What is yoga? As yoga practice spreads across the world, the concept of yoga has been equated to ideas such as physical exercise, coping method, or business opportunities. As a yoga practitioner, I found myself dazzled by new types of yoga springing up in the U.S. This phenomenon inspired me to debark on a journey of finding out what is the “original” yoga described in Indian classics, how has yoga adapted to different cultural contexts and what has changed in this process of acculturation. Since Fall 2015, I have conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Seattle and two cities in China, interviewed yoga practitioners in both countries and read Indian yoga classics as well as modern yoga guidebooks. The result of my research reveals how yoga has changed from a philosophical state of being to a way of coping with the postmodern lifestyle. This performance presentation contains three main parts: the first part is a visual presentation of yoga documented in Indian classics and its modern day equivalent in U.S. and China. Audience will be exposed to the process of how yoga changed across time and space. The second part introduces various interpretations of what yoga is by practitioners both in the West and the East. The interpretations will unravel how yoga embodied predicaments of the greater social-cultural context. The third part will concluded the performance by challenging viewers to expand their understanding of yoga without offering definitive answers to the question, “what is yoga?”

In several studies regarding the history of colonialism, an analogy between female bodies and land has been made. Many scholars have discussed how an Empire exploits its colonies as well as sexually objectifies and claims ownership of colonial women. The main evidence of eroticization can be most manifestly observed in colonial dances among many other cultural phenomena, mainly due to the fundamental physicality of the art form. In this research, I aim to reveal how colonialism affected traditional dance forms of Hawaii and Korea, which had suffered from the rule of the United States and Japanese Empire for decades. Notable changes in the way female bodies were presented in Hawaiian Hula and Korean Shin-muyong (Korean neoclassical dance) are studied, as well as the trace of eroticization that still lives today. In order to identify characteristics of the colonial Hula and Shin-muyong, I shed new light on the lives of two most prominent Hawaiian Hula and Korean Shin-muyong dancers, Kini Kapahu and Choi Seung-hee. I draw on scholarship and archival resources indicating that they had one common strategy for success in the United States and Europe: colonial exhibition. Understanding of the power relation between colonial women and imperial audience of the time can be inferred from the literature analysis. In addition, I take warning against the undying specter of colonialism by illuminating how modern tourism sells the descendants of Kini Kapahu and Choi Seung-hee, or Hawaiian and Korean female dancers of the 21st century, as exotic commodities that satisfy the sexual aspiration of tourist conquerors.

This project is a modern adaptation of Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years, with a specific focus on racial diversity. Diversity in the arts is essential for artistic progression and innovation, and for maintaining sociocultural health; however, the lack of racial diversity in the performing arts has been a persistent, pressing issue. Artists from marginalized groups are grossly underrepresented in all aspects of modern theatre and performance; this prevents new stories and experiences from being developed and shared in the community. Our production has been specifically cast with UW students of color; the play chronicles the relationship between two young artists as they tackle the many challenges they face from society, one another, and themselves. Throughout the rehearsal process, we will inform the original script (which will remain unchanged) with the experiences and perspectives of young artists of colors. We will also explore how the challenges in the play are compounded by factors including gender, class, self-identity, and more; we want this production to address the unique obstacles faced by people from marginalized groups, especially in the arts. This process will culminate in a series of performances at UW’s Ethnic Cultural Theatre from May 20th through the 22nd. Additionally, all proceeds from the show will be donated to arts education in the Seattle area, with a specific focus on underrepresented communities.