Middle Eastern dance (well, dance period) fell into my life by chance; I wasn’t even looking for an activity or exercise, I just went into a store. However, I’ve been thinking about how much chance has influenced me in others ways, with regards to Middle Eastern dance. My teachers on a whole have been more [...]

Fall is already gearing up to be busy, busy, busy. Here is a small sampling of events that I plan on attending: MassRaqs – Sept. 9-11. Workshops by Hadia, Karim Nagi, Katia of Boston, and Meiver, as well as two shows and two panel discussions. I’ve mentioned before I work for this event (many of [...]

I’ve been busy because of the online course, hence blog neglect. One of my courses is fairly intense. Lot of reading, pretty weighty ideas/considerations, fairly substantial assignments. The topic is cyberethics, which delves into typical ethics; ethics courses are interesting but require a lot of thinking and processing information. I wasn’t sure what to expect [...]

I’ve mentioned before that I miss having a cohort in grad school. My program at the education school is primarily part-time students, and many of them are older and well-established lives outside of school. While I am not into a heavy partying lifestyle, my life is still pretty different from many of my classmates. The [...]

We have a heat wave here in Boston, and I have a normal lineup of dance classes. One studio I go to has pretty good air conditioning, the other- not so much. What kind of clothes do you wear to survive the heat while in dance class? I bought a pair of bike shorts last [...]

Summer school has picked up its pace, now that I’m in two classes. I’m lucky that the material is somewhat familiar; one of the nice things about education school is that I’ve encountered many of the idea before but am given space to think about them or hear the in more eloquent fashion. However, the [...]

Middle Eastern dance workshops are not easy, mind you, but there is a sense of familiarity with them. I know how to shimmy, hip drop, and so on. I’ve been to enough that I know how my body handles them. Ballet workshops were completely foreign to me. However, I figure why not try one out? [...]

I’m baking cookies to bring into the class I TAed this summer. Last semester, a classmate of mine mentioned that he brings in candy to his students, because it’s his way of showing that he cares and that he cares about them without actually saying that (it can come off corny if you say something [...]

I talked yesterday with my ballet instructor about getting people to sign up to workshops and commit. With my brief foray into helping workshop and class organization, it is scary and difficult work (and I don’t even have money on the line for what I’ve helped organize). It seems like we’re met with the some [...]

Background info on me: I was adopted when I was 10 weeks old from Korea to a white family. I consider myself- well, myself first and foremost. Being stereotypically Korean simply doesn’t make sense to me; culture isn’t something in your DNA but something you grow up around, which is why calling something “American culture” [...]