As we enter the year of the Dragon, I am reflecting on the last 20
years. As you know DTSB&Co celebrates a major milestone, not just
for the company but also for the fields of dance, education and cultural
equity. The company emerged out of a youth program in 1990. I was
asked by the DC Mayor's Office to create a program that would support
Asian American high school youth because the District had no arts
programs for this community. It was a wonderful journey of learning,
teaching and creating work. Fond memories include working with a Beijing
Opera group and escalating from a small run down studio in the middle
of the city to having the program enveloped for 3 years at the Kennedy
Center. As the interest and need snowballed so did the talented dancers
who came through the program as well as the new dancers who were
attracted to the idea of an Asian American company. I launched Moving
Forward:Contemporary Asian American Dance Co in 1992. This became our
non-profit that eventually housed DTSB&Co, a branding name change a
few years later. It was a very important moment for DC which had up
until this point often looked at diversity as a black and white issue.
The Latino community was given more visibility when the Mt. Pleasant
neighborhood rioted and partially burned. Moving beyond the Asian
American model minority myth has not been simple. The fact that Asian
Americans, especially new American still struggle with language, social
services representation and much more is often put to the side. I hope
our work through dance has brought this issue to light.
The works that stand out for me over the last 2 decades that illuminate
personal and historic displacement issues include: Tracings a recount
of my own family's new American experiences in the Korean Hawaiian
community of Oahu in the early 1900's, Island, the story of Chinese
Immigrants trapped on Angel Island in midst of the Chinese Exclusionary
Acts of the late 1800's, Hyphen which explores the reality of the
hyphenated American identity with visuals by Nam June Paik, Charlie
Chan and the Mystery of Love, an autobiographic story about growing up
as a Korean American in a Latino community and most recently Becoming
American, the story of one of our dancers Katia Chupashko who is a
Korean adoptee. My goal has always been to create works that are
poetic, allow for empathy and understanding while presenting a strong
message about inclusion. I am often asked how have you survived and
continued to grow as an artist when the field of dance seems to be
moving toward commercialism, pyrotechnics and a failing hierarchical
management? I always respond by saying
"nurture your own unique
aesthetic, don't follow the norm but follow your heart and never forget
that one of the greatest goals of art is to build bridges of universal
understanding. This path is not easy or simple but it is rewarding and
heartfelt. If your art cannot transcend cultural boundaries then go
back to the drawing board until someone in DC or Lima, NYC or Chennai,
Beijing or Quito can understand the emotional core of your art."
My
goal is to have each audience member feel that images in my work
resonate with them personally and move them to be more empathetic to the
larger human concepts of journey and the physical and emotional
struggle to find a place to belong.
--Dana
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