Hello! I am one of the performers in the video and one of the founders of Flying Silk. I'm grateful that our first performance as an official campus group has garnered such a positive response over the years and seen how the group has continued to grow. I grew up doing Chinese dance and it was always such a joy to connect with and share my heritage through dance. I wanted to answer a couple common questions that I've seen in the comments. What is the ribbon made of? The ribbons and the costumes we wear are made of silk. We had previously tried using polyester ribbons because they are cheaper to purchase (especially for college students), but they are a bit heavier and don't flow with quite the same elegance as silk does. How are the ribbons prepared into flower form seen at the beginning? The ribbons are attached to a wooden dowel. At the end of the stick is a circle of the silk sewn together with an elastic band on the edge. The ribbon is gathered and pleated into small folds around the end of the dowel which forms the "petals." The elastic pouch is then pulled over the bottom half of the pleats to form the base of the flower (think of how you fold a pair of socks together). A flick of the wrist allows us to "throw out" the ribbon, which you see at 1:19. Where do you get your ribbons and costumes? The ribbons seen in this performance were purchased in Taiwan. We actually had a family member go in person to order and purchase them and ship them back to us. The costumes were custom ordered; we had to take our tailor measurements and have them sent in to have each costume tailor made for us. Unfortunately, I don't have much more information about where they were ordered from, which I know is the main reason people are asking. As you might see on the upload date, it's been over ten years since this performance (wow!). Hopefully anyone inspired to do ribbon dance is able to find some alternatives that are much more accessible. What is the name of the song? We don't actually have that information, either. Prior to the official formation of Flying Silk, a few of us were classically trained in traditional Chinese folk dance at the local Chinese language school. The dance instructor there had all of her dances set to songs that were composed specifically for those dances by someone she knew. The song files that we were submitted for performances were very unceremoniously titled things like "fan_and_ribbon_dance.mp3" or "single_double_ribbon.mp3". The song we used here was actually composed for a different dance involving pink feather fans and one long ribbon that extended behind the shoulders (see the Butterfly Lovers ribbon dance from Journey into Asia 2011), but we reused it for this performance. Our instructor did not want the dances copied or performed by anyone she did not train, so out of respect we do not share the song files. Thanks for understanding! I hope this comment helps anyone who might stumble upon it now or later. Thanks for letting us share a slice of Chinese culture with you!
I absolutely LOVED the first part of this and understand what you were trying to do. What makes the AA step shows so special, and what would make yours special, is the incorporation and swagger of your culture and heritage in your performance. You all would kill it if you used the drum line beats from the New Year Celebration music, your amazing martial arts movements and some traditional and pop music. Recovering from a lupus flare in bed today and just realized I'm online giving step show advice to a group of kids who are young enough to be my grandbabies! lol! Anyway, if anyone from your organization is reading this seven years later, I think you could totally do the thing with justice with your own great culture - one of the oldest in the world!
Excuse you??? Many "Multicultural communities use step"- INCORRECT- AFRICAN AMERICANS USE Step! Please stop appropriating and mocking and mimicking every thing we do- It is NOT flattering and is very disrespectful!
Why choose an African American art form to show strength an pride in your heritage? I don't have an issue with the appreciation of the art form, but considering what we go through as African Americans, I'm disappointed that the history of OUR creation was completely omitted. Not even a mention. Smh. You guys get the side eye.
bruh why yall white wash that description? No mention of African Americans whatsoever. Stepping is an African American art form. It has its roots all the way from Africa when they use to do step and call as a form of celebration and to pay homage to their ancestors. Im Asian and even I know that. SMH
Our dance in the 2017 Christmas Program (in gr4 st donatus Hi Fellow SBSN CLASSMATES who are watching this) is International and is Korean Fan dance and our teacher in charge said that we should watch this so we can practice at home and I thought our dance was the worst only because it is hard then i saw it and it was amazing! ×D
