UPAJ = Tap Dancing + Ancient Indian Dance

“How can you evolve without giving up your integrity?” is what Pandit Chitresh Das asks at the end of the trailer for this wonderful new film called Upaj:Improvise. Watch as he and Jason Samuels Smith learn from one another and share their cultural differences openly, critically – and creatively. We can’t wait to see this film!


In/visible Ethnicities – Portrait Project by Vanessa Newark

A portrait photographer in the United Kingdom takes on self-identified mixed-race individuals as subjects with lovely results:

This project is about how people of mixed ethnicities self-identify and explores how they have been identified through Census forms and in society. The work also highlights how the subtle differences between self-definition and ethnic categories are often too varied to fit within the single tick-box “Other”. (from http://www.vnewarkphotography.co.uk/)

Click here for more: In/visible Ethnicities Portraits

Follow photographer Vanessa Newark on Twitter here: @vnewarkphoto

 


Wanted: Stories About the Asian American Experience

From the CAAM website: The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible. We do this by funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media.

We encourage you to tell your unique story – and then take advantage of the many resources out there to help get your story distributed to a wider audience. Others will benefit greatly from your truths!


Brown Rice: My Blasian Story

Hitomi Lei Mockett is writing a memoir about growing up with a “Japanese, Buddhist mother and an African-American, Catholic-raised turned Atheist father.” Sharing a voice that has yet to be widely represented in the mainstream, Hitomi hopes to “advocates unity in culture and races through honest narrative, grounded in love.” We fully support her in her writing journey; take a look at her blog, and ‘like’ her facebook page to show your support too!