“We are family...I got all my sisters with me...We are
family...Get up everybody and sing...” ...My mother's favorite song when I was
growing up. She would sing in her beautiful broken english accent and I would
revel in the moment and dance along.
Like most families, we were dysfunctionally functional.
We had no idea how to communicate with or help each other. So, I used dance as
an escape...an escape from family, my own thoughts, the world. But rarely did I
ever share that with my family. I danced for myself.
It’s not that my family didn’t like to dance. In middle
school, I often came home to my older brother and sister and their goofy high
school friends trying to do the running man or the cabbage patch in our living
room. I was too shy to join them but I would watch with envy from the stairs
with my face lodged between the rails. Eventually, I would go off to college and
join the working world, and finding a dance group/community, wherever I lived,
became essential to my standard of living.
Recently, I had been living in San Francisco when my
mother had an aneurysm. It was almost a miracle that they found it. I couldn’t
handle the thought of losing her. So, I decided to move back to Maryland and
vowed to help her address the very real disease that plagues her and millions of
other Americans—stress. I knew it was an incredible opportunity that I had just
been given. Yet, I was worried because I didn’t know if there was much of a
dance community here in DC.
Clearly, I didn’t do my homework. Thankfully, Tsunami
introduced me to Urban Artistry
and put me in touch with Junious Lee Brickhouse, the
company’s Executive Director, Founder, ultimate mentor and guide. So, I began
going to the house classes, but it wasn’t until several months later, when I
joined Urban Artistry, that I
realized Urban Artistry would change my life.
“It’s not really about dance," - a common sentiment we
hear from Junious, about Urban Artistry. At first, I didn’t know what he meant.
But after half a year of practicing together twice a week, going to classes
twice a week, performing with the group, eating with and getting to know people
in the group, organizing events with the group, cyphering and going to the clubs
with the group, I have come to understand that it truly is not just about dance.
What is taught in the classes and beyond are tools to help you feel comfortable
in the cypher, and ultimately, with yourself. What is created at practices is
the safe space to try new things and fall in the process, yet to get back up and
try again. What is demanded of every member in the group is a commitment to be
authentic ambassadors of culture, to truly challenge and support each other, and
to be unselfish with our knowledge, skills and opportunities. So, it’s about
honoring the process of finding dignity, integrity, and grace within oneself and
extending the same to others, which naturally leads to growth in one's identity
as an artist.
Through being a part of Urban Artistry, I am finally
conquering my fear of being in the cypher—a fear that I’m realizing is rooted in
not knowing how to communicate. This has become clear in the past year since
I’ve moved home and begun to address long-standing issues with my family. As I
try to enter the cypher more often and work through issues with family members,
I realize that this may be a long journey, for there are no shortcuts. But the
path is becoming clearer – the more I attempt to communicate with my family, the
more confident I become in the cypher and in my artistry.
I see the circle of life in UA. We come together because
of dance, we then build and grow and are committed to each other because of our
humanity, and then we exchange and inspire and teach through dance. So now, I
want to share dance with my family, with my Urban Artistry family, with friends
and others. Now, instead of dancing for myself, I dance for them. I dance for
family.
Lesilie Liao is a Board
Member and artist with Urban Artistry
