Diversity with Dance

[Notasmartguy:(]

After a ton of reflection, I've decided to focus on the dance I grew up with and later did in college at a collegiate/competitive level. The problem is I'm not sure what part is best to talk about, since there's so many things I want to touch on, but can't do it in less than 500 words. I want to pick one, maybe two, but I'm not sure which one is best. Here's my potential parts to talk about

1. What the dance taught me about creating effective interpersonal relationships with all types of people, regardless of background, and my desire to learn about all parts of a person by making meaningful connections with them
2. The dance is about telling a story and communicating non-verbally to others. The story changes based on facial expression, arm/leg movement speed, how fast or how slow I spin the sticks in my hands, how I move across the stage. Learning the importance of non-verbal cues helps me connect better with people as I am aware of not just what I communicate, but how I do it. I do have an example of how I extended these non-verbal cues to people as a caregiver, but I'm not sure how good of an idea that is or if it's what adcoms want to see.
3. How it taught me to think on my feet when improvisation is needed. We do a LOT of rehearsal, but things can still go wrong. If I drop the sticks, or trip and hurt myself, how we push on through and keep smiling regardless of how we feel is essential to the dance

Which one(s) should I focus on? I'm hoping to get literally as many peoples' feedback on this.

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[Mr.Smile12]

After a ton of reflection, I've decided to focus on the dance I grew up with and later did in college at a collegiate/competitive level. The problem is I'm not sure what part is best to talk about, since there's so many things I want to touch on, but can't do it in less than 500 words. I want to pick one, maybe two, but I'm not sure which one is best. Here's my potential parts to talk about

1. What the dance taught me about creating effective interpersonal relationships with all types of people, regardless of background, and my desire to learn about all parts of a person by making meaningful connections with them
2. The dance is about telling a story and communicating non-verbally to others. The story changes based on facial expression, arm/leg movement speed, how fast or how slow I spin the sticks in my hands, how I move across the stage. Learning the importance of non-verbal cues helps me connect better with people as I am aware of not just what I communicate, but how I do it. I do have an example of how I extended these non-verbal cues to people as a caregiver, but I'm not sure how good of an idea that is or if it's what adcoms want to see.
3. How it taught me to think on my feet when improvisation is needed. We do a LOT of rehearsal, but things can still go wrong. If I drop the sticks, or trip and hurt myself, how we push on through and keep smiling regardless of how we feel is essential to the dance

Which one(s) should I focus on? I'm hoping to get literally as many peoples' feedback on this.

First question: how is this described in W/A. What did you write if you put down a MME?

Second, what type or types of dance? This is vague from your choices. Is this ethnic dancing like Morris dancing, Bollywood, or tribal/Indigenous, You mention stories so what specific folk dances or performances are these?

And third, what's the prompt?

NB. I also am not sure i get the point of diversity in the description of your choices. It seems you are focused on just that one dance in the story, and I'm not sure how inclusive this makes you. If I wanted to say, my "diversity superpower" is dancing, I would dance all sorts of dances and enjoy the.cultural connection with others in each style (zouk, lindyhop, polka, contact improv, etc.)... and not just be (pardon the pun) a one-note samba. Thats where I thought you would go for 1, but apparently not.

 

[Notasmartguy:(]

First question: how is this described in W/A. What did you write if you put down a MME?

Second, what type or types of dance? This is vague from your choices. Is this ethnic dancing like Morris dancing, Bollywood, or tribal/Indigenous, You mention stories so what specific folk dances or performances are these?

And third, what's the prompt?

1. It's not an MME, but it's described in work/activities as cultural dance that includes making choreography, art, and music that combines both contemporary music and traditional songs in my language (we compose new ones ourselves). I said we perform on campus and at other institutions / celebrations.
2. It's a Gujarati folk dance called Garba/Raas. It serves as a representation of the warrior Goddess Durga in her battles. Every year, we choose a different theme (one year we did one about going on an adventure in a train, which was pretty fun) and contemporary music and combine it with folk songs/dance movements to create something new. The contemporary music we combine with traditional (tribal/indigenous) gujarati songs can include bollywood, but it also western genres like pop songs, jazz, funk, disco. etc.
3. I just thought it was a cool diversity essay to jump off of in general. I can modify it a little for each specific school, but thought it was a good general one to at least get me started. Any advice is appreciated

 

[candbgirl]

You still haven’t shared the exact prompt with us. What is the prompt?