International artists converge at UCLA

For many people, summer vacation in Southern California means
frolicking at the beach and diving into the ocean. But at UCLA,
artists from Asia and the United States engage in a different kind
of immersion.

This Friday at the Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater will mark the
final performance of a summer’s worth of artistic creation and
collaboration by the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange residency
program. Commissioned by the UCLA Center for Intercultural
Performance, APPEX is a six-week artist residency program for
music, dance and theater that fosters artistic collaboration and
promotes creative cultural discoveries through an intensive summer
workshop series suited for professional artists.

"For the artists to share with each other and build
understanding across cultures ““ that’s our achievement and
our center’s development," said Anuradha Kishore Ganpati, director
of development and communications for CIP.

The applicants hail from a mix of Asian countries, allowing the
CIP to form a network of people from diverse cultures known as
APPEX fellows. Eight Asian and eight American artists and two UCLA
graduate students were handpicked for this summer’s program. The
workshop’s objective is to enrich talents through a curriculum of
presentations, projects, debriefing sessions and forums.

"We provide the opportunity to bring professionals from Asia and
America for intensive workshop sessions to meet, teach and
collaborate with each other through their crafts," Ganpati said.
"There are cultural nuances that are very different among the
various cultures. Asians are very ensemble-oriented, always working
in a team. Americans are independent, so they have to learn how to
work in a group."

Though they’re surrounded by professionals, this year’s graduate
students from the World Arts and Cultures department are holding
their own. But despite her years of experience, choreography
student Cynthia Ling Lee is still finding there’s much to
learn.

"People’s identities are complex. Collaboration is great in
art-making and it’s inspiring to be here ““ we learn about
different strategies on responsible collaboration and perhaps find
artistic partners that we can all work with in the future. And some
of the other fellows are quite older than me, so I learn what they
have done as artists," Lee said.

Lee is a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, annually
awarded to 50 graduating seniors from liberal arts colleges to
pursue independent study abroad. Proposing a project that would
allow her to delve into the world of religious dances, Lee traveled
from Brazil to Thailand and ultimately to India, exploring
spiritual and sacred dance traditions. Among these dances was a
type of Afro-Brazilian dance and Kathak, a north Indian classical
dance.

"I studied different dance forms over the years," Lee said.
"Kathak is the form that I love, and I want to deepen my
relationship with it. The point is not necessarily mastery, but
love for the dance."

Lee’s experiences with APPEX have taught her the importance of
being true to one’s roots, even after traveling the world.

"I want to commit to working in an international level and still
be rooted with local culture," Lee said.

Waewdao Sirisook, an international student from Thailand, is
another artist at UCLA pursuing her master’s degree in dance. She
combines dances from Bali and Northern Thai in a contemporary dance
form that she has already presented to international audiences.
Constantly traveling to Europe, Asia and the United States during
her years as a dance student has given Sirisook the opportunity to
develop both her dance and the philosophy behind it.

"Performing is an exchange. I notice from my experiences in
traveling and cultural performances that my dance form
doesn’t really exist in other countries," Sirisook said. "I
hope to gain inspiration from other artists and for them to devote
themselves to Asian culture and have new experiences."

Ultimately, APPEX and this Friday’s performance are also about
trying something new.

"We want the artists to be amongst professional in other parts
of the world, in an environment where they can take risks," Ganpati
said. "APPEX is not product-driven, but artist-driven."