We cannot create a future we haven’t imagined, and imagination takes creativity and dreaming.
More of my “how,” as in what I imagine: Imagine if every single human on the earth woke up with a little booty shake, a whole glass of water, a little food treat, and some doodling/painting/scribbling before doing anything else. That’s radical and anti-capitalist as f*ck already, and that’s only the first 45 minutes of the day. A little booty shake to reclaim the body outside of physical labor and awaken serotonin and joy; a whole glass of water and a little food treat as pleasurable nour- ishment outside of just food for survival; some doodling/ painting/scribbling as tangible art not simply made for consumerism or money. The only way I’ve been able to wake up remotely similarly to a little booty shake, water, treat, and art- therapy was on the tail-end of a debilitating depression. I was only able to have time for these things because my mental health had declined so badly in the months prior that I had no choice but to slow down. Even as I slowed down, I didn’t have other sources of income, so I was still working, as much as I could manage between depressive episodes. And this is speaking as someone with drinkable water, a grocery store within a block, a conscious practice of desocializing the pelvis over the past few years through dance and discussion, and access to financial support from friends, family, and mutual aid. *tap* *hold to read* More of my “how,” as in what I imagine, cont’d: Also, money doesn’t exist in my future. Our currency exchange is Exchange itself. Example: my community has clean water, and we’ve figured out how to filter our water. We’ll teach you how to do this, and in exchange, we’d love for y’all to teach us your particular way of writing and speaking. And we’ll dance and sing together. At its core, this is just cultural exchange, pre-capitalism and pre-colonialism/imperialism. It’s not that the value of services and goods did not exist; it’s that each com- munity’s well-being and genuine curiosity was the cen- terpiece to Exchange, and neither community’s knowl- edge was deemed as superior or more valuable than the others. I’ve been fortunate to have friends in the present already building this future of barter, rooted in the past. Example: I performed in a benefit for my friend under a short rehearsal process, and in exchange they took
my headshots. (High quality headshots cost about $300 edited.) I have another friend who provides astrology readings in exchange for having guests on a podcast. *tap* *hold to read* Cultural exchange and community-building outside of superiority and money, childlike wonder and whimsy, and bodies without social constructs all sounds so basic , and is , at its roots. The part where imagination comes in is how to get back to that from the point we’re at now. We need every single person in on this thought process and brain- storm. For example: cultural exchange happens— every- one is trying their best on their DuoLingo streaks, and Gen Z is very interested in Mykonos, Greece all of a sudden; childlike wonder and whimsy exists in adults– I’m pic- turing all the sunset content and “I wish I was a fairy in a forest” content on the internet; and bodies without social constructs– well, we’re all still working on that one…but line dances and TikTok dance challenges are out there. I fully acknowledge and feel that I’m not sharing any new knowledge. And I love that. We cannot create a future we haven’t imagined, and imagination takes creativity and dream- ing. Pieces of my imagined future exist in the present, but we are stuck in such a cycle of survival mode that even though we are shaking our hips, exchanging time and services for other time and services and friendship, and staying whimsical at the first sign fireflies in Central Park every year, we still have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Liberation is happening on a micro-level, but it will take more people brave enough–or more delusion and toxic positivity–to really push us over the edge to embodied lib- eration on a macro-level. Born on the traditional land of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso, Etiwan, & Kiawah peoples (Charleston, SC), VERONICA JIAO is a Filipino-American dance creative, educator, and administrator. As the grandchild of immigrants, she is engaged in the work of dismantling white supremacist structures as they exist in the arts. Her creative practice renders this work by archiving the embodied Asian-American experience through the mediums of dance improvisation, facilitating critical conversation, writing, collaborative community building, and teaching youth of marginalized backgrounds. She also co-hosts The Dance Union Podcast with j. bouey. As a performer, she has danced with Designated Movement Company, BABEL Movement, Josh Pacheco Dance Theater, Virgin Voyages Cruise Line, The Tallahassee Ballet, and on the National Tour of the Broadway musical Anastasia. As an administrator, she supports Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of Urban Bush Women, and assists planning and team-building at CREA Interactivity.
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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