Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! Today I'm joined by a friend and fellow dancer, Cindy Ye. Cindy is a graduate student and extremely talented dancer. Our paths crossed when we were in the same university club, and we had a very fun conversation about our experiences returning to a dance studio/club as well as our thoughts on covers vs. reinterpretations of dances. Please mind my use of the non-word "reinterpretated", clearly I just wasn't really thinking before I spoke, haha!

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! We've all had good and bad teachers/coaches--let that be in school or our chosen extra-curricular. Today I'm talking about two of the most memorable "bad" dance teachers (one technically wasn't bad, she was just a little quirky) and some of the memories I have of them.

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! Today I'm joined by a good friend and fellow dancer, Audrey Luu. Audrey Luu is a mostly self-taught dancer and was able to chat with me about self-learning as well as some of our takeaways from being immersed in a peer-taught environment.

Check out Sorry Not Sorry! It's a dance that Audrey and I talk about a little during our conversation, and it holds special significance because this was the dance that we both directed.

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! We start today's episode with some anecdotes from when I transitioned from Chinese Dance to a less technical style of dance and we end our episode with a discussion about ego and my thoughts on it. It's was a fun episode to record! If you want to look at first year Anna try really hard at the kpop style, checkout this performance video: BASYK RCSSA 2018

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! Today I'm joined by an old friend and fellow dancer, Serene Puri. Serene has been a Kathak dancer since a young age, and we had a wonderful conversation about Kathak, classical dance, and our experiences from our respective spheres.

Happy Year of the Dragon and welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! Today we're discussing the lunar new year and some lunar new year memories that always make me laugh.

Videos Links:

• Acrobats: Umbrella, Strolling in the Clouds, Hoops
• BASYK AnySong Challenge
• BASYK 2020 LNY

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance Podcast! Today, we're discussing some more specific dances we didn't have time for (or were forgotten) from the previous three Chinese Dance deep dive episodes. You could consider this an epilogue to our Chinese Dance deep dive episodes and a taste of where this podcast will go next.

As is consistent with the previous episodes, we're discussing specific dances, which I have linked below. Please note that the discussion of these dances is in less depth than the previous three episodes, and an understanding of the dances can be gained without watching these linked videos.

Video Links:

• Green Snake & White Snake Dances: 雨后 (yǔ hòu), 青蛇白蛇 (qīngshé báishé), China Dance Competition Green Snake White Snake, 青蛇与白蛇 (qīngshé yǔ báishé)
• 桃夭 (táoyāo) - Peach Fairies
• 踏歌 (tàgē)
• 花腰花 (huā yāo huā) My Version

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance podcast! Today we're completing our deep dive into Chinese Dance and taxonomy. This is the final part of a three-part mini-series. This part completes our discussion of traditional dances by covering the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Dai styles. As with the last couple of episodes, linked are articles and dances that we're discussing in specifics. Please feel free to take a look at some of these videos to better understand some of this episode's content.

Video & Article Links:

• General Articles: What is Traditional Chinese Dance, Traditional Chinese Dance
• Mongolian Dance: The Mongol Minority (article), Chopsticks Dance (article), 草原姑娘 (cǎoyuán gūniang - Girls of the Grassland), Grassland Melody, 远方的思念 (yuǎnfāng de sīniàn), 心中的祝福 (xīnzhōng dì zhùfú), Mongolian Bird
• Tibetan Dance: 天浴 (tiānyù - Day Bath), 天地间 (tiāndì jiàn - Between Heaven and Earth), 天路 (tiānlù - Heavenly Road), 康定情歌 (kāngdìng qínggē)
• Dai Dance: The Dai Minority of China (article), Peacock Dance, the Essence of Dai Ethnic Culture (article), 喜水 (xishuǐ - Happy Water), 傣家的女兒傣家的雨 (dǎjiā de nǔní dǎjiā de yǔ - Dai Girls in Rain), 花腰花 (huā yāo huā), 雀之恋 (què zhī liàn - peacock duet), 碧波孔雀 (bìbō kǒngquè - Jade Peacock), 雀之灵 (què zhīlíng - Spirit of the Peacock)

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance podcast! Today we're taking a deep dive into Chinese Dance and taxonomy into Chinese dances. This is the second part of a three-part mini-series. This part discusses traditional dances. Traditional Chinese dances also include Chinese ethnic dances, so linked are articles about some of the ethnic groups we're discussing today. Again, we're talking about specific dances that are linked in the description, so please feel free to take a look at some of these videos to get a better understanding of some of the episode's content.

Video & Article Links:

• General Articles: What is Traditional Chinese Dance, Traditional Chinese Dance
• Lion Dance: Parts of a Lion (article), Lion Dance Competition, Rice VSA 2020 LNY Performance
• Dragon Dance: Dragon Dance (article), Dragon Dance Competition
• Wa Dance: Chinese Dance: Dancing Hair (article), 佤山印象 （wǎshān yìnxiàng), 太阳人 (tàiyáng rén)
• Yi Dance: The Chinese Yi Ethnic Minority (article), Rainbow Clouds, 索玛花开 (suomǎ huākāi - Suoma Flowers)
• Uyghur Dance: Who are the Uyghurs and Why is China Being Accused of Genocide (article), 花儿为什么这样红 (huāer wèishénme zhèyàng hóng - Why are the Flowers so Red?), Huaer, 铃铛少女(língdāng shaonǔ - Bell Girl)

Welcome to Freestyle Thoughts, a Dance podcast! Today we're taking a deep dive into Chinese Dance and taxonomy into Chinese dances. This is the first part of a three-part mini series. This part discusses Classical Chinese dances. We're talking about specific dances that are linked in the description, so please feel free to take a look at some of these videos to get a better understanding of some of the episode's content.

Video & Article Links:

• General Articles: What is Traditional Chinese Dance, Traditional Chinese Dance
• Dunhuang: 飞天 (fēi tiān) 1, 飞天 (fēi tiān) 2
• Peking Opera-inspired: A Brief History of Peking Opera (article), 百花争艳 (bǎi huā zhēng yán), 春闺梦 (chūn guī mèng)
• Wushu-influenced: Wushu straight sword form, Swords dance, 象王行 (xiàng wángxíng)
• Dynasty-based dances: Tang - 清平调 (qīngpíng diào), Qing - 小薇小薇 (xiǎowēi xiǎ0wēi), Qin - 清风徐来 (qīngfēng xúlái), 一梦惊鸿 (yímèng jīnghóng)
• Han: 盘 (pàn), Joy, 红灯笼 (hóng dēng long), 英台初妆 (yīngtái chūzhuāng), 且吟春语 (qiě yínchūnyǔ)
• Classical: Classical dance example
• Modern: 芒种 (máng zhǒng), 三拜紅塵涼 (sān bàigōng chénliáng), 人间烟火 (rénjiān yānhuohuǒ)