Is Fusion Authentic? Assessing the Appropriation of Asian cultures in Fusion

Being a first-year, I heard about Fusion for the first time toward the beginning of November and had, of course, never attended. As it turns out, a significant quantity of the talk surrounding Fusion concerned cultural appropriation and whether or not the dance show provided a good representation of Asian cultures.

Prior to the show, I prepared for the worst. I was unsure how cultures and nationalities were being distinguished and how accurately the show would portray them. While waiting in line, I asked members of the audience why they chose to attend Fusion, whether or not they had in the past, and what they had heard about the show. Common answers included “I have a friend in it” and “the food.” A few people had interest in the actual concept of Fusion.

One student said that she knew several people who worked on putting together this year’s Fusion show, and she had heard directly from them that “there [were] concerns about cultural appropriation, but they’re trying to work on it and improve.” Another student commented on the concerns raised about the use of ballet moves as a replacement for more traditional ones, saying “I’m from China, and I know some traditional dances, but [the dancers] don’t have any training in using the

I kept these comments in mind while watching the show and noting the differences between performances. I appreciated that most choreographers referred to research that they conducted to improve the accuracy of their dances and the representation of the cultures from which they originated. “Handkerchief Dance,” “Umbrella Dance” and “Watersleeves” particularly impressed me because it appeared that the dancers had to learn how to use new techniques and props in order to execute the performances, and for “Umbrella Dance” specifically, the choreographers consulted Esther Li, a Chinese student who was already familiar with the techniques of traditional umbrella dancing to aid in the arrangement of the dance.

In “Ribbon Dance,” however, I noticed the ballet moves that had been the subject of concern earlier, and I wondered why “Shipping up to Boston” was chosen for the dance rather than an actual ribbon dance song. “Belly Dance” caused me some confusion as well because the choreographer pointed out that while she drew from both Indian and Egyptian styles, she felt her dance contained more Egyptian aspects. This left me wondering why she did not focus primarily on the Indian influence, seeing as Egypt is in Africa, not Asia. Additionally, I questioned why there were two K-Pop performances when the other genres only got one dance each.

In order to better understand the process behind creating Fusion and the efforts to accurately and fairly represent a variety of Asian cultures, I spoke with this year’s directors of the show, Alysia Mattson and Miles Keeney. They explained to me that their goal in putting Fusion together was to create a successful and entertaining dance show “while still educating the attendees and [themselves] about Asian culture.”

I found it important to note that the directors, along with many of the choreographers, mentioned that in Fusion, the members of the audience were not the only ones learning; the majority of the choreographers had to educate themselves before arranging their dances, which resulted in the varying levels of cultural accuracy seen in the show. Keeney clarified for me why there were two K-Pop pieces, explaining that the first in the show was originally intended to be a J-Pop performance, but the choreographer changed her mind and accommodations were made. This was not, he said, the first time Fusion had two K-Pop performances.

I asked Mattson about her use of Kanye West and Selena Gomez in her Bhangra dance and she explained that in order to choreograph her dance, she watched performances by the Indian group Bhangra Empire, who use “Punjabi music interspersed with Western pop music in their performances.” Her research of the actual group contributed to the decisions she made when arranging her dance. Similarly, Nabeeh Asim, the choreographer of the Bollywood dance, told me about how he had watched Bollywood movies and music videos in order to draw inspiration for his dance.

I took specific interest in Asim’s dance due to the clear transitions between sections of the performance – not knowing much about Bollywood dance, I asked him why he chose to so clearly separate the different styles present in Bollywood when most directors had instead elected to merge their various sources of influence.

Asim explained that in each Bollywood movie, a variety of forms of music and choreography are used and therefore the representation given by his dance is more educative of actual Bollywood style. Asim said he aimed to help the audience “realize the uniqueness of Bollywood dances regardless genre/type, as [the observers] could see how the modern section of [Asim’s] piece is actually very different if you compare it to K-Pop or Western hip-hop.” Additionally, Asim acknowledged that his dance focused on Bollywood specifically and did not try to claim that it represented all of Indian culture, explaining that “mainstream Bollywood dances we see in the movies are not closely representative of Indian culture” anyway. This distinction helped to clarify the contrast between traditional and modern representations in the Bollywood dance.

While not all of the dances were as thoroughly researched and carefully interpreted as “Bollywood,” Asim stepped to his fellow choreographers’ defense with regard to cultural appropriation. He pointed out that the dancers were not trained professionals in these various types of Asian dances—as hiring such people would cost money that we all know the College is not about to spend—but students who he assured me “are trying [their] best to put together a good show, put every effort into making Fusion as authentic as possible, and make our community knowledgeable of other Asian cultures.”

Co-chairs of Connecticut College Asian Student Association Elissa Webb and Gigi Gonzalez reaffirmed this, remarking “We don’t expect every piece to be completely ‘authentic,’ but we do expect all of them to be respectful to the genre’s cultural heritage…we’re all students and we’re all still learning about our own heritage and identity in addition to those of others.” They admitted openly that Fusion has been known, in the past, to be problematic, but they were extremely careful this year in ensuring that their choreographers and dancers were as well-informed as possible.

Following the show, I spoke to Professor Yibing Huang from the Chinese department and asked what he thought of Fusion, authenticity and cultural appropriation. He told me candidly that “the issue is not about authenticity so much as about Fusion as a concept,” referring to the CCASA’s effort to represent so many Asian nationalities. Professor Huang went on to say that he felt he had witnessed “a real sense of idealism and a willingness to open oneself up to other cultures” in the Fusion show, leaving, overall, a positive review.

With these remarks, Professor Huang supported the honest effort that went into the message of Fusion. This coincided with the CCASA co-chairs’ comment: “The purpose of the show isn’t to cater to Western audiences or to remain completely historically and culturally authentic. Rather, it is to recognize the backgrounds of our entire cast and consider those heritages while still paying homage to the show’s Asian roots.”

I could see clearly where problems relating to cultural appropriation might arise in Fusion, and I understand that there are still issues left unresolved in some Fusion performances. While watching the show, I noticed pretty clearly which dances had more work put into conducting research than others, as noted earlier. It seems to me that the issue with Fusion stems from the clash between the cultural and technical aspects of the show.

Given that Fusion is a large production, the choreographers and directors have to be efficient about where they choose to focus their energy in preparation. Therefore, they must decide carefully what takes priority. It was visible in the show which choreographers tackled issues of cultural representation more thoroughly. That being said, from the interpretive decisions made for “Bollywood” to the consultation done to strengthen “Umbrella Dance,” it was clear that the chairs, directors, choreographers, and dancers all worked extremely hard to make Fusion appropriate and representative.

While it seems that CCASA and Fusion’s directors have made serious progress with the show, there is still work to be done. CCASA might consider changing their advertisement of the show to emphasize the fact that the dances in Fusion do, in fact, represent various distinct Asian cultures rather than referring to it with the blanket term “Asian dance and variety show.” Additionally, it would serve Fusion well if more dances took the steps that the choreographers of “Umbrella Dance” did by including a knowledgeable student from the represented nationality in the creative process.

Ideally, each subsequent Fusion will top the last, and with some effort, the show will embrace Asian cultures more thoroughly and educate Conn’s students with increasing accuracy in years to come. •