Response to A dance of identity and The Anthropological Approach (9)--

Ishamel is a character. I so enjoyed working with him this summer. I’d love to incorporate some of the movement and text-based exercises in my next piece because what he does really gets you into that uncomfortable realm of dance and politics. There are certain sticky issues I have avoided like the plague in this duet, but mostly I avoided them because I feel that at this young age, there are few politically stimulating events that I feel passionate about to want to speak out about. I guess there is the climate change solo I made in Nature and Creativity that is pushing me into that directions, but even with that, there is such a level of disease that I hold when it comes to incorporating text. There is something gut-wrenching about trying to put your beliefs out there on stage that the thought of pushing my opinions even further into text seems like a challenge I’d love to meet next semester. And although I had difficulty with the other anthropological text, I think it was valuable in highlighting how art is inextricably bound to culture. This was also valuable in its delineation of complex social methods of self-organizing like tribes and kingdoms to full-fledged societies and civilizations. This article also pointed to how cultural values define what constitutes art made in that particular society. The glossary is an incredible new resource as well.