First and Second Meetings

FIRST MEETINGS

A tremendous thank you to all of those who participated in the first two meetings and rehearsals (02.18.2012 and 02.25.2012). I am learning a lot and receiving much inspiration from each of you. The following is a summary of events and ideas compiled during these first rehearsals. Please use them as you find most useful (i.e. for review, for further cultivation of ideas, etc.). If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

02.18.2012

We began with a brief introduction to the concept of the Nowruz Dance Initiative. The introduction was followed by a discussion of the question: What is "American dance?" We compiled a list of the following answers:

"American dance" is...

• Hip hop
• Post-modern
• Foxtrot (and other social dances)
• Tap dancing
• Swing dancing
• Breakdancing
• Ballet
• Salsa
• Bhangra
• Musicals
• Pantomimes
• Ballroom
• American-Indian dance
• Indian dance

Discussion was followed by a series of improvisational movement exercises that resulted in the compilation of a short movement phrase

02.25.2012

We began by introducing ourselves (our names and our favorite animals some of which were snow-leopard, jellyfish, tiger, and lion). The introduction was followed by a series of several exercises that will be described below.

The group signing in.

1. Describing Ourselves: All participating individuals sat in a circle. Each person in the circle thought of three words that they felt described themselves and took turns sharing the words. Following sharing of words, a discussion of what purpose the word "normal" serves and whether "normal" exists. It was collectively decided that "normal" is a concept that helps us understand differences and that it essentially acts as a comprehensive label for all differences, as everyone is difference. Some words that were mentioned (among many others) were...

• Spontaneous
• Wisdom
• ENTJ
• Dancer
• Mariana
• Rebel
• Food-ie
• Determined
• Lovely

2. Describing Our Homes: All participating individuals, still sitting in a circle, thought of one word to describe a place that they thought of as home and took turns sharing the words. Some words that were mentioned (again, among many others) were...

• Fire
• Colorful
• Comfort
• Mine
• Peaceful
• Food
• Contentment

3. Describing Belonging to a Community: All participating individuals, sitting in a clump with some writing down ideas on a large piece of paper in colored markers, thought of words to describe what made each of them feel as though they were part of a community (community in this case referring to groups such as family, student organizations, religions, friend groups, etc.). Words that were mentioned included...

The group's poster on personal identity, home, and community.

• A common mission
• Language
• Understanding
• Feelings
• Personality
• Beliefs (mentioned twice)
• Perceptions or labels
• Food
• Space or location
• Age (example of "the children's table" versus the "adults' table" at dinner parties was given)
• Concepts
• Wealth or socio-economy

4. Summative Discussion: A discussion seeking to find common threads between all the words compiled in the previous three exercises, found a general trend in choice of words and descriptions shared from the abstract towards the more concrete towards the end (i.e. from words like "wisdom" to words like "socio-economy"). The discussion also found a common idea of food in all three prior exercises. Further development of the idea of food found that many of the foods mentioned as having connotations to home - macaroni and cheese, chicken-noodle soup, venison, and chicken and rice - were not only foods that were enjoyed by each individual personally, but that were associated with homes and communities and that all seemed to be borrowed from different places and nations. At the same time, the group decided they all felt like "American" foods. 

Other deserts that were added to the list of specific foods discussed were...

Baked Cheesecake (photo credit belongs to "zingyyellow" of Flickr)

• Crème brulée (of French origin)
• Cheesecake (of Greek/Roman origin, but that is now made in some form in the US, Canada, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Sweden, Brazil, Belgium, Colombia, and Japan among other countries)
• Apple pie (origins unclear, but presumed Middle East or Europe initially)

5. Partner Dance: All participating individuals excepting the facilitator divided into pairs and developed a series of movements (two or more).

6. Quartets: Partners groups from the fifth exercise shared their movements with another partner group, learned each others movements, and put them together into a comprehensive movement phrase.

7. Octet: Quartet groups from the sixth exercise shared their movements with the other quartet to make two comprehensive movement phrases that were then performed to "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and "Beautiful Liar" by Beyoncé and Shakira. Phrases were filmed for purposes of review.