the week-end is up. Maybe I will dive in here with some of my own brainstorms, and the rest of you will get bold and post soon!
If I had to write an Opinion piece tomorrow…it might be about my dance community.
I don’t really know how this is an “opinion” yet, but I do know that it is really special to me. I am in the popping community, and we meet for cyphers and to freestyle. I don’t know of a more supportive artistic arena than this. It took me a while to find my niche. I had to try “normal” classes in hip hop and such (actually I only had the patience for one or two), only to feel pretty uninspired, and also exhausted. What did they lack? I couldn’t quite say, because I didn’t know enough yet. Then, I went to an open DJ session and watched. It was great. (I should add that this is a special, in the know kind of session, frankly, and I was lucky to know the DJ. Everyone chips in a few dollars to rent the room.) I saw so many styles in the room, that I couldn’t identify them. People just working out, and working on their own stuff — but together. I plopped down on the floor, and started to talking to two women (whom I soon found out were masters of their craft — one was called “CuteBeat” and the other “Phoenix.” I soon also learned that dancers don’t go by their given name, but create a dance persona that suits them). I described to them a class I had taken but not liked. Cutebeat looked at Phoenix knowingly and said, “Oh, yeah. Choreo.” That one word helped me understand that I was a freestyler, and that there were others out there who would agree.
thing is, I didn’t have a style in which to be free.
I have since learned about “connects” and “locking” and “bone breaks” and “vogueing” (“old way” and “new way” vogue) and “robotics” and “stops” and “animation.” The list could go on.
I still don’t fit in anywhere. Frankly, even the freestylers are pretty rigid about disciplines, and I am not really like them. Also, there is the elephant in the room issue which is that I am middle aged and white and well, nobody else in these groups looks like me. Actually, I take that back: it isn’t an issue, and that’s what’s really really interesting. Other people from the outside looking in would make it an issue.
I don’t know what sets me apart more: the fact that I am old, and can’t physically participate as intensely as the other people, or that my cultural differences raise a lot of ethical issues about whether or not I have any right to participate in a forum like this. Am I exploiting them by being there?
Sigh. I don’t know what my Opinion piece is, yet. It could be cultural or it could be artistic in scope. (I think I prefer the artistic angle. I really want people to take this kind of dance seriously; and, conversely, I also want the people who do this kind of dance to realize how impactful it is.) I also don’t think it is relevant for The New York Times or a big paper like that, per se, but maybe a smaller, more Brooklyn- or arts- or dance-driven publication, if I could find one.
Thanks for reading.
