Quote:
Originally Posted by SWTXBelle
All of this discussion reminds me of some of the discussions regarding the "folk dance" part of the Olympic ice dancing competition. The Russians and their "aboriginal" dance were the most covered aspect, but there were several, um, interesting interpretations. Personally, I would have liked to see each country stick to an interpretation of their native dances - although that brings up the question of what qualifies as a "native folk dance".
So what is the determining factor that decides what is or is not an illicit appropriation of a cultural event, be it dancing or something else?
When should a group feel flattered, and when should they feel used or unvalued?
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I like how you tied this all together! You present some tough questions. It's almost a trial and error and you err on the side of caution. You want to be respectful but you don't want to tread so lightly that you are TOO politically correct. It can get so complicated that you almost don't want to be bothered with doing tributes--sometimes we can appreciate things without having to become a part of those things.
I commented about the aboriginal dance in the Olympic thread. I think the costumes received more criticism than the routine itself. Is that correct? I think tributes are good (when people acknowledge that they are taking something from somewhere else), but I think there can be a thin line between doing a tribute and bordering on mockery. The facial expressions and costumes for the Russian couple are a good example of that thin line.
Along those lines, there are things that I can get away with with my friends and acquaintances who are in other GLOs that I wouldn't necessarily be able to get away with with members of their GLOs who don't know me. So, I can understand why a BGLOer would think it's cool to teach some non-BGLOers on their campus some steps. I can also understand why some non-BGLOers would think to adopt these things on their own without knowing the informal (and formal, in some instances) protocol regarding it, and that can include finding steps and claiming them as their own. Not erring on the side of caution may not have mattered so much locally because they could "get away with it," but it mattered when the shows were seen by others. Things change with a wider and more diverse audience (read: more BGLOers who may be familiar with stepping, familiar with those particular steps, aren't easily impressed, don't know what ZTA is, and/or don't care about the dynamics at the ZTA's campus that lead to this.
It is also important to remember that, as with the Sprite step-off discussion, for all the person who are "offended" (for whatever reasons), there are people who aren't and don't see what the big deal is.
Hybrid Mode
