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• 1 2021-04-29T03:56:38+00:00 Note from Parisha 13 Object 4 Submission plain 2021-05-13T04:26:02+00:00

  By Yves Semana Gisubizo

  My point of inspiration for this object has been a note from my Indian friend that I met in 2019 when I was there for my high school. She was a junior by the time I was a senior at Mahindra United World College of India and we both stayed in the same residential housing “Wada 3” as it was labeled. Her name is Parisha. 

  Normally, whenever I feel down or disconnected from my passion and what makes me happy, I try to view me through others. I do this by connecting to my friends and sharing with them about ourselves and looking at how much we’ve done so far and try to encourage each of us to even do more. Another way I bring back my positivity and inspiration is to go through the notes I got from my friends on my birthdays, buddies, etc. I have most of them hung around my room. So when I was going through them this time randomly is when out of nowhere I got to see this note from Parisha motivating me to “keep dancing and keep loving”. This felt like the greatest inspiration at the moment. 

  One reason why this touched me right away is it reminded of how much we both regret not having spent more time together and learned about each other a bit more until we realised we had a week or less to depart to our home places due to Covid-19 break-through. 

  The moment I saw this note, the first thing that came to my mind was the dance moments I had from this high school with the AfroLatin dancing club I was coordinating along with my friends. This club was my safe and joy space like everyone else who was part of it. It’s that space where we got our minds and bodies off the school work and all other negatives but just come together to freely dance and vibe to the African and Latin dance moves exploring and sharing both places’ culture, music, etc.  

  Moreover, this dancing space is one of the very important things to most participant dancers because like me, it equipped us with the confidence and capabilities of going out there and showing the world what we got. 

  I chose this song Yope by Innoss’B ft Diamond Platnumz just because it’s one of the big things we did in this dance club and with Parisha. We threw a flashmob in the dining cafeteria at dinner dancing to this and everyone was shocked and astonished by watching. This made my best life experience on this campus and as a dancer/choreographer.  

  Parisha is a very talented Bollywood dancer. However, like I said I realised this late and we did not have much time to dance and enjoy together. Meanwhile, in the little time we started hanging out for a while, before covid hit and we were abruptly forced to go home, I got a chance to ask her to be part of my dance show, UWC International Talent Show, that I was staging as part of my IB theatre class. Fortunately, she accepted my invitation and she did miracles within the show with her friend Harshita. (Watch here from 39:53). 

  Moreover, recreating this dance choreograph that I worked on for a long time ago in my small room, just brought my energy and joy back in my recent dancing routine. This was a very important thing to have during this pandemic where most of the things feel like are not going great and it can be easy to forget how beautiful, powerful and joyful art can be for the artists themselves and for the viewers. I utilized the little space I had, to recreate and rebuild my dancing and my joy for dancing. 
  
  This dance has a lot of very significant African moves such as the pope move, the shaku and the shook. These are all dance moves that have shaped my body and dancing style. When it comes to the way I move my arms, my legs and my head, it is highly influenced by my East African culture, background and prior afro-dancing experiences. My main artistic intention in any of my African and other dances, is to make sure all my body parts work in collaboration simultaneously informing and emphasizing the artistic meaning and feeling of my dance. And that's why most of the moves are energy heavy, intense and elaborate.

  To conclude, this made me miss my pre-covid dancing experiences and performances solo and more with my friends such as Parisha herself. I hope I can do something like that again really soon. Thanks to interarts for allowing me to do the best I can with my passion during this hard time. 

  Sources:

  Youtube: Sem-G Dile Official, 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwcwzSBtHY
  Youtube: Sem-G Dile Official, 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmogKSkBoQM
  Youtube: Diamond Platnumz, 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebZ7Ng1okCg