Category Archives: Kinesthetic

Body movements

{Indian Folk Dance} Evolving Traditions

Nationality: Indian
Age: 24
Occupation: Medical Practioner
Residence: San Diego
Performance Date: 3/19/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

Modernized Folk Dance

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“This dance is a modernized fusion dance of Bollywood with steps that my mother taught me as I was growing up. The beginning of the dance, like the first 40 seconds before you hear Jai Ho, is from a movie that was about learning how to dance, which is why the interaction between Blue and Pink  – just gonna call us by colored outfits – is such. The choreography is done in such a fashion to exemplify the learning how to dance and then just going forth and having fun with the dancing, hence how it is transitioned into Jai Ho and the third song. The entire performance essentially is characterizing oneself and expressing the lyrics of the song through dance. As far as my feelings on the dance, it was one of my favorites. I had a lot of fun with it and all. That performance you have is not one of my favorites. I didnt like it – only because i like to feed off audience energy and quite frankly thought it was rather stagnant for that performance. I feel that the energy of the audience is a crucial component to Indian dancing, and without it the soul is lost. That’s something I picked up on as I was growing up. My mom taught me traditional indian dancing, and how to embed the soul within it.  This dance was a mixture of traditional steps, along with a fusion of the entertainment to appeal to the younger generation of the crowd, so it has some influences from Bollywood dancing. This kinda dance is the heart and soul of indian culture!”

 

Hearing my informant speak on the matter of the dance was a very emotional process as she began to tell me how crucial it was for the audience to get into the spirit of the dance and provide the performer with the energy to keep the fire of the dance alive. Lately I’ve seen an increasing amount of youth beginning to pay more attention to their mobile devices and social media networks than to the beautiful art that is being performed right before their eyes. I love how, in an effort to circumvent this, Luna decided to mix in Bollywood type dancing to her traditional dance movements to keep the interest alive and give everyone a show that they would never forget!

 

Fist Pump Farewell

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Saratoga, CA
Performance Date: 4/15/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

“I remember when I was in middle school.  Whenever my dad would leave for work.  He would leave for work before I went to school so I would be eating breakfast.  He would get ready and put on his shoes, and then he would stop just before he left and say ‘Fighting.’ (The informant says the word in a low tone as pumps his fist in a forward motion.)”

The informant believes that his dad picked the gesture up in the army.  The fist pump motion is paired with a reverberating and deep utterance of the word “fighting” in a Korean accent.  (I was unaware what word he was saying at first because of the heavy accent until the informant explained.)  The informant said it was a big moment when he finally got the resonance of it, a sort of rite of passage.  His voice was finally low enough to make the sound like his father.

Nowadays, whenever he has a bad day, his mother will say it to him over the phone to cheer him up.  I asked if he thought he would continue the tradition with his children, and he said that he was unsure.  “I could imagine if I had this really spunky three year old and I was looking for something new for us to do.”  He said that he would love if  his parents, particularly his dad would do it with his kids, and maybe he would join in, but maybe it would just be a tradition for his dad and his children.

The word and gesture does not really mean anything, but the practice and performance of the ritual is what stuck with the informant.  It is a tradition with his dad that is a little silly, but it became a regular part of his day.  I think the custom is a good way to keep the connection between the informant and his family; the gesture has lost its original meaning, but now it holds more importance and remains in his memory.

Duct taping prank

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: College student
Residence: Arcadia, CA
Performance Date: 4/27/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

My friend is a student at Cal Poly Pomona.  But when he was in high school he was in the marching band.  His high school’s marching band had a particularly strict sense of hierarchy, and so freshmen who were just joining the band were expected to “stay in their place.”  This is an account my friend told me, of a freshman who was particularly unruly and how upperclassmen retaliated during band camp, a week in which the band members train and get to know each other:

“There was this one kid, who, um… who was a freshman, and he was pretty much just a general asshole.  Um, he didn’t show up to practice, he’d cut in line past seniors to get to food and stuff like that, and… he was even worse to people who were, like, of his year.  And… yeah, so basically he’d go around stealing people’s stuff.  And so, one of the seniors were like… “So um,yeah, this is too far so we need to get back at him.”  So we took duct tape and we duct taped his sleeping bag… until there was more duct tape than actual sleeping bag.  And… yeah, basically it was like… justice.  But kind of like, vigilante justice or something like that.”

[“Do you feel that pranks like this kind of enforce the hierarchy you guys have? Like, if people fall out of line…”]

“Yeah, for sure, ‘cause generally if you are being really… arrogant, and, you know, just a general douchebag… we try to put you back in your place.”

My friend definitely thinks that this disproportionate retribution was effective in perpetuating the cultural hierarchy of his high school band.  The duct taping tradition in that particular community far predates my friend’s account.  He remembers it as one of the more common gestures used in disciplining freshmen.

There’s a certain discontinuity betweem the nature of the prank and the values it’s supposed to reinforce.  Band requires a lot of self-disicipline and respect of bandmates/directors, yet this prank is demeaning to the target.  I think this irony can be explained by the way band’s hierarchy works.  As my friend said, the targets of these pranks are usually unruly or arrogant freshmen.  So, as a form of reciporcity, the upperclassmen return acts of disrespect with more disrespect.  On the other hand, it seems likely that duct taping is something that amuses high schoolers because it demeans the target.  There’s a constant struggle of being “better,” and strict hierarchies like band help to reinforce that way of thinking.

Jiggle-O

Nationality: American
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Salem, Oregon
Performance Date: March 20, 2013
Primary Language: English

“In our orchestra at our school, we have a tradition that has been past down since . . . I’m not even sure when. But for the three whole years I’ve been in orchestra we’ve always done this tradition. It’s something called Jiggle-o and we do it before concerts. It’s something kinda weird and funny, but it might be hard to explain in words. So what we do is, first we privately gather in a circle by ourselves in some room. Then, one person starts off the process by saying ‘Jiggle-o, jig-jiggle-o,’ and then everyone says the phrase together again, ‘Jiggle-o, jig-jiggle-o.’ Then, the person who started it yells someone else’s name in the group in this way, ‘Hey _____!’ So for example, ‘Hey Jenny!’ And then the person responds with ‘Hey what?!’ So the whole sequence goes like, ‘Hey Jenny!’ ‘Hey what?!’ ‘Hey Jenny!’ ‘Hey what, hey what?!’ ‘Show us how to jiggle-o!’ Then everyone shouts together, ‘Show us how to jiggle-o!’ Then the person, in this case Jenny, yells, ‘My hands are high, my feet are low, and this is how I jiggle-o!’ As she says this, she will perform some dance move, usually something goofy or funny or crazy. Then everyone watches, and shouts together, ‘Her hands are high, her feet are low, and this is how she jiggle-o’s!’ And then they all perform the dance move together. And so on, then Jenny will start the whole process over and call on somebody else, until everyone has had a chance to perform a dance move. I don’t know if I explained it well . . . but yeah this is our little tradition thing before concerts that we do. It’s just a lot of fun and goofiness.”

My informant was unsure as to where this ritual/game came from originally. Probably one of the orchestra members brought it in from somewhere else, perhaps from a team-bonding activity from a sport. She said that it just helps the members of the orchestra to loosen up before concerts as people may become stressed or nervous. Doing fun little things like this help them to laugh together and relieve stress before going onto the stage. Also, she believes that it helps their teamwork, since jiggle-o requires teamwork and synchronization, and members of the orchestra bond as they act silly together and laugh together.

This seems like a cute and funny activity to do, something that allows people to get close to one another as they show their crazy sides. It was strange to me that the name of this game is jiggle-o, which is pronounced the same way as gigolo. When my informant first told me of the ritual, I was a bit confused and surprised, because I thought she was talking about a gigolo, which is a male prostitute. I’m not sure if these are connected, but maybe the activity had some Freudian roots, as they are showing each other how they “jiggle-o.” Nevertheless, it seems like an interesting and effective team-bonding activity, one that can help them loosen up before big concerts. Perhaps I will use it for an icebreaker game or when goofing off with friends.

 

PLUR Handshake

Nationality: Ecuadorian/Vietnamese/American
Age: 24
Occupation: Grad Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“The first time I went to a rave was in 2010 for New Years Eve. It was pretty insane and an unforgettable experience. People were dressed n neon colors, wearing very little, almost nothing. I remember thinking how crazy these kids must be, not only because they were practically naked but because they were almost naked in 40 degree weather! As I wasgetting used to this “rave scene”, I noticed a lot of the people had beaded bracelets, some from their wrist to the top of their arms. Everyone was really nice and talkative. When I mentioned to one of the girls I met that it was my first time at a rave, she automatically got super gitty. I’m pretty sure she was on something because she just seemed way too happy. But anyways, she grabbed my hand, connecting her pointer finger and middle finger to my pointer finger and middle finger, like the peace sign saying PEACE, then LOVE , curving each hand and connecting to each other to make a full heart, then we put our palms together like a still high five, UNITY, finally interlacing fingers while she slid one of her plastic beaded bracelets from her wrist to mine., RESPECT. The bracelet was colorful, bright pink and blue with lettered beads spelling PLUR, which stood for each of the steps of the swapping. I felt so initiated into this crazy world. She went on to explain how her and her friends, Kandi Kids, get together to make tons of these bracelets before a rave, wear them and swap Kandi with other Kandi Kids. “

PLUR is somewhat of a value system in the rave subculture. It promotes peace, love, unity and respect. The handshake is used to exchange “Kandi”, which are usually bright colored bracelets made of plastic beads and elastic string. Kandi Kids are those who go to raves and practice PLUR and genuinely believe in this philosophy of loving and understanding everyone. By swapping these bracelets, this philosophy is spread to others and a part of each is given to others. My informant learned this at her rave experience, and the girl who introduced her to it was also introduces at her first rave.