“Dancing on the (Bamboo) Ceiling: Performing While Asian in U.S. Postmodern Dance” A conversation with Gerald Casel and Dorothy Fujita-Rony, Professor of Asian American Studies

This conversation with Gerald Casel explores his personal background as an immigrant Filipinx dancer/choreographer and his career performing as Asian in U.S. postmodern dance. He also will share “Cover Your Mouth When You Smile,” a movement essay (a dance performance that follows the format of a five-paragraph paper) that examines the essential labor of Filipino overseas workers and their simultaneous invisibility across the diaspora. This event explores the impossibility of being presumed to be a model minority, the expected performances of whiteness, the challenges of experiencing and expressing unbridled joy, and how all this contributes to racial melancholia.

Agenda:
o 10-11:50am, Modern/Contemporary Technique IV: Antiracist and decolonized approaches to somatics (approximately 30 UG students), PSTU 1100
o 12:30-1:50pm, Discussion “Dancing on the (Bamboo) Ceiling: Performing While Asian in U.S. Postmodern Dance” for Professor Fujita-Rony's Asian American Studies class (approximately 200 students) Engineering Hall
o 2-3pm Lunch or tea/coffee with students and faculty

Sponsored by
UCI Humanities, the UCI Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture & Inclusion, Illuminations, Dance, Drama, and Humanities Core

Illuminations: The Chancellor's Arts & Culture Initiative | Website | View More Events

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