- How did the site of DongMen alter the choreography that you created in the classroom?
- Now that you know this site better; If you were to go back to Dongmen what would you add or subtract from your choreography to make it stronger?
The site didn't really change our choreography at all. The escalator was just longer than the stairs, and we just put a bag on the ground to prevent our dancers from getting too dirty. Other than that, everything was the same as it was in school.
I'm not entirely sure. I might take out the weird part where we went 'shopping' and use different choreography,, but that's all.
2 comments:
Cindy, I was really impressed with your group's work on the escalator. You adapted to the site and used it to enhance the choreography you already had. On a side note, many people have commented on how dirty DongMen is and how they had to change their choreography in order to not get dirty. How did you feel seeing people sleeping and living in that space? How do you personally react when you observe such relative poverty in the midst of such relative wealth right outside? What do you think can or should be done at DongMen? Please dig deeper in your blog posts.
Maybe it's terrible to say so, but I feel somewhat numbed to the sight of dirtiness. My father's friends once lived in a similarly dirty area, though it is now torn down. The thing is that the spaces ARE still livable. Though no middle-class person would even think of stepping into such a home, my father has many friends who live in dirty quarters.
It is unusual that there is such a compact gathering of poverty in the midst of a rich shopping area, but the conditions themselves do not shock me. Yes, dirt seems to have infused itself into the very walls and air. Yes, the people there seem to have no lively grins and clean hands. However, they either don't have a choice, or they don't WANT that choice. I realize that I earlier spoke of factory workers who truly don't have a choice. However, in this case I have actually met people who live in these conditions. They choose to live out their lives in this fashion, and have no true interest in 'upgrading'. Their children have no true interest in their education. Those that actually do have an interest in their future take the effort to rise above, and then actually do rise above their previous class.
I don't think that the people who live in DongMen should be thrown out. It is their home, and one wants to kick them out, then that person should have an alternative home for them to go to, just as they did with my father's friends.
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