Last Saturday, I had such an incredible experience during my workshop with the River Lotus Lion Dance! This was the second workshop I’ve hosted at the library as part of my COLLIDER Artist-in-Residence, and it truly breathed some life into me. I left feeling an overwhelming sense of love for the community, and I felt like I was able to fully share my culture and heritage with others.
The goal of this residency–beyond beginning a new body of work–has been to help others understand the cultures that have shaped who I am. I hold many identities: Vietnamese-born, ethnically Cambodian, Chinese heritage, American citizen, military spouse…the list goes on. These workshops are my way of honoring those identities individually, while also showing how they come together to form the whole of me.
For this workshop, I partnered with a group I’m deeply connected to: Louisville’s local lion dance troupe, River Lotus Lion Dance. It felt natural to invite them in to represent the tradition of Lion Dance, an important aspect of the Vietnamese culture I grew up around.
Admittedly, I was nervous about attendance. I’ve had experiences before where people RSVP and don’t show, and I worried this might happen again. And this workshop felt especially important to worry about, because lion dance is deeply relational. It relies on the presence and energy of an audience to feel truly alive. A small group can still make a painting workshop meaningful, but an interactive dance performance needs people. There’s a certain magic and energy that presence gives, and without it, it just falls flat.
Thankfully, when we began at 12pm, people showed up. A couple rows filled the space, and the audience was engaged and curious. River Lotus Lion Dance really went above and beyond for this demonstration! They created a custom slideshow, shared the cultural context of Lunar New Year and Cambodian New Year, and made space for me to connect the performance back to my work.
And then, the magic happened. Once the lion costume came on and the cymbals and drums began, something shifted. People from all over the library started gathering. What began as a small group quickly grew—families wandering in, drawn by the sound and energy (I mean, who isn’t gonna hear that in a library?). By the end, so many people had experienced this tradition, connected with me, and encountered my work.
There is a specific kind of magic that comes from being seen and embraced for who you are. That magic is also relational. It requires vulnerability to being seen on one side, and openness to seeing on the other. In sharing my culture, I allowed myself to be seen. And in watching the joy and curiosity on people’s faces, I realized I was seeing them, too.
If you were there on Saturday, I’m endlessly grateful for your presence and energy. I have one more workshop this upcoming Saturday—and while it has a lot to live up to, I’m excited to see what unfolds.
Yours truly,
Makara
also...here's me in the lion head!