I caught the Catcher.

There’s this saying a close colleague in education once told me. “Every kid needs a champion.” Everyone needs someone to believe in them – not necessarily which zipcode or state of mind they start in, but where they are ultimately going. I believe the same is true for dancers. Everyone needs at least one teacher, a mentor, or a friend to believe them into being. We aren’t better for what we know,…

“Hey, what’s up, Teddy?!* Teddy’s always ready!” “Hey, hope you had a great weekend! Are you, um… [insert other Asian girl’s name]?”

I was wrapping up a dance weekend, hoping to impart some more positive energy to my fellow dancers. Unfortunately, Teddy* slapped me in the face with the micro-aggressive comment above. Oh, sigh.

It’s a story as old as time. Well, at least the time that I’ve been…

Analogue Girl, Digital World

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I’ve been thinking so much recently about the role proximity plays in friendships and relationships. While taking a social psychology course a few years back, the professor guided us to a research study which indicated physical closeness, more than preference or hobbies, guided closeness amongst cohorts.

With the advent of the Digital Age, we feel so…

As a swing dance community, there is plenty to celebrate in terms of the education models we follow. Hands-on learning? Check. Watching before doing? Check. Plenty of live examples? Check, check, & check. However, there are a few questions you’ll want to ask yourselves on both sides of this relationship to make sure you’re running at peak productivity both as a dance instructor and dilettante.

Fo…

Jumpstart Your Solo Jazz

Have you ever wondered how to get creative with your solo jazz or simply get out of a rut? Do you find yourself repeating endless snippets from the Shim Sham instead of your new material? Or, are you merely looking for new moves to practice sans partner? Here are a few tips from your resident amateur dance geek.

1. Quintessential Jazz Warm-ups

Copyright David Soltysik

If you’ve ever practiced a…

A Letter from the Edge

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Dear Past,

I know you’re fond of cliff-diving. Since you were young, the wide, gaping abyss of the unknown has seem like such welcome relief compared to the hectic reality of everyday life. You know better than thinking of that staggering height as a mere hop into a pool. As much as the waves tempt and torment, turn away from the siren calls and look at the…

Falling Out of Love

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Have you ever felt burnt out from dancing? Like, no matter how much you work towards your craft, show up to events, and learn diligently from instructors, you’ll never get “there,” up in the corner with the so-called elite? Lately, I’ve been feeling more and more as if lindy hop, though not unreachable, is beginning to feel so much like an insulated,…

When I was young

the world was filled with wonder. And yet, it never occurred to me to question how the world looked at me, only that I could explore each wild place through my own eyes. I was a wild thing. I loved cicada shells, sputtering locusts, and monarch migrations. The kindergarten transplanted wild things from all over, a burst of wildflowers. When I was young, I was happy.

Photo by javier gonzalez on Pe…

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I was in a space recently where people go to heal, willingly or unwillingly. I’ll leave out the details for the sake of privacy and human decency, but most of us there were bristling with fear. It was as close to being a lab rat as I ever care to be.

Anyway, despite the 8th level of Dante’s inferno we were all trapped in, I have never felt more empathy…

To the Reluctant Traveler

Atop Girdwood, Alaska, off season.

Get out there. Forget what it means to be self-conscious or self-righteous and own the idea of humility. That’s the wild heart of traveling — we are but human beings wondering about and wandering on this hallowed ground, this precious gift of Earth.

I think sometimes people feel uncomfortable with the idea of travel because you must, first of all, have the means…

“If you’re working on your art all the time, you don’t got time for no ego.” -Nas, Rapture

Copyright Favim

Time spent in art does correlate with mastery: 10,000 hours of it. I remember some misguided attempts from a slightly older dancer who advised me,  “You know, just because you spend time dancing doesn’t mean you get better. Sometimes you stall.” Since then, I’ve been terrified of plateaus.…

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I grew up with some truly abominable “learning moments,” most of which left an acrid taste of aversion to traditional education in mind. Take, for example, the underclassmen honors biology teacher I had the misfortune of trusting as a sophomore. Let’s call her Ms. Blundt. Ms. Blundt possessed various accolades in the news, of which some were displayed proudly…

Nasty Habits: Lindy Hop Culture

Hey.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a dance snobonce more, what it means to value people. At this fantastic recent event, I saw a follow whom I really admired make these terrible faces at people she was dancing with. I must admit, I’ve probably been guilty of those same looks before. I heard and saw multiple others do the same. And yes, some of those looks were thrown at me…

[Get Out] & APIA Exclusion: what it means to be left out of the conversation.

Get Out won so many accolades for multiple reasons: the subtlety of writing, the fantastic casting, and not to mention the many references to brutal realities in divided America today. Director Jordan Peele has been a paragon of success and voice of POC through his several accomplishments. These truths I acknowledge.

Yasuhiko Oyama character pictured far right.

However, can we talk about the…

“Why are you so angry?” An APIA Woman’s Narrative

A tag I made in remembrance of 二二八事件 in Taipei, Taiwan. “Never forget your past (his/her/x) story.” Inspired by Michelle Zhu’s narrative  for Vice.  People have a tendency to ask and tone police every time they hear me make a point, albeit often an emotional point, about being an APIA (Asian Pacific Islander American) in a world that too often values marginalization. Don’t get me wrong, we’re…