Global citizenship as a TCK

Global citizenship is a buzzword that we are constantly throwing around these days as it has become paramount that today's citizen be aware of current events, politics, business, economic, and cultural awareness. So much of our society runs globally but this can and will cause quite a bit of misunderstandings as well.

On a personal level as a TCK, I still feel like there is so much to experience and see in the world. My biggest pet peeve with some TCKs is the "greater than thou" attitude just because they grew up globally. We never stop learning. Also one has to learn about other cultures and look from the outside in to analyze where the other is coming from.

I'm currently enrolled in a postgraduate program in an International Hospitality Management school and the experience has its ups and downs. Last weekend, we had a 'Cultural Night' event that showcased the numerous amount of cultures that embody the student population here. I grew up with United Nations days and International Food fairs from all the International schools, even when I was guest teaching for International schools and even the immigrant heavy populations in the public schools have this celebration in their school curriculum. It is wonderful. My dance students performed at the performance and I'm so proud of them.

I chuckle whenever someone asks what country I was representing. I was representing myself, so I replied "Alaine world". hehehe.... Because I am a global citizen and each global citizen is unique. A melting pot of different cultures. A proud Adult Third Culture Kid.


(The following video is about an hour long, if you want to watch my students fast forward to about 53 minutes)

Free Performance this week in DUMBO, Brooklyn as part of the CoolNY 2012 Festival! 

Last year, we performed a 10 min. excerpt of Chameleon at the same festival and received beautiful pictures that we used in our publicity materials all year. We performed Ivi's solo (for the last time :-(  - We miss you Ivi! Hope you're having a blast in Grad school & enjoying London!) and unveiled Tsubasa and Laura's duet that was originally a solo performed by Yoonjung.

I hope you will join us this week for another excerpt of Chameleon titled "Converge" and its the big group section with a fusion of dance styles ranging from Flamenco, Balinese, Postmodern dance, Japanese folk dance, and as always all the stories my current dancers bring to the piece!
This piece seems to evolve by the locations (professional theaters, dance studios, outdoor stage, community centers, gyms, and a cafeteria!), cast (we've understudied each other's parts, substituted, and performed it in so many times in different settings), lighting (or no lighting), with and without projection! hahaha...


Here are the details for this week!
CoolNY 2012 FESTIVAL
Program E
Feb. 2, 2012 & Feb. 4, 2012
7-8:30 pm
White Wave JOHN RYAN THEATRE, 25 Jay Street, DUMBO, BROOKLYN

Directions: F train to York Street (1st stop in Brooklyn!)
Here's a map!




View Larger Map


Some of the pics from last year's festival!
Photo Credit: Yi Chun Wu

Meet the choreographer/dancer: Alaine Handa

I want to do something fun for the blog over the holidays and post some fun tidbits about the dancers involved in Chameleon. I'll start first with my little "survey".

real name? Alaine Handa
nickname? A-ten, Lan, Babycakes
height? 5'1"
broken any bones? Yes, I broke my ankle while figure skating at 14. Dislocated my wrist while playing basketball at 9. Almost broke my nose at 8th grade camp, instead I have 14 stitches above my right brow.

Do you believe in...
yourself ? most of the time
love at first sight ? No. There is lust at first sight but to love someone is to know someone.

is there one or more people you want to be with right now? My family in Singapore.

ONE FAVORITE SONG? Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. Love MJ!

WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS? Basta Pasta is the best Italian-Japanese restaurant.

MOST DISLIKED FOOD? Mushrooms...gross

FAVORITE MOVIE? L'Auberge Espagnole

CAN YOU SING? Yes but I'm very shy about it and will only sing in the shower.

What countries have you visited? Hong Kong, Australia, USA, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia

How many languages do you speak? Bahasa Indonesia (spoken), English, Swedish (studied it for a year in college), Japanese (studied it for 7 years in grade school)

Favorite Food(s)? Xiao long bao, Pappardelle w/ Bolognaise, Noodles, Satay, Mee Rebus, Martabak, Pizza

Favorite Dancer/Choreographer/Company? Doug Varone & Dancers.

Fridays At Noon performance on Friday!

A.H. Dance Company will be performing an excerpt from Chameleon this Friday, Oct. 1 at 92nd Street Y so come out and support us!

For more info please visit:
http://www.92y.org/content/Fridays_At_Noon.asp

Oct 1 Fridays at Noon Season Kick-off

Fridays at Noon starts off its 23rd season with an expanded program featuring 15 companies in a 3-hour mini-marathon of new and favorite works and excerpts. Our eclectic afternoon features works by Susan Cherniak, Julie Fotheringham, Jessica Gaynor, Alaine Handa, Molly Lieber, Johari Mayfield, Meghan McCoy, Darcy Naganuma, Brenda Neville, Leanne Schmidt, Natasa Trifan and Allison Trott.

12-3 pm

Here it is... MY ARTIST STATEMENT

Artist Statement

I am attracted to dances that engage people from a sociological context. What do I mean by sociological context? The type of work I actively pursue are pieces that create a sense of community among people from the subject matter which is usually about a very specific group of people. I like to create movement from themes, images, poetry, prose, free writing, and drawing in my rehearsal based on individuals’ experiences. Through these individual stories, I collaborate with the performer to create a movement phrase that is unique to that person. I like to bring in a human element to my choreography. Dancers are human beings and have the tactile sense of touch, smell, hear, taste, and sight. By heightening the senses, the performer is invested in the work and can fully commit to their performance. As an artist, I strive to make my dances accessible to a full range of communities that might otherwise lack the exposure to dance. My hope is that my work can bridge cross-cultural ties between different countries, races, religion, and social standing. I am interested in blending recognizable everyday mundane gestures to more abstract imagery, athletic movement, and dance vocabulary. I like blurring the lines between the improvisational and the choreographed. Breaking cultural stereotyping by bringing light to subjects and themes that engages audiences to think about a social group in a different way, an example from my current work: The Korean dancer performing traditional Korean dance to French accordion music, a Swedish poem, and wearing Indonesian batik inspired sarong.

I am very excited about cross-pollination within the arts and collaborative projects with photographers, jewelry designers, musicians, actors/actresses, playwrights, filmmakers, and visual artists. Art inspires art and I find a lot of creativity and inspiration from other artists because we all speak the language that can transcend cultural misunderstandings, languages, and politics (even if the work has a political undertone). I am currently working with a jewelry designer, several photographers, a musician, an actress, two other choreographers, and I am also dabbling in documentary film to create this Chameleon project. This project is bigger than me, it is about my community, our community, and the International community we live in.

- Alaine Handa