Moving place from East to West

Two perspective within practice

Introduction

There are two broad from works to my exploration within movement

based practice. One conceptualises the inner state of being in terms of
energy flow and the external forms, reflects a more traditional eastern
philosophical approach. The other draws on anatomical understandings
and reflect more phenomenological attitude drawing on western and
postmodernist developments.

The exploration, dynamic interplay and possible integration of these form

the basis of this paper.

In Australian society there is a general acceptance of the special status of

the first Australians, - the indigenous people - and the importance of
recognition, respect and reconciliation . There is also a widely held view of
the need to develop and maintain mutual understanding within the
cultural diversity of contemporary Australian society.

Australian multiculturalism as a social ideal is a relatively recent

phenomenon barely two decades old, and is now under public scrutiny. In
its normative sense, this way of thinking about issue of migrant
settlement has replaced the rigid monocultural, assimilationism of the
1950s and 1960s. In essence, multiculturalism signified that ‘variant
cultures can flourish peacefully side by side’ (Wirth 1945), provided there
is as acceptance of the commonalities of society embodied in the political
and legal system. (Castles, 1992, 20)

I should acknowledge that I am interested in the ways and roles that

cross cultural contemporary arts can contribute to

Social cohesion
Cultural identity
Equality of opportunity and access

This study is focused on the interface between my Korean ancestry and

early life and my engagement within a culturally diverse Australian
community.

In many respects this paper is a life narrative in which the setting of the
protagonist has been shifted. To understand the issues that are
embedded in my practice it becomes important to place them in some
context. As Derek(2004) notes we ascribe ourselves and others as having
individual characteristics.

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 ‘Personal identity’ is how a person regards themselves and how they and
others relate to behave toward people in life.

There are five important dimensions of the self : It is both part of society
yet apart from it ; people are emotional as well as cognitive beings; self-
identity changes and develops over time; self-control and control over
others are essential to social interaction; the self has ‘higher’ or spiritual
potential.
(Derek , 2004, 28)

In this self narrative then I have experienced several quite different

cultural environments, and I have at times felt that where I am(in place)
can effect the way I feel and the way I know myself. This is perhaps akin
to a sense of shifting identity.

In my attempts at exploring my dance and dancer identity I am reminded

of the ways that dance as a practice comes with its own histories and
theories.

As Friedler and Glazer(1997) point out, “The study of dance is addressed

simultaneously as theory, history and practice in the body. Dancers learn
dance by observing, imitating and analysing. “Of considerable importance
in my reflection is the role of teachers on my practice. Again as Friedler
and Glazer note “Dance has developed under the maternal eyes of
teachers and choreographers who were largely responsible for the
characteristics of dance today.” (Sharon & Susan, 1997, 1)

In the next section I reflect on my experience training as a dancer in

Korea. This is accompanied by consideration of traditional Korean dance's
philosophic foundations.
I also describe shamanism, its residue as a practice today in Korea, and
the ways it is influential in my artistic life.

I examine some of the western dance and choreographic practices that

have profoundly impacted on my practice. I note some of the connections
and lineage within these strands and introduce aspects that have
impacted on my work.

Chapter 1

Tradition, Dance, philosophy, Shamanism

To better understand how these views are present in my current practice

it is useful to reflect on my past practice and values. I am interested in
reflecting upon in fluential past training and cultural values. This involves
unravelling what I referred to in the introduction as an Eastern perspective
on dance. It should be pointed out that this is very much a subjective and

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interpretive process. I seek to articulate some of the values, beliefs, and
philosophies intrinsic to these practices.

I will start with my training as a Korean traditional dancer, and the social
changes which have brought about a regeneration of the form. This is
followed by a discussion of ways that my dance practice and
choreography is socially informed and constructed.

Korean traditional dance focuses on spirituality, and internal experiences.

Technique is not the most important element and it has a minor role in
movements. Traditional dance concentrates on its own content rather
than technique for instance, the dancer’s state of arousal has a greater
effect on the dancer’s emotions and the energy of their movement, rather
than technique and physical activity.

Korean dance training proceeds by following the movements of the

master; the master explains the movements’ shape and feeling through
imagery. Individual style is explored after reaching a professional level of
skill.

The basis of traditional dance is the skilful use of breathing which can
lengthen or shorten the movement. The energy coming from the abdomen
circulates through the whole body, and it creates gestures and expressive
movements. The individual dancer’s breathing can be felt by other
dancers in a group as they respond to sense each other’s energy in
performance.

Traditional dancers in the past were mostly women or people with low
social status. Recognition of the poor status of traditional dancers was one
of the factors that led to the modernization of traditional dance.

In 1962, the first dance department was established at Ewha Women’s

University in Seoul Korea. Koreans value learning in the university system,
and in this setting dancers were stimulated to explore and develop the
form. Dancers also had social respect and traditional dance became
recognized as an art.

A turning point in Korean traditional dance history was when performance

began to reflect contemporary thought and to present subjects that
criticized the modern world and portrayed a variety of psychological
themes.

The Changmu Dance Company1 begun to present subjects that criticized

modern civilization and portrayed a variety of psychological themes. They
began to introduce greater expressiveness in movement combining
traditional breathing and imagery based movements and contemporary
thought. Mae-Ja Kim explains her perception of the influence of
contemporary ideas on traditional dance.

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"We aim not only at reconstructing 'movement' representative of various
periods of Korean dance, but also at reflecting contemporary thought,"
she said.( Mae-Ja Kim, 2002)
She goes further to underling issues facing Korean dance in the future.

“ Firstly, Korean dance had to initiate and undergo changes to accept the
format of contemporary theatrical dance. Secondly, it had to study the
traditional elements of Korean dance culture from a more fundamental
perspective, if it was to achieve a successful renewal," (Mae-Ja Kim, 2002)

Crossing over into contemporary dance and my experience of living in a

Western culture as an Asian person, made me suddenly aware of how
personal identity influences by diversification proceed space as context of
changing creative idea and what does effect on movement practice as
cultural sense of belongingness.

Martin J. Gannon(1994) proposes the use cultural metaphors as a way to

easily express a cultural mindset and compare it to that of other cultures.
These metaphors involve identifying as activity or phenomenon that most
members of a culture would view as important, and then using it as a
metaphor for describing key features of the cultural group. (Goldstein. S,
2000, 23)

According to Henri (1981) the international migration has brought about a

new understanding of national identity and whether it has contributed to
the formation of altogether new group identities in society.

Being an immigrant has made me a stronger humanist and my experience

of two significantly different sources of inspiration, traditional and western
culture, has given me a richer sense of identity and an artistic direction

Social identity theory ( Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Turner, 1999) differentiates
between interpersonal behaviour which is determined by individual
characteristics in case of a salient personal identity and intergroup
behaviour which is determined by characteristics of the group in case of a
salient social identity. (website state- of –the
-arts 2008, accessed 11Nov 2009)

Beliefs that are intrinsic to and shape my world perspective

(Confucian and shamanism belief as my broader values
that seem to frame my perception)

According to Gadamer (1975), complete understanding is rational

agreement, a comprehensive overlap of beliefs regarding a topic of
discourse. It follows that the process of understanding should be thought
of as a gradual uncovering of another person’s beliefs and that a good
understanding of another person presupposes that there is a significant
overlap of common beliefs. (Nordby 2003, assessed 11 Nov 2009)

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Confucian philosophy value

Propriety involves understanding a person’s correct place in society.

The individual stands simultaneously in several different

relationships with different people: as a junior in relation to parents
and elders, and as a senior in relation to younger siblings, students,
and others. While juniors are considered in Confucianism to owe
their seniors reverence, seniors also have duties of benevolence and
concern toward juniors. This theme of mutuality is prevalent in East
Asian cultures even to this day. Social harmony—the great goal of
Confucianism—therefore results in part from every individual
knowing his or her place in the social order, and playing his or her
part well. ( ‘Confucianism’ 2009 accessed
15 June 2009)

Confucian philosophy in korean society today

Confucian culture was seen as based on what the ancient sages had
thought people to do, and the sages’ teaching ultimately were grounded
on the four sprout.
The concept of the heart mind as consisting of the four sprouts common
to all humans that provided the foundation for moral behaviour and social
order ; the sense of compassion, shame, courtesy and right and wrong.
(Anne D, 1996, Pg55)

From a positive perspective, people stressed practical affairs and morality

in everyday life, along with a form of self-cultivation that featured rigorous
reflective thought and educated.

Knowledge and Action of Confucianism

The main purpose of learning is self-cultivation. But the self cultivation is

not supposed to lead to a non-active life. Confucius believed that the self-
cultivation of one’s own inner world is the basis for one to deal wisely with
human affairs. Since Confucius did not despise political power, in
confucius’ doctrines there should be no conflict between self cultivation
and the pursuit of power.

In theory the two are reconcilable: the inner cultivation of the self is not
only an end in itself but also a means toward ultimate self-fulfilment in the
world of action. Confucius considered knowledge and action to be
complementary. Knowledge is not only for the sake of knowledge.
Knowledge should be used to solve practical(social) problems. The
relationship between learning and practising what one learns is a close
one.
(Zhang, Bin W. 1999,56)

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Confucius believe that different behaviours had different impacts on the
mind
It is a main feature of Confucianism that when it discusses action, it
always refers not only to its temporary consequences but also to its
possible long-term impact on the mind. Confucius held that application of
knowledge not only has social utility but also will bring pleasure to the
scholar himself.

In Korea, traditional social organization was largely framed by

Confucianism.
The social organization that held men together is an important form of
human adaptation to the environment. Its discrete structure is dependent
on moral codes and legal systems as well as on man’s capacity to deal
with nature.

Man is a social organization of any highly evolved civilization is not a mere

consequence of ‘natural’ evolution. Its structure is largely a result of
conscious efforts, built on the basis of philosophies. (Zhang, Bin W. 1999,
59)

There is a difference of degrees in men’s understandings, apprehensions,

and reasonings, to so great a latitude that one may, without doing injury
to mankind, affirm that there is a greater distance between some men
and others in this respect, than between some men and some beast.
(Locke J. Two Treatises of Government, 1689)

Social organization, in brief terms, consists of the ‘arrangement of men’.

The concept of man is a key element for understanding structures of
social organization.
Korean society depends on hierarchical organization and on the proper
performance of roles from top to bottom. Each individual is expected to
follow social norms of conduct.

The Confucian society held that every (social) symbol-clothes, behaviour,

words-contains certain implications which constitute that class of things to
which the symbol corresponds.

I am interested in the investigation that what does the east social

philosophy difference between living people in west society. I saw the
documentary film recently about differences of East and West people’s
perspective. There are couple of confucian’s philosophical issues that I
would like to describe here.

First, People have the different expression about self confidence between
east and west.
According to Lao-tzu (604-531BC ? Chinese scholar) “People who talking a
lot because of they do not have knowledge but intellectual people does
not need to talk...”

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The cultural philosophy of eastern people understands as passive attitude
about self-confidence. In contrast to western people has active expression
about issues.

Second, how they have different composition (view) when they see some
picture.
East people see picture as whole view, but when western people see the
picture they pay attention each object in the picture.
The origin of a word ‘ATOM’ (uncut) it means that ATOM is the important
one cannot cut anymore, based on the character of each ‘ATOME’ it make
whole character. It is the example as western people believes how the
individual does is important in group. The other hand eastern people
educated always aware of group and family rather than their own being.

Shamanistic practice

*How this is present in my practice. describe the beliefs that i share with
shamanism….
*About gut,
*Gut experience as potential strengthen in the performance

The Korean shamanism tradition is based on the belief that the shaman is
able to be an intermediary between us and spirit of our ancesters.
Shamanism has had a lasting influence in asian culture and its traces are
still found in Korean society today.

Often women become to be a shaman very reluctantly, after experiencing

they have illness physically mentally that indicate ‘possession’ by spirit.
Shaman performe through Gut2 to bring good fourtune for client.

Shamanism

I am still writing…

Example work..
*Tony yap –what is the shamanistic movement to him?
*Pina Bausch performed with Korean shaman in korea..

Chapter 2
Investigation of developmental perspective as my present

A some women working as choreographers start to be taken seriously,

having hit their stride creatively. This psychological and occupational

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growth can sometimes be attributed to the fact that the artist has been
able to successfully differentiate from the original mentor figure in whose
image she might have been formed. Their development has meant
moving from dependency as a novice to autonomy as an established
artist. (Susan. A ,1997, 235)

These attitudes are diverse in their formds. They reflect new perspectives
and thinking about the world. In dance in the end of the 20th century they
reflected interest in the ordinary, the so-called pedestrian. It manifested in
new creative procesees - some of which are concerned to look at the
detailes of action from an anatomical or even mechanical perspective.

In a world where questions of power and empowerment were being

raised, the role and function of choreographer were raised and new
relationships involving collaboration, mutual respect and empowerment
emerged. There was an innate curiousity about the values attached to
perspectives and this has at times manifested in the dancer/artist staying
open to what was arising within and without their dancing. It could be
related to the phenomenological approach of Husserl – who advocated
sustained engagement and appreciation of subjective nature of our
experience.

Also I would like to aware of the underlying thematic relationship between

intergration
of the traditional form and expression of the demystification of fairy tale in
postmodern
dance. A sense of combining images with the body work‐ where the
gestalt of the dance is predicated on a synthesis of active imagining mind
and responsive energised body.

(*Twyla Tharp, Trisha Brown, Steve Petronio – try and note their
concerns/interests briefly. Here?)

In the next few sections I examine several artists with whom I have
experienced contact.
Working with various choreographers who each have a different
perception on
movement vocabulary and aware of reveal myself as new experience in
practice.
Determining a set of such things to attend to in an improvisation and
sometimes known
as a ‘score’ can provide a frame for performance.

Differences some new concepts and approaches that I have

identified with.

Classroom/professional dance practices approaches working with

Australian choreographers Helen Herbertson , Trevor Patrick, Rosalind

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Crisp, Becky Hilton, Lucy Guerin who each have a very different
perspective on movement vocabulary, was a revelation.

Experiencing their approaches to my choreographing practice lead me by

understanding and more possibilities to realize the unique creativity
through observing and reinterpreting of various movement language
based on Korean traditional dance practice.

Practice 1. Structural components of skeleton and movement

This practice draws heavily on the various sciences that contribute to the
understanding of the complex phenomenon of movement by
choreographer Helen Herbertson. Focus on the physical movement evoke
by stimulation of muscles and characterized by qualitative and
quantitative positional changes of the specific skeletal parts.

The idea, the concept of movement, is the voluntary act and the sole
voluntary component of all movement .. Imaged movement is best
defined as an ideokinetic facilitator. (Lulu E, 1974, 7)

The knowledge of the universal energy, the skeletal structure and

principles of muscular and neurological function as movement exploration.

Be aware of specific skeletal in movements

This movement practice develops the sense to find central point in my

body.
The central point is the root of the movement and the supporting place to
the sense recognition that controls the right amount of energy in the
movement. Also finding the central point gives us the ability to recognize
the force and realise the discipline to explore movement with the
interaction of body and energy.

• Rib Cage- I feel more air in the body, and I feel that the dancer can
further explore the interaction between the body and the breath and
how that affects the expression of energy in the space.

• Sacrum-Be aware of my Sacrum that I realise my body balance was

generally slightly forward than central point. I notice that as I push
my body a little more onto the toes, I try to feel my feet relax and
keep my weight to the central of the feet or body. I open my sense
to find out a better balanced structure and greater efficiency in
movement.

• Spine – stretching to support the circulation of energy in whole

body, and the concentration of energy in the body

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 • By generating the skeletal awareness of the body and spatial
interaction I found another connection which brings the feet energy
into the floor. It is always fascinating to explore and realise again
the three interactions about space, body and floor to enjoy
discipline everyday and every moment. This exercise bring a higher
consciousness to balance of the body, grounded feet, open chest to
contain more air in the body and deep breathing as better efficiency
in movement.

I explore the feeling that is the negative and positive way of extremity to
discover
extreme body shape and concentrate on finding any other skeletal
support that refines the detail of my extreme sense.

I improvise about extremely long and short, big and small, happiness and
pain and these various imaginative states give me more possibilities to
explore my creative movement discipline.

The voluntary act and sole voluntary component on extreme movement.

Neck
• If I create shape such as a long extreme line using my arm and leg, I
am conscious that my neck should be in a supporting position in the
body shape. The most extreme feeling can be created with right
position of neck support.

Nose Bone
• I find that the awareness to extend the energy from the nose bone
and run that energy line relative to the body line gives a stronger
extreme feeling as a conscious energy supporting line.
• Unconsciously, other bones and muscle support movements as
voluntary act.

Improvisation with bending any joint of the body.

• I approach different ways of moving with different emotions, and I
feel my movement energy like an internal flow into the body. I also
found a feeling that there is a three dimensional shape within me
like my body is full of air.

Improvisation with stretching the body joints.

• The energy line is more outside the body rather than inside like
previously found with bending techniques. The feeling is more
active, but I can not breathe deeply I feel that the movement is flat.

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Practice 2. Development of human movement

Theatre performer and dancer Trevor Patrick his continuing focus is on

the development and expression of the dynamic imagination through the
body. Trevor trained extensively in Western classical, modern, and
contemporary dance practice and also uses Eastern esoteric practices,
idepkinesis and improvisational structures to broaden the range of
expression available to him.

Don, in the quote, he talking about the both popular/ unpopular culture, is
it east and west culture? It was my understanding…, if not I will change
the quote..
“In my most recent written work, particularly the performance texts, I
have identified moments of interest to me, from what has been written,
spoken, or talked about in both popular and unpopular culture, and I have
‘rescued’(read plundered)these otherwise dry and serious moments from
history and experience, from other fabrics and other realities, in order to
embody them, to attend to the poetry, the wit, and sometimes the
sadness charging this material.” (Patrick. T 2008)

Description of two provocative effects on movement

Foot exercise with ball.

The foot is one of the most complex parts of the body. It consists of 38
bones connected by numerous joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments,
and is susceptible to many stresses. Foot pain is caused by a variety of
conditions, most often improper foot function or poor posture. The most
common reason for people to have foot problems is a condition called
abnormal pronation, in which the foot does not strike and/or leave the
ground as it is supposed to (Journal Acupuncture in Medicine 1996,
accessed 15 June 2009)

During the work on foot technique this week I was often thinking of the
relationship between feet and the organs of the body. I am also aware
that knowledge of acupuncture points found on the feet, along with
indications for each point, and foot conditions affecting kinaesthetic
movement may affect the quality of the movement when I keep my focus
on the feet in dance exercises.

Reflexologist believe that the body is represented on the feet through a

system of reflexes mapped out on 34 point specific areas around the feet.
Reflexology is the practice of stimulating these points and areas to affect
changes to the linked organs of the body for better health. Reflexology is
believed to have originated in China 2,000 years ago, although there are

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some that it's origin is in Egypt or India.
(Acupuncture web, accessed 15 June 2009 )

In the process of the foot exercise with the little ball I found a few points
that I felt pain and it stimulated me to maintain focus on these few special
points as my own treatment to produce more active circulation of energy
in my body.

One of the more important ways to explore my movement is to focus on

or visualise producing [the] energy within my body and how to express it
in movement. I think that I may discover some interesting results by
learning more about reflexological “maps” of the feet and testing what a
focus on specific points delivers in energy movement and texture in my
body.

In improvisation, dancers work spontaneously on a given theme with no

attempt to memorise. We (choreographers) can use this to find fresh
movement before start ing to set material.

In particular, the image based improvisation of creating a clock on our

back and finding contact with the wall and looking to indicate time passing
helped me find more sensation and physical awareness. Central to this
though were more basic physical visualisations such as creating a bowl
within the pelvis to feel anchored in the body.

The “clock” movements sense and sensation can trigger memory or

experiences and I am also aware that being drawn too much into an
internal state may reduce my ability to keep the physical open sense to
feel what relationships are around the space. Also, during the exploration
to feel the six senses in improvisation I felt that it changes the quality
because of the constant rediscover of sensitivity to physical sensation and
stimulus through the imagination.

Practice 3. Sensation and Form

Rosalind Crisp’s improvisation choreography (BMC) is another source of

anatomical structure in depth and concentrating focus. It focuses on
movement sensation, with movements initiated by a partner touching the
body and the sensation of touch generating solo movement. The process
stimulated a sense of the relationship between all of the parts of my body,
space, and floor in a very intense way.

Choreographic improvisation

In the partnering improvisation as body stimulus each other:

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we are encouraged to do nothing, allowed to do anything, in five and ten
minute blocks with our eyes closed. Eyes closed has taken us deeper into
our awareness of the body.

I had an incredible sense of all of my cells moving when I danced and this
feeling brought me to another level of quality in movement. I know that I
can’t explain this experience, but hope to achieve this feeling more often
when I perform. My concentration on the memory of
touch, made me focus more on my body rather than thinking of physical
technique.

From a warm up based in breath, weight and attention to sensation,

particulary the sensations of falling, we work with one or more movement
scores ( such as “constantly change the part of the body that is leading
the movement”), scores initiated by partner’s touch as feel the sensation
that focus in improvisation and could be used to challenge habitual
movement developing.

The scoring helped to reveal quite clearly the difference between a

psychologically-led performance and a physical one. Although feeling and
emotions are part of the principle medium of the dancing, they are
perceptual responses in the sensing body as opposed to conceptual
intentions. Some score such as ‘go into it’, ‘you have exhausted it’, ‘love
it’ which I experience as projecting the energy of body into the head area.

I think of it more as one inside the other, not as a space in between them.
I call it ‘choreographed improvisation’. She demands that every option for
movement be available at all times and her work entails a highly rigorous
approach to making dance, offering no set steps, but a recognizable
vocabulary. (Jo. P interview with Crisp , 2006, 25 )

Crisp’s work is both improvisation as full committed practice and

choreographed work.
Conceptualise of body expressing by distraction tasks, some of the ‘wide’
scores we used were: ‘move on a long breath’, ’stay with that’, ‘take up
more space’ , ‘disrupt yourself gently’, ‘stillness is always an option’,
‘work with something totally new and unfamiliar’.

In the practice I improvised movements focus on each part of body for

instance to aware of creative movement with one arm and two leg or
head, one leg and torso . There were limitation to improvise body at the
beginning but it begun to be more self- awareness of the body then can
discover own capacity and also limitation on movement.

The brief idea summary of practice 1,2 & 3

The focus can be on extremities of limbs, the toes, the fingers, the
linkages and joints. It might be on stretching or bending articulation. By
focusing on several things in particular – such as variations of effort,

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energy, skeletal shapes and orientation to a witness.

It is only within the last fifteen to twenty years that dancers have
systematically studied the science of human motion. Prior to that,
tradition was the sole director of dance training. Therefore, it is not
surprising to find a whole galaxy of myths which thrive in dance studios
where teachers have not been trained in the science human motion.
(Fitt. S , 1988, 327)

I have been trained in Korean traditional dance, which is fundamentally

based on an imagery led approach to training and choreography.

Also I was thinking about the body energy point in

acupuncture/reflexology and how it relates to the dancer’s flowing and
containing energy and what effect research and experimentation may
have on the quality of movement. I generate in myself and others.

I believe that it helps to feel the detail of the body and movement line,
this can be explore to deepen my exploration of my movement and
culture.

I would like to keep exploring my movement with skeleton based imagery.

I think that it can help me create more detail in movement and with this
consciousness I increase the possibility that I can challenge the wider
choreographic boundary.

Also the interplay between unconscious and conscious mind is flows in

both directions all the time. The conscious and unconscious are a
continuum of one mind. They are each the shadow and support of the
movement and expression of the other.

The creativity flows out of our unconscious then conscious mind can
discover the form that emerges from the unfolding of the creative
process. This insight into pattern of the process can then further open and
expand the avenues of unconscious expression. (Cohen. B Bainbridge,
1993, 13)

The brief idea summary of movement process ‘Gyu-Bang-Ga-Sa’.

• Comparative energy flow depends on bone position; particularly

arms and legs bend and stretch
• Create small space for my own movements then try to explore the
relationship between dancer and audience as creating space with
participants or other bodies.

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 • Bending arm/leg joints of the body gives the movement energy a
contained feeling, reminiscent of a partner dance feeling or an
intimate movement that you share with someone present. In
oppositions stretching arm/leg joints throws the movement energy
out ward and a sense of isolation and the absence of regard from
other people like they have disappeared.

Field work 1. The concept of idea ‘Gyu-Bang-Ga-Sa’

The idea for the design of the piece comes from the meaning of the words
‘Gyu Bang’ in Gyu-Bang-Ga-Sa. This means ‘small room’ (the domestic
world of women) and it is separate from the outside world. This is an
interior space and is isolated from the world of action inhabited by men.
In Confucian society conflict happens in the space if the two worlds are
brought together.

As working process in creating a performance to compare and contrast

the role of women in the Confucian system with that of contemporary
women who have been brought up in a Confucian-influenced society (for
example Korea, China, Vietnam, etc).

In doing this I’m interested in how identity is derived from time and space:
aware of the ways that parallel architectural affect of the body can be a
temporal and necessarily changing and dynamic part of the objects in
source. It can be understood in this way and this is a new perception or
awareness in progressive work.

I am still writing here…

Becky Hilton

The performer in space - spatial awareness – orientation draws on Trisha

brown.

Lucy Guerin
use of text to develop choreographic material. It enables the construction
and reconstruction of emotion. from text she asked us to find a mood,
find a feeling, find movement, find energy.

Post modern dance and chorepgraphers

(The fairy tale revisited by Maguy Marin & Pina Bausch)

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Field work 2. The concept of idea ‘Stanza’

Culture is in me as basic as thought, shifting and changing with my life

journey.
In this work, five lines of cultural movement language bring their own
beauty and rhythmic grace, a poetic impression in time and space.

Exploration of the inner felt sense of alienation, fear, isolation, complexity,

love and belief value of being significant element for the mutual creation
between movement and dancers emotion from their own cultural value
and life experiences to emerge by universe the mature quality on dance
movement.

It was a joy to observe each dancer - individually and collectively - give

expression to interior monologues through the universal elegant
language of dance. The elegance and beauty of the work and the strong
feeling of a women's place.
A whole world was created where the work could sit and breath. This is
not to abandon emotion and feeling - these affective aspects are still
present.

The collaboration with visual artist Naomi Ota her installation invites
audience into the scenery which gives a sense of slow-growing (growth
with stillness). Forms of objects refer slow-transformation of nature
particularly which of sea-bleached coral.

This took me from my focus on what was occurring ‘within’ to an

awareness of the dancer being in his or her performance spacial imagery
setting or environment.
I came to be aware of how I can create using the space - its intrinsic
qualities as well as its dimensions. I came to think in ways that parallel
architectural awareness.
The body can be a temporal and necessarily changing and dynamic part
of the objects in source. It can be understood in this way and this is a new
perception or awareness.

Tradition-aware of the approach post modern dance- phenomenological

looking between folk tradition and new discipline are being revalued
tradition and together with the notion of multiculturalism in new
perspective structural choreography form.

Understanding the theory of cultural identity through the changing

perspective

Chapter 3
Multiculturalism in Australian society

I believe that there are active engagement of people themselves in the

creation of their own cultural agenda in Australian society.

16
The emerging of arts work that I saw many performance development
here people have multinational identities with their own subjectivities in
their work like cultural multidisciplinary development.

I am interested in researching more about what is Australian

multiculturalism and it would bring me to more understand the journey of
my perspective in this significant space as a growing cultural guest
workers.

Australian society is made up of people from many different origins.

Although Aboriginal Australians have lived on this continent for many
thousands of years, the rest of the present population of Australia (99per
cent) are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants who have arrived
in the past two hundred years.
These people have come in successive waves, starting with the British
settlers and convicts who first came to colonise Australia at the end of the
eighteenth century.

Given the rapid demographic transformation that has occurred over the
last 50 years, there is no doubt that Australia is descriptively and
prescriptively a multicultural nation.

This diversity, and the fact that Australia’s future in increasingly being
linked with Asia and the Pacific, make it imperative that we look at where
we are going as a people.
What is the nature of the Australian national identity?

The diversity and pluralism characteristic of contemporary Australian

society is a relatively recent phenomenon. The conventional image of
Australia has been that of a highly homogenous society which was also
regarded as an outpost of white racism.
In order to understand this new pluralistic ethos, as Bottomley(1991),
Martin(1978) and others have shown, we need to identify ‘the enduring
frames of reference that stand in the shadows behind definitions of public
knowledge about migrants and ‘ethnics’.

The first relates to the way in which pluralism and diversity has been
understood as ‘cultural diversity’ and that ethnic groups are to be
regarded as ‘cultural group’. Hence, the question of the culture-often
regarded as the unproblematic centrepiece of the ideology of
multiculturalism-acquires special significance. In brief, we shall argue that
the way in which the concept of culture has been used, defined, and
understood, is central to an appreciation of the meaning of difference in
the Australian context.

17
The secondly, it is suggested that the manner in which the culture
concept has been conceptualised in the multicultural discourse distorts
the true character of diversity of contemporary Australian society.

Australian multiculturalism as a social ideal is a relatively recent

phenomenon barely two decades old, and is now under public scrutity.

The term ‘multiculturalism’,borrowed from Canada is a shorthand way of

characterising
the doctrine of cultural pluralism that has evolved over the past two
decades.
In its normative sense, this way of thinking about issues of migrant
settlement replaced the rigid monocultural, assimilationism of the 1950s
and 1960s.

In seesnce multiculturalism signified that ‘variant cultures can flourish

peacefully side by side (Wirth 1945), provided there is as acceptance if
the commonalities of society embodied in the political and legal system.

As the NACCME Report observes that:

Australia has within a short space of a little more than a decade, achieved
an impressive and successful development of educational policies and
practices known as multicultural education…[while] there are neglected
area of policy and practice.. the record of development is considerable
(1987,48)

Multiculturalism as an ideology is under strain. Issues relating to questions

of rights, political and social, are likely to be in the forefront of policy and
replace questions of ethnic identity, characteristic of ‘culturalist’
multiculturalism.

Social cohesion
Cultural identity
Equality of opportunity and access

Understanding of the social and personal identity

The personal identity is how a person regards themselves and how they,
and others, relate to, or behave towards themselves.

According to Derek there are more complex issues involved it is useful to

distinguish three aspects of the self. They are; its general attribute as
dimensions and properties, ;functions of internal organization modes of
awareness and ;the self of feelings, behaviour, skills, capacities. (Derek
2004)

18
 • The self is both social and psychological in nature, the self can only
exist within a social context.
• The self is essentially emotional in nature, people are
knowledgeable, skillful and rational, these capacities must be
understood to emotion.
• The self is a centre of awareness and control over self and others
from gentle control and influence to extreme exploitation and
coercion.
• The self is flexible and pliable in two major senses. Fist, it may
manifest itself in different aspect. Second, the self changes, evolve
and develops. In this sense it is the self-realization.
• The self has a spiritual aspect which often remains undeveloped. It
is not requires sensitivity, commitment and education. It may
develop as part of a process of self-transformation.

Everyone is influenced by society and we can never be ‘outside’ society.

We have a unique ‘inner’ self which chooses what to do and how to do it,
people have the knowledge and skills that allow us to deal with others and
situations in our own term it is self-directing beings capable of
independent thought and behaviour.
Aslo, people are all unique individuals because they have all had a unique
set of experiences.

Every individual has a unique configuration of desire, wants and needs

that demand attention through social contact. We are social, not isolated
individuals who have inter-completely satisfy our own needs, even if we
were concerned to make the effort.

Gjerde recommends shifting the focus from groups to individuals and

mapping the areas where human experience overlaps, and where it does
not. Through observation, in-depth interviews, and the study of variability
within groups, Gjerde believes researchers could learn about things like
degrees of interdependence, which would be more credible and of greater
value than sweeping statements about group differences.

Gjerde's model would take a more interdisciplinary approach to the study

of culture, incorporating the writings of anthropology and other fields, and
it would consider the influence of power, coercion, and class differences
on individual psychological development. He also questions the premise
that culture is passed on in a straightforward and passive manner from
adults to children.

"The assumption is that children acquire skills, values, and behaviors by

participating in the adult world, but children today are not passive
receptors," he said. "Their resistance to dominant adult cultural practices
is a crucial--but often overlooked--component of their experience. It is
noteworthy that most cultural psychologists shy away from studying
conflict, resistance, and disharmony."

19
"Culture as ideology is relevant in the study of human development, but
the question is how strong and how uniform that influence is, especially in
this era of globalization when we're subject to a multitude of influences,"
said Gjerde. "Culture has a place, but it also has to be put in its place."
(Emphasis on 'culture' in psychology fuels stereotypes, scholar says, 2004
accessed 22 Nov 2009)

Conclusions

I am concerned not so much to present a narrative, rather to manifest

particular individual states.
In this project I have found the need for some forms of contextual framing,
one that involves providing beliefs and identifies intersecting views. It
seems that I do this within the creative process through…???

I seem to have brought particular ‘Humanist concerns’or

subjects into the rehersal space. In exploring these a western
contemporary dance process-involving fracturing movement material and
–placing particular focus on dynamic and mood-the performer became
active and creative. The process of using another mood ….. especially
writing-offered many interpretative possibilities, it also offered distance
and detachment.

I gave the audience an experience of being ‘outside’ /foreign by for

example being talked to in a language that most would not know or
understand. In a sense this was to enable them to feel for the underlying
thematic of the work.

It also seems that the expressionist European choreographers Bausch and

Marin identified Fairy Tales and Myths as structures that provided points
of reference for their own exploration of human nature.

The demystification of fairy tale was a route that Bausch and Marin may
have taken in some of their work-enabling an interrogation of current
social values. It seems that the telling of the story has not been so
important as the exploration of folk traditions are being revalued as shift
between characters and universe.

• I realise that that my past - my social values, my experience as

traditional artist are always with me –thought there is an ongoing re-
interpretive sometimes crirical dialogue that is ongoing.

• The exploration provided a unique building of awareness of my

personal identity journey as Asian immigrant artist and Korean
traditional dancer. I learned to engage with the world in terms of
what is present to me and how it affects me.

• This is a phenomenological attitude- and enables experience and

subsequent reflection on experience to unfold as understanding.

20
 • There is a sense or perception of a deeping self understanding. This
is reflected in my ongoing recollections of dance and perceptions of
new influences within my contemporary practice.

It is through this attitude that the complexity of my practice and its

interaction beyond me into the community is brought to awareness. This
is significant in terms of my sense of self and in turn the unfolding of
possibilities. It is transformative.

According to Benz and Rehorick (2008) the hermeneutic

phenomenological work of experiencing and interpreting the text of life
creates the opportunity for a profound realization of personal
transformation.

There may be a parallel in this with what I have undertaken- In Stanza I

did not seek to narrative an immigrant woman’s experience or indeed the
many women’s experiences-rather to the phenomenon body is being
medium in different places. I saught to embody to use text as Spanish
(unknown language to English people) to give or share experience
phenomenological notion with audience.

21
Bibliography

Australian Ethnic Affairs council, (1982) “ Multiculturalism for all

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Cohen, Bainbridge B. (1993) “Sensing, Feeling, And Action”, Contact

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Goldstein S. (2000) “ Cross-Cultural Explorations : Activities in Culture and

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Reference List

22
Cohen, Bainbridge B. (1993) “Sensing, Feeling, And Action”, Contact
Editions, Northampton.

Castles S. (1992) “ Australian Multiculturalism : Social Policy and Identity

in a Changing Society”, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Derek L. (2004) “ Social and Personal Identity : Understanding Yourself”

Sage Publications Ltd, London.

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Jo P. (2006) “The Demanding World of RosalindCrisp: Three Points of

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Lock J. (1689) “Two Treatises of Government”,Cambridge University

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Reference by Website
Name of web mention!
http://www.ccn-roubaix.com/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=144&Itemid=599&lang=en
http://www.chncpa.org/n457779/n457834/n516566/2763046.html
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Emphasis on 'culture' in psychology fuels stereotypes, scholar says, 2004

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/6525

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24
1 The ChangMu Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Kim Mae‐ja, was founded in
December 1976 for the dual purpose of reconstructing dance movement representative of the
various periods of Korean history and of creating new movements and formats that reflect the
thought and lifestyle of our contemporary world.

2 The gut is a shamanistic rite where the shaman offers a sacrifice to the spirits. Through
singing and dancing the shaman begs the spirits to intercede in the fortunes of the humans in
question.