As a retired professional Latin dancer who still dances to this day, debuting as an i-pop girl group member, I still show my colours and passion through my performances. The performance I did recently was dedicated to Ciputra’s continuum Arts Festival from March 7th -10th 2022. My participation for the Arts Festival was covering a choreography by Nicky Andersen that was performed by Jimin (of BTS) in his solo song “Filter”. It’s a magnificent song itself composed with Latin pop elements that’s merged with the k-pop genre. The song itself had an inspirational philosophy behind it as well that I could express in my own way.
With festivals being all about a period of commemoration and celebration, I thought through on a message that would fit the theme of expressing oneself to others as a festivity. Hence, filters can refer to features on a camera app or on social media, but they can also refer to people’s viewpoints or prejudices. I believe that the many ideas portrayed in this performance are about how I want to show myself to the world in a variety of ways, still in my own style. This performance overall is quite similar to my values, experiences and what I believe in which others might too. It’s not that uncommon for those to be told by others how they should represent themselves to the world. For instance, people often tell me to exclusively dance to girl choreographies, be more feminine, and so forth. However, I personally have a higher preference in powerful choreographies that are often boy choreographies. I feel I’ll be able to show off my talents and enjoy myself more. It connects with the idea that it’s like an anthem to be yourself and be whatever you want in order to move outside of your comfort zone and show people who you are. I’d really like to tell the audience no matter what gender, race, or disabilities they have, they should be able to show who they are as they want to. The Arts Festival gives a chance to people to show their true selves by expression in art.
Self-expression is the goal of art. It’s a method of expressing one’s sentiments and emotions. It can be used to make a political, religious, or simply whimsical message. Art is highly personal, and it elicits various emotions in different people. I expressed my performance in a way other people might’ve not thought about such as using props like the chair where movements were Latin-genre inspired with the way I swayed and my hands were formed giving a strong alluring impact as well.
Overall, most personal expressions are executed in dance performances throughout stimulus and personal feelings as well. I made a statement through my performance making it enjoyable for people to watch, which is the beauty of it in regards to showing what the Ciputra Arts Festival celebrates and supports. Showing my true colours with dance genres of Latin, ballet, and pop that I’ve had a career in to build me to who I am today had been another step for me in this performance to show myself out there expressively.
Regina Felicia Hadiputri – Grade 10C
