ART MATTERS - The Voice of the World
America.
The United States of America.
Where to begin?
Let’s just say, A LOT is happening.
I am trying to process everything that is playing out before my eyes. I do not have an answer to each executive order and every march or protest that is happening.
What I do have is art.
Art.
What is art?
Art is the most beautiful thing this world offers. Art is what makes humans, human. Art defines culture. Art creates culture. Art is the voice of the generations from before and after. We understand civilizations in history through their art. Art plays a role in everyone’s life. TV, movies, music, dance, and all other art forms have shaped us and will continue to shape us. Everyone has a camera on their phone, take photos, and post the photos online. We have become very visual through different forms of social media and communication.
Art is the light within the darkness of time.
There is so much confusion and I think people are frustrated not because of what is happening, but truly because they do not know how to fully express everything that they are feeling and seeing.
This is where I come into the mix of things.
I will not be forming legislation, I will be giving people a voice when they do not feel like they are being heard. ART MATTERS.
ART MATTERS.
If you have read from previous posts, you know that I am getting ready to perform a ballet called, Quiet Imprint, choreographed by Thang Dao. This ballet is about stories of survivors of the Vietnam War who eventually immigrate to America during the Vietnamese diaspora. This ballet displays a few stories representing a time within human history.
Alexa Capareda, who was a part of the creation of the ballet, is now staging the ballet today. She wrote on Facebook something that goes along with what I have been writing up above.
“Art is a medium that brings us a step closer to each other through its expression of human experience.
These past weeks, I have had the privilege of conducting rehearsals and assisting with the restaging of Thang Dao’s beautiful and poignant ballet, Quiet Imprint. The piece will be performed for schools in February, in conjunction with social justice curricula (developed by Pei-San Brown) on the experiences of the Vietnamese diaspora (those dispersed during and after the conflict 1959-1975).
I was grateful to have understudied this piece when it was first staged in 2010. I’m even more grateful to return to it at this moment in history, when refugees and immigrants deserve understanding and support for their plight and recognition and respect for their global contributions.
Art matters and educates.”
Art brings people together. Art breaks down barriers. Art connects people, cultures, and nations. Art gives people commonalities. Art connects to people's souls and hearts. Art is not and should never be about making money (RULE 104). Art should be about the representation of human life (RULE 105).
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
John F. Kennedy had a call for service, and through that service of one another, we could find the freedom of man.
Many people want to know what to do- GO AND SERVE!
To my fellow artists, now more than ever, our job matters. People are looking to you for support, recognition, a voice, and understanding.
To my fellow citizens of the world, support the arts. Give your money and time to the arts. Artists need help to help you.
I am ecstatic to perform a piece that matters, that educates, and that gives a small portion of the population a voice. Being an artist is sacred as I have written before, but now it is time to dance because that is all know how to do during a time like this.
This is the last moment of the entire ballet representing hope for the future.