Antiwar, RAWA, Fusion

Busy weekend. Got to attend part of the Antiwar conference. See a speaker from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. And go to this South Asian cultural show that included surrounding campuses in Illinois for FUSION.Everything was generally good. My biggest problem with the FUSION show is that Indian Dance is being transformed into this modernized dance. The music is as well. This is good when done right. Unfortunately what ended up happening is that the music and sometimes the dance would be chopped up. Giving it the effect of someone changing back and forth between MTV and Zee TV. There were a good number of acts that did a modern dance to modern Indian music, yet distinct elements of South Asian dance could be noted. Hopefully things will blend together smoothly in the future.

Most of the dances kept switching from one song to the next, one genre to the next, changing dance style at the same time. This is fine if one or two people do the medley style, but everyone did this. Frustrating… need some originality.