Events Break Off and MIO Show

NOV7 8:00 PM Bodacious Presents: 1st Annual Fall Break Off
Alexander G. Hill Ballroom, Kagin Commons
Come watch the hottest Breakdance crews from the Twin Cities battle it out during Bodacious Week. The Breakdance battle will be followed by a dance and party. Tickets for the battle sold in the lower level of the Campus Center for $2 or $5 at the door the day of the event. Sponsored by Bodacious.
Nov15 MIO SHOW.
It is part of Bodacious week. A whole week that had interesting cultural events and Friday came. My girlfriend purchased the tickets in advance and we were ready to enjoy a new event in Macalester that we hoped to bring a different perspective for a “Kagin” event. The result was better than expected; the organization was brilliant as there were judges, people for collecting tickets and answering questions.
More than that there was great variety of different crews that battled and the event kept it’s fast pace until the end. There were different parts of the battles – one to one, and crew to crew. All participants came to show their skills and their unique style and it was great to see that. One of the teams had two girls on the team that were very good and the audience liked their performance. They showed that although break dancing is accepted more as a men dance, girls can prove to be very good or better than some men. What I saw in the event reminded me to the talk that Maria gave us and when she explained how hard it was to be accepted as an artist and to be on the same stage with men.
Looking at the audience I saw that there was no separation between girls and boys, all people came to enjoy the Break Off performance and there is no reason to think that girls are not of equal importance of developing of the breakdance culture.
Another very important detail was that breakdance crew were from different ethnicities, there were Asian, Afro-American, Caucasian and other. Teams were not from different ethnicities and they had a common love, the love to break dancing.
Break Off competition is so great because it shows us that it doesn’t matter who you are and if you are girl or boy but if you put the hard work you can obtain amazing skills.
To be part of these crews is a great honor. There were even several boys that were not older than nine that inspired big part of the audience.
Next week, there was another event that I attended and figured out that what we study in the class is interpreted very differently from people from different cultures. In class we share ideas and comment on other’s people writings but it is always different when we express our own thoughts on a subject. The MIO show presented different cultural dances and it tried to show some of the world culture. Some people cannot understand and perceive that belly dancing is a popular and socially accepted dance in Greece, Turkey and the middle east. More than that throwing of flowers, napkins and breaking special plates was a popular way of entertainment in Greece and other Balkan countries. It is very different how the dances are perceived from the audience. A way to show respect and to show appreciation of some of the dances could be wrongly perceived as disrespectful and unacceptable behavior by some people. The cultural borders are made to be broken by people that want to do that. MIO show is trying to give audience a sampler of what is out there and entertain people. It is not to be judged is belly dancing is disrespectful dance for women as there is no one able to judge that as there is no one able to judge if dancing country music or watching a wrestling federation game is not right. Everybody have some cultural flavor to add and that is what makes the world such a great and culturally rich place. Place, where you can find something to amaze you and a place where you can learn a lot. It is not about if you a girl or boy, it is all about who you are.