Monday, November 13, 2017

BREAKDANCING, ASIAN?



I don't know if I should cry or wail at the breakdancing at the end of the opening of the ASEAN Summit at CCP. The themes were - pagkakaisa, moving as one, forward. 

But breakdancing is very far from being a symbolic presentation of the need to unite ASEAN countries. In the first place, breakdancing is not rooted in any Asian country's history of dancing. 2. The dance originated from Puerto Rico and AfroAmerican youths; 3, The almost all black and white costumes of young people breakdancing does not seem Asian at all. 4. The music was the same all throughout the dancing, signifying that the youths have to have one voice but whose voice? Repetitive drumming, and tones produced a kind of rhythm that is not Asian at all. 5. The dance is supposed to showcase the ten countries of Asean but hardly was there any country represented, except for the angular steps of the Thais, if I remember right. 

Wow, whoever thought of presenting that dance to produce an ASEAN cultural experience certainly did not get his or her history, geography and politics, correctly. Wanted: a cultural connoisseur with deep historical consciousness to advice the dancing groups of CCP or all connected with presenting the cultural events of ASEAN. It seems they are in the dark as to what is truly ASEAN, a way of mocking the intents of having a grouping of the countries of this region. 

HELP! 

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