February 26th, 2020
2:59PM
An idea was stirring up.
—-
For March I wanted my blog post to be about something different, something bigger than what I usually do. Why? Because it’s my birthday month! To be exact, my birthday is March 8th. I wanted to focus on something that celebrated other people’s birthday too for the month of March.
March is also Women’s History Month. I decided to have this post celebrate women within the dance community who have March birthdays. (International Women’s Day is on my actual birthday!) This meant that I’d have to find these individuals, and what other platform to use than Facebook.
I quickly found several and reached out. Surprisingly, a majority of them were more than happy to be a part of my photography project. I would be coordinating days with each of them within the entirety of the month, before assembling them for a group shoot before March comes to a close. I also wanted it to be a group thing because they all don’t really know one another! It just so happens that they’re all from different dance teams within the tristate. They knew of each other though because as dancers, we constantly see one another during class, performances, and competitions. However, there’s just never a right time or moment to say hi. I decided to use my strength as a networker to bring together these individuals.
And these individuals were:
Robyn Molina – March 4
Celina Joy – March 8
Joy Hwoang – March 13
Yoo Kim – March 17
Luz Hernandez – March 29
Jennifer Margono – March 31
—-
I wanted the color scheme to be of warm colors to symbolize happiness and joy. March is an amazing month to be celebrated. It’s not just because it’s the month of their birthdays, but because it’s a month that celebrates the achievements of women past, present, and future. March is also when Spring arrives, allowing for flowers to sprout back up in their refreshing bright colors.
The shoots all were going so well. Some individuals I’ve shot with before and some completely new to modeling for photos. It was all fine though – we had a blast, catching up with each other as the shoots went on.
—-
Then there was a turn of events that set everything back. You guessed it – COVID-19 or the Coronavirus. I figure it’d be best if I put the last two shoots of Robyn and Yoo, as well as the group shoot, to a halt for now. Safety comes first, and besides we can close the project out for good another day.
—-
As the days went on, I’ve learned that many educational institutions have shifted their physical classrooms into online ones via Zoom. I myself have been using the application for work, so this made sense and it didn’t come as a total surprise. Then it came to me. Why don’t I just have a video chat with all of us? During these dark days, it’s important to stay sociable. We can have a good discussion on dance and women empowerment at the same time.
4 out of the 6 were able to make the call! Nonetheless, I appreciate that everybody was interested in joining. Thank you especially to Robyn, Celina, Luz, and Jennifer for taking the time to chat on the +1 hour video conference.
You can ACTUALLY find our call here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyQBxIAjVEk&feature=youtu.be
We decided it would be nice for the public to listen in on our conversation and learn how they could grow from it.
—-
We started with some introductions – name, a brief dance history, affiliated teams, favorite style, and something else we do besides dance. It became obvious that although we were all in the same community, but our backgrounds were all different. Some started with a contemporary/ballet background, while others through with hip-hop influence as a mere hobby.
Some questions that were brought to the table consisted of:
How do you feel as a female dancer within this community?
Are there any changes that can be made?
Who are some of your favorite dancers and why?
How do you think we can push each other to grow as dancers during this quarantine?
What are your favorite places for class and why?
Are there anything you guys are doing right now to improve yourself as dancers?
I’d say one that we particularly focused on is how we can push one another as dancers during this quarantine time. This was probably because it was so fresh to us with it just happening. Jen mentioned that, “Creativity works best when there are constraints.” This is a perfect opportunity for all dancers to grow whether that be exploring how they can choreograph or freestyle. They can draw inspiration from the more recent virtual classes being launched or maybe even take a step back and focus on foundations. We’ve had long years of dance under our belts, but sometimes it’s not a bad idea to revisit a stage from back then and have it reevaluated. With us now stuck indoors because of the virus, it’s refreshing to see people continuing to train and share on social media. It’s important to encourage one another and still have them moving as dancers. We’re all still growing, but in other methods.
—-
Our conversation came to an end eventually. However, I hope for it to never end. Whether it be these amazing people who participated in my project, or the readers on my blog, I want for us to push to make a change. Change the way we view women in dance and in society. When you have a voice, it’ll allow others just like you to have one as well.