#dance projects

hey lovelies, if you have any "darker" music that would work for a dance piece about mental patients, please let me know! it's for a project.

or atleast lead me to some websites and playlists that might help me find something edgy and contemporary! the music has to be instrumental though! 

PhD students Elisa Davis and Kemal Nance

Graduating MFA students Deborah Wince, Jae Hoon Lim, and Marion Ramirez

BFA students Nicole Gauthier (Alec Moss)

Seeing as I'm not performing dances this year for Comic Fiesta as they decided not to open up the stage for performances, I feel a little nostalgic about my past dances and thought I'd record my thoughts on each one of them until my last performance last year. Sorry, these are going to be tl;dr and there are going to be quite a lot of videos so feel free to skip them.

My first performance began all the way back in 2007 when I first joined my college's anime club. We were a weird group, but we enjoyed each other's company a lot. And as at the time The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi was incredibly popular, we thought it would be fun to learn the ever popular Hare Hare Yukai dance. It didn't take long for us to master it, and through another member's connections, we all gathered other cosplayers and performed at our first animanga convention, Comic Fiesta 2007. I am the one cosplaying Haruhi here, so I'm the girl with the yellow ribbon. The girl with the brown overcoat, the girl with the neko eyes and ears and boy with the nekomimi, are members of the anime club I was with.

This dance has a lot of meaning to me, as it was my first time to really connect with other people who shared my love for dancing. In all honesty, as I look back and think about Suzumiya Haruhi, it truly was an overrated anime. And in time, I learned to even dislike the character, which is sad cause she was the first character I ever cosplayed and I really enjoyed dancing her part. But then again, I got bullied a lot for cosplaying a character who in terms of looks and body type I didn't suit at all, so cosplaying her brought a lot of bad memories to me. And it made me incredibly self-aware of my body and how different I was to those around me.

Even so, I LOVE this dance. I love the friends I made through this dance. I love how joyful and simple it is. It was an overrated dance, but I didn't care. The moment I heard this song, me and the rest of my anime club members would start dancing along to it. Screw the groaning crowd who can't stand the song. WE HAD FUN.

This is usually the reaction I make when I find something that moves me so much that I want to do something to it. It's no secret that my choreographed pieces are based on my stories. Some can be specific situations. Others can be complete streams of consciousness. However, when I feel the call, the call won't be denied.

Last night, while on my iTunes binging, I found a song that reflects what I'm currently experiencing. The best way I could describe this tune is chocolate. Rich, decadent, dark chocolate. Yeah....

submerged [səbˈmɜːdʒd], submersed [səbˈmɜːst]

1. growing beneath the surface of the water 2. hidden; obscured 3. overwhelmed or overburdened