Dances of Asian Diasporas: Performing, Choreographing, Collaborating, and Documenting Asian Diaspora Experiences

• In Event: Asian Diaspora Cultural Studies: Epistemologies of Historical Exclusion, Political Activism, and Curriculum Possibilities

Abstract

The presentation is derived from an Asian diaspora scholar/artist’s experience in performing, choreographing, and collaborating on various dance performances in several spaces such as art museums, universities, classrooms, plays, and other documentary theatrical events in the U. S. Specifically, the Asian diaspora scholar/artist’s experiences in this presentation are from: (1) Asian diaspora events with multi-generations of Asian children from the communities of Asian diaspora dancers; (2) public dance performances with Asian diasporas in the U. S.; and (3) documentary theater performances on the lost history of a treaty, The Treaty of Breda, that changed the world. The story is told from the perspectives of the people that history has ignored the inhabitants of the spice islands, who were the first victims of the Dutch Colonial conquest, but played an important role in the revolution that led to Indonesia’s independence in 1949 (Jenkins, 2017). The Treaty of Breda is an agreement between the Dutch and the English to trade Run Island, Maluku, Indonesia for Manhattan, New York. The Treaty attempts to establish peace by formally erasing the memory of war. These documentary theaters were also broadcasted by both national and international media outlets inside and outside the US. The scholar/artist collaborated with students in producing documentary theater as part of the class curriculum in which the students co-wrote scripts.

The presentation will articulate the reflections inspired from the artistic practice, oral history, and archival texts used in the play scripts, and participation in performing, choreographing, and collaborating in the above mentioned projects : (1) to speak and learn about Asian diasporas; (2) to create spaces of critical exchange of histories, narratives, cultures, translations, struggles, (un)knowingness, knowledge, and knowledge production, and intercultural creativity that engage with Asian diaspora audiences in transnational contexts; (3) to connect the nodes on Asian diasporas; (4) to investigate further various complex forms of hierarchies including aesthetic hierarchies, making-re-making practice with interpretative frameworks, and diasporic positions and multi-generational memories that Asian dancers must interact and negotiate, including how migrations affect dancing bodies and its curriculum; and (5) to connect with Asian diasporas to think and understand logics of coloniality and decoloniality, and the construct of colonial body then and now in curriculum, schooling, and education. In addition, the presentation will discuss the impact of the “missed” or “forgotten” histories on the lives of schooled children. Presentation engages with works from Um (2005) on diaspora and interculturalism, Chen (2010) on Asia as method, dancing in the diaspora context (Katrak, 2011), Indonesian immigrant writers in the U. S on Indonesian diaspora literature (Adji, Mulyani, & Rosiandani, 2018; Mignolo, 2007) on decoloniality, He (2021, 2022) on diaspora curriculum and diaspora curriculum theorizing, perspectives on emerging understanding of diaspora and various diaspora advantage (Rizvi, 2023), and Tuhiwai Smith, Tuck, & Yang (1999/2012; 2019) on decolonizing methodologies (also Chilisa, 2012; Kovach, 2009/2012; Oliveira & Wright, 2016).

Author

• Dinny Risri Aletheiani, Yale University