 Hi, welcome to Quok Talk. I'm Crystal here. Lots of great energy in the studio today. Lots of dancing bodies we're going to celebrate today because we're going to talk about this upcoming footholds concert at UH Manoa. So I have three representatives from the dance department there. Fascinating lives of individuals who are choreographers, who are students, who are women, who are going to come together and celebrate their bodies by talking about it. So let's not waste any time by introducing them. Why don't you all give yourselves a chance to introduce yourselves actually and tell us what you want us to know about yourselves, your background and your identity. Go ahead Angela, you start. My name is Angela Sebastian and I am from the Philippines. So my background in dance is ballet contemporary modern. So I was trained to, at a very young age, I was trained to teach and then when I did my undergrad in the Philippines, more open to choreography and performance to modern and contemporary dance. Yeah, I'll start with that. Absolutely. Hi, I'm Bianca Moise. I am from South Florida, West Palm Beach. And then I went to UH. That's why I moved out here to Hawaii for school. I've been dancing since I was three on and off. And then I went to performing art schools as a kid in middle school, high school. I focused more on acting in high school rather than dance. But then in college, I took a break and then decided that it was what I was tested to do. And so I became a dance major. Then after I graduated, I spent a whole year as an internship at the dance studio on Island. And I focused on all my time on training my technique and my performance. And so that is why I'm back helping with UH. Great. Okay, welcome back. Hi, I'm Christiane. I'm a first year at UH Minoa. I'm a BFA student. And I've been dancing like Bianca since I was two years old. What? I know, like how do you dance it too? But I've trained in ballet, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, tap, hula. Yeah, I really like to focus on versatility. And I'm really excited to be a student at UH and now be focusing on modern. Okay, great. So now we have that all set up like who you are. Let's talk about we were on a way here, we're trying to figure out how do you define dance? I mean, there's so many different forms. And it's not just the form, right? I mean, there's a lot of interpretation of what you consider as dance. Do you want to chime in on what you think that is? Dance to me is like just the expression of who you are, what you think things are with the movements of your body. And it's just a form of communication. In all honesty. But that's what the answer to me. Well, I think in any art form, it is performance. So when we I guess focusing on dance, it is maybe a time or a moment or a the opportunity to take your body or yourself to another place to another realm or something of who you don't want people to see or maybe how you imagine yourself to be those things kind of. So it's for me, it's a space of possibilities. I don't know, like being a character of something or embodying yourself, your inner self. I don't know. So it could be something very personal, but at the same time, it could be a mask for something that you don't want to go to and create something out. And as you said, with the moment in time, not only are you allowing yourself to be present, but if you're doing it with others, like you're sharing it with an audience and you're allowing them to be present in that moment of time with you. Which is kind of insane because it's like, say that the dance is based on a love story that you're experiencing. And so it's just you two, then only you two experience it. But when you have an audience, you're sharing it with them and they're going through that story with you without even having to hear you speak. Like they just see it in your movement. Right. But that's the calls to the audience performer relationship. Like how much in your choreographic process do you think about how the audience is going to perceive it? Or do you do it for yourself? You know, where do you kind of focus? And that goes in hand with I think the dance can be anything that you say it is. I think walking across the street, if you say that it's a dance, then it can be a dance. I think sitting there and doing nothing can also be a dance. It just it's an art. So if you say it is something, then it's something like a painting could be like somebody spitting on a table. And like, as long as you call it art, then it's art. I think that kind of explains what I think dance is. But also it doesn't have to necessarily be performative. Like, you could be performing, but not acknowledging that the audience is there at all. Okay, so it just depends on how you want to interpret it. If you want some sometimes people, it's like they don't make the dance for other people. Right. And so it's like when it is, it really is a choreographer's choice. But sometimes, you know, when you're looking back at it, there are times if you are going to perform it for an audience, where you're like, maybe they should not do that. Or this is not reading the way I wanted it or intended it to you at all. But that again, depends on the piece, like really, like, is this for an audience? Or is this for like, nobody? And we're for nobody. How does that work for you in your personal lives? And just curious, how do you kind of work through your movements when you're by yourself? Do you do it in front of a mirror? Do you do it in the shower? Do you like go, I want to play with this movement and I want to kind of work it? Like, what's the process for you? I think it's very, very interesting process, because it's also figuring out the aesthetics of the movement, but at the same time, exploring your inner motivation, kind of like going deep into like, and then not thinking about what it's going to look like outside. Okay, you know, so it's for me. Okay, that's how I kind of think of how I developed my movement. Yeah, I'm kind of relating it to, I'm not creating this for people to appreciate it kind of thing. You know what gets me safely aisles, or any type of like grocery store, I love dancing and grocery stores. That's so funny. My daughter does that, too. There's something about that lane. That's aisle way. It's like a catwalk, I swear. And then I'll just start dancing, people will walk past me. But it's one of those moments where if I'm just out doing something, I get randomly inspired. And you really have to not care. Like, people are watching you because sometimes that movement, it just meant something to you in that moment. Right. And then you try to remember it. And then I'll go back in the mirror, look at it. And you know, find, tweak it, make sure it's what I want. And like what I'm going for. But usually, I don't have to do that. Usually, it's just like I try to stay true to what I felt in that moment. Right. But that's just a great idea. Also, I have this image of this performance in a supermarket. Wouldn't that be great? You guys should do something like that. And if people can stand around, look at that security camera that's watching you in different aisles and doing PK turns down. I'm sure some of the security men have seen me like go crazy in safe ways multiple times. Like that is definitely a place. Bathrooms, sometimes I get caught having way too much money at the bathroom. How do you like spend in a bathroom? You just like you just you're just feeling music in your head, honestly. And then someone walks in here like, Oh, I'm dressing rooms too. Oh, yeah, that's unexpected. Yeah. So how do you embody your culture and your identity in your work? Have you thought about that? Like how much that has influenced? Because you talked about who you are, but how does that translate into your creative art form? Like maybe you're from Florida. What is your ethnicity? I'm half Japanese and half Caucasian. Does that influence any of your body language? You know, it's just kind of you don't really think about this, but it actually probably affects. Yeah, well, yes. No, I mean, I think yeah, in the beginning, I didn't think about that. But then when you kind of obviously you find similarities from your teachers and those things. But then eventually, once that transfer happens to your body, you cannot really deny that you have your own movement and it becomes your own as well. You know, so I mean, I guess being influenced not just as a Filipino body, but I guess trained in a Filipino culture or something. It kind of yeah, the training is there. The tradition is there kind of but I would say in a lot of my choreographies, I don't intentionally put the Filipino in it, you know, but because I do have a question to myself as well of how do I define Filipino identity. So I can't really say that this is Filipino identity, you know? Right. So but it is exploration of my identity from where I came from. Right. You know, so it's embedded. You just stop, right? Yeah, so this is actually one of the talks that I did with the conference of that becoming of that process of identity that it doesn't stop. Because right now, I mean, like I came from Philippines, I went to Hong Kong and I went to Hawaii. You dance at Disneyland. I mean, that's like so the culture is different too. So, you know, like that development is still happening right now. So I can't really say. No, yeah. Just defining your own voice and honestly, I feel like, you know, a lot of people ask you how your culture affects your dancing and it of course has an impact. But at the same time, I feel like once you come to this country or once you're in this country, this country has an impact on you. Yes. And your voice and how you identify as yourself and what really matters to you. Both my parents are Haitian and so I'm a first generation like Haitian American. So I have a huge cultural background with them. And Haitian like Caribbean style of dancing is very intuitive. It's very like either everyone is coming together or they show you the pain, they show you the struggle and it's like extremely expressive and I think that's really beautiful. However, at the same time, it's like I'm also American. So then it's like I try to like mix those values together while also reminding myself that even though I'm Haitian and even though I'm American, I'm still myself. And I there are things that I identify with both and there are things that I don't identify with both and I respect that. But I also respect myself and I just try to express myself to the best of my ability. That's great. Christianne? I think in my dancing, you can definitely tell the different styles of dance that I have passions for, especially like in my choreography that's in footholds, you can tell that I love hip hop and there are like certain little elements of hip hop in my choreography. Normally, even when I choreograph contemporary or modern, it will still have that influence and I'll throw in technique because I have a passion for ballet and it's just like all those little things come together and also growing up in Hawaii and learning hula as a part of like public education, you know, taking kwayana and then within the last two years I've also learned very minimally some Tahitian. I'm a dancer at Raku Hula and Waikiki. So we do have to perform Tahitian and hula every show. So I've kind of had to delve into more the native style of dance and training and that has definitely taught me about like simplicity more in hula and the beauty of the hands. And I think that that has also affected does it complicate the body language or conflicts because sometimes I when I think Tahitian or I think like hip hop, it's the opposite of ballet, right? Something comes from inside out, you're holding it in and so the other things you have to let loose. And so how do you use that contradicting kind of body language or do you have to kind of sacrifice one for the other? I think it's an amazing exploration of just variety like the universitility of how you can actually adapt your body to being this and then this and finding that there's a different identity to this and this. Can you be both? I have just a lot of challenges. Yeah, but it's like a push and a pull, you know, it's just like you're restricted and now you're not and you're restricted now you're not. And I've seen people effortlessly combine both. But then I've also seen people who have struggled to like find their voice with both. So it can be challenging. However, if you know yourself very well, then you can really express it perfectly. I guess it's it can be challenging, but it's like if you have the right idea and you know what you want, like which parts you want to be more restricted and which parts you want to be more loose and like more fun and more fulfilling, well, not more fulfilling, but like more, I guess, your own personal hip hop Tahitian, you know, cultural style versus technical style. It's like it can they can both work well together. But don't you have to acknowledge what your strengths are technically in certain forms, which kind of goes back to cultural influences because maybe you can move because it's in your blood or you know, the Asian style is more controlled and perhaps it's harder to do hip hop. Like I read my daughter, she's always been criticized for hip hop. It sucks because she can't let loose. And it's interesting the you know what you're trained to develop and what you're going against. Yeah. So I constantly think about that. And you have to have a heightened sense of body awareness. Definitely. If you want to jump back and forth between the two, I find that when I'm focusing more in hip hop, going back into ballet is it's harder to find my center placement because in hip hop, you kind of have to let it loose and you have to be very grounded. Where in ballet, you have to be very lifted constantly. And same vice versa for hip hop. If I'm training in a lot of ballet, which right now, I'm training more in ballet than hip hop. So when I go back into hip hop, it's harder for me to be grounded and it's harder for me to like slump my shoulders over. Like do those kinds of movement movements because I find myself being very lifted, that I'm not allowing my body to do what it normally would. Yeah. It's just finding a balance between the two. If you're doing a lot of ballet, you know, jump back into some hip hop and same. Yeah. And just recognizing your strength and weaknesses in those different genres. But I think, yeah, knowing your weakness can also be like a strength in different ways, you know. Yeah. So. Yeah. Being honest with yourself is a major part of dance. Yeah. Yeah. So that you can really identify what's going wrong and then, you know, focus on that and fix it in that moment. Right. And then, yeah. Also, that's a major thing that's just not never lying to yourself. That's why it's a constant process, right? It's a constant exploration and self-examination and taking in your influences around you and your stimulants and your interests and things that maybe you have trouble with and you want to kind of confront through dance. I don't know. There's a lot. So why don't we take a quick break and we'll come back. We'll talk about your individual pieces and your choreographic vision of your pieces. And again, just to remind you all, this is, we'd like to promote the upcoming UH Dance performance of footholds. It starts tonight. But we'll give you all that information later. But just remember, it starts tonight. It's Wednesday. It's a Sunday. We'll give you more details later. So don't go away. Hey, loha. My name is Andrew Lening. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that, you know, may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me because security matters. Aloha. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go beyond the lines at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Keisha King. You can catch me every Wednesday, live at five. I'll see you there. Back here in studio, talking about dancers and choreographic visions based on identity and cultural influence and just our bodies. Let's start again. So we have Angela, Bianca and Christianne here, all choreographers for the upcoming footholds concert. So let's talk a little bit about the pieces you've chosen to create for this performance. Okay, so I'll go first. For this footholds, I, the title of my piece is Tuxibol, which is Tagalog and English is Spring. So originally, my piece was created for the Aimen or Imen Center, because I wanted to work with the arches and basically that reappearing images of the self, like yourself. And then but then there was like some issues for safety. So this is just like the behind the scenes kind of issues that we had to transfer my piece to the trees besides beside the Kennedy Theater. So it was a very challenging process for me because I had to kind of adapt the movement to the more nature like, you know, the trees and the ground and because it was easier for me to play with that Imen Center trying to have that contrast of the woman's body as kind of soft and in contrast to that arc, which is very strong and stable and grounded. So when I transferred it to the trees beside the Kennedy Theater, what kind of made me explore was the space? Yeah, the space, the color of it, and still trying to keep that inspiration and just just explored it with bigger movements, because if you have this huge bigger space and the dancers are kind of eaten with that space. So but what I what I can tell you about it is, is it's just celebrating that the spring life, growth and those things. So it's actually very relevant, the tree and the concept of life. And you know, the creative elements of dance for you to be able to adapt to a different situation is kind of the beauty of your life. Yeah, because it like grew into something else. Yeah, yeah, something like that. Yeah. So things happen for a reason, I always think so. It's very beautiful. She has a really lovely movement that she and I feel like you're you dance it yourself or you know, my the other dancers. Yeah. Yeah. But the movement like you could tell translates well on all of her dancers and like they kind of look like fairies like with the trees and everything. I'm not like forced to. Yeah. Yeah. Initially, they were like guardians of this. Yeah. And then they're like summoned because my music is Kenny Endo's Noon Cycles. So it's a taiko drumming. So that's like that brings them out. It's not live performance though, right? Of the music. There was a piece with live performance though, right? So for you guys. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I love it. Okay. So for my piece, it's called Old School Funk. I originally quit. So it was the first piece I've ever really choreographed as an adult dancer for like, like something that I choreographed start to finish like the whole song because the original song was like five minutes. And you know, that's a long time to be on stage. And there was a lot of music and it was a lot of creativity and I want to challenge myself to really just try something different. Something more old school, something that I knew I'd have fun with. And then I did that. I got my dancers. We did it. But then it's been about a year since I've done the piece. And so when I was asked to choreograph for UH, I was like, okay, and then I tried listening to music and I was like, I can't, I hate this song. But then I was like, you know what, maybe I should do the same song, but just a different version. I picked a new version. I got my old dancers unfortunately could not do the piece. So we got new dancers to perform it. And then I just I recycled some choreography, some parts that really stood out to me that I knew were like, you know, just big milestones for the piece that I love. And then I added new choreography because after that year of training and performance and technique, I was like, I've grown so much like I need this piece to grow with me. I don't want to be the same person a year ago. Like I want to show everyone how much I've changed. And show everyone how much I can do and really like push myself to do something even better. So what took me about five months to create like that beginner, what I consider like beginner intermediate piece, I transformed within this past month as an advanced piece with two new dancers who are so incredibly wonderful who honestly gave their all and tried their best. And they, it really shows that they've been working so hard. And I just I've used movements that I grew up with. I'm sure you grew up with too. They're very like 80s, 90s. I don't know. I'm like Chinese anyway. Yeah, that's true. I don't know what you see on TV, you know, like those hip hop movements that you either see like Michael or Janet or, you know, Beyonce or anybody really do where they just like go out loose and have a good time. And it's just like so fun. See, you know, everything you do, you embody that. How do you work with dancers who don't you have to and all this goes to all three of you is how do you work with the dancers on their abilities or maybe what they don't have what you want it to work with, you know? Oh, you sometimes it depends on the dancer to you because there's skill level of their beginners. You have to break it down. I remember I used to like I'd have like this. And then I'd be like, okay, let's defeat and then hips. Now we're all together, you know what I mean? And then some dancers, they can just like watch you and then get it immediately. Yeah, you have to work with that. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, cool. Interesting. Well, I guess instead of imposing like a movement, like, if you just ask them to do something and they did do it differently, then you can stick with that to kind of something like that. Yeah, I mean, that's how I like to play around with it. So I don't just impose like what I want, like, no, you have to be here and you have to be here. Like if they do it differently, you know, that works too. So don't be as rigid as a choreographer. You need to kind of mold with what you're working. Yeah, I think that's a collaborative process of your dancers instead of just giving out, you're also sharing. Yeah, it's their piece too. In a way, like they're performing it. So to incorporate a part of them into it really makes it their own and it gives a sense of pride for them to perform it a little bit more. And I think when you combine the strengths of yourself, the choreographer or whoever else is the choreographer with the strengths of your dancers, it just brings the piece to like a whole another level. Like when you choreograph on a set of dancers and tell them do exactly this, it's not going to be as good as if you work with them, I think in the process. Yeah. So Christiana, what's your piece about? My piece is called enigmatic inspiration. And I was inspired by inspiration for this piece. Inspired by inspiration to love that. Yeah. I've heard stories about artists who try to explain the phenomenon of creating, creating something, creating art. And sometimes they explain that they don't really feel the inspiration coming from like their mind or their heart, like their hands just move and it just goes and they're creating and it just happens. So through my piece, I'm exploring the power of like external force and just exploring the process of inspiration. I like that. So, you know, on that note, how do we inspire people to kind of appreciate the world of dance? I mean, some people take it as just a performance on people kind of associate themselves with the piece and some people like to distance themselves from it. Any comments or suggestions on how to celebrate the bodies through dance? I guess before you try to like ask, not really ask or like encourage somebody to understand or appreciate something is that I guess try to do it first. You know, like maybe the way I would encourage people is like kind of ask them to not be afraid to move your body. Like why don't you just try it yourself first and then eventually you appreciate and kind of relate to what the dancers are like, you know, doing and exploring with their bodies too. That it is important that we all have bodies. Yes. We are not different from, you know, like, we may be different because we are trained, but then we all have bodies. Do you think as women, your bodies, do you use that aspect, the fact that you are a woman into your work? Or is that something that's just sometimes I feel like it conflicts with the motif or the message of what you're trying to convey. For example, in my piece, it has nothing to do with sexuality or the body. But I was getting feedback where people were saying, like, oh, this part, I'm getting like very sexual motifs. And that was definitely not what I was going for. But women's bodies are just somehow interpreted in those kinds of ways by society. So it's really hard to avoid and people will take it how they want it. But I do feel like that sometimes interferes with what you're trying to say. Yeah, I definitely my piece is definitely also not based on sexuality or gender, like very gender neutral. Anyone could perform it. But at the same time, whenever I work with men, women, people who don't identify as either, I really encourage them with what style comes off more feminine or masculine, despite their gender or sexuality, to just pursue it. Because honestly, if that's your form of expression that you are truly feeling, then just do it. Like really go for it. You don't have to record it. If you don't want people to find out about it. But if that's what makes you happy, then you should totally do it. And use that as a therapeutic stress relief. Yeah, so therapy is another form, you know, dance through dance to be able to transfer and to kind of release or to explore. It's really interesting. Absolutely. Yeah. So let's tell everybody when and where this performance is going to be. Maybe we have a flyer. And what's the theme? Let's share the theme. Oh, so. Glimps. Glimps. Glimps. And it is glimps. You guys can announce the details. Yes. So the glimpse will be taking place at Kennedy Theater at the Earl Ernest Lab Center from February 20th to the 24th. It's going to be tonight, Wednesday at 7 30. And it goes from Wednesday to Saturday at 7 30. This Sunday the 24th, it'll be at 2 30. It will be a match. True. Two o'clock. 2 2 p.m. I'm so sorry about that. The match name show. Yeah. At Kennedy Theater Earl Ernest Lab Center at UH Minoa. And there's the installation outside that's not on the flyer. You want to talk a little quickly about that? Yeah. So it happens 30 minutes before the show. Oh, so you have to come before? Yeah. 7. You have to come at 7. You should come before 7. Before 7. Before 7. What time do you need it? It's 4 5. Yeah. It's 4 5 to see me stay here. OK. Absolutely. Yeah. So there's some kind of installations of some videos, multimedia aspects of performance. Yeah. Right? Some projections of the video. And your piece is Outside by the Tree. Yes. And your piece is I'm looking for some hip hop and some modern kind of cross cultural. The fusion. Every fusion of every sorts of body language. I love it. I'm so sorry. Thank you so much girls for it. And I'm so excited for your choreographic visions to be shown starting tonight. And it's throughout this weekend. Please support UH Minoa's dance department in the footholds concert. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you. Thank you. See ya.