Seeds of Toil -Educational Booklet

SEEDS OF TOIL Three Asian American Stories of Resistance and Resilience Educational Booklet

DTSBDC DANA TAI SOON BURGESS DANCE COMPANY

Photo by Jeff Watts

Director’s notes: My childhood was filled with the worry of how Asian Americans had been wrongly treated and I wondered how these historical events were whitewashed from the canon of American history.

My family history and childhood realizations shaped my understanding of the Asian American experience and formed a deep dedication to sharing, through dance, the diverse stories of resilience from our communities.

My family immigrated to Hawaii in 1903 on the steamship Gaelic. They were among the first 102 Koreans to arrive to the plantations of Hawaii where they became indentured agricultural workers on the sugar and pineapple plantations of the Del Monte corporation. For three generations they worked the fields. When I was a child I asked my mother about the scars on her hands and she answered simply, “I picked pineapples as a child and carried 50 pound bags out of the field.”

I first learned about the imprisonment of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast when I was told that my childhood neighborhood in Santa Fe, NM, was built over a leveled Japanese American Internment Camp. Executive Order 9066 (EO9066) imprisoned over 120,000 Japanese Americans and those with Japanese heritage during WWII. Many were farmers on the west coast who had helped build America's thriving agricultural industry. Due to EO9066 they lost their land and were sent to desolate prison camps spread throughout some of the harshest environments of America for the duration of WWII. To understand this impact, prior to WWII, approximately 90 percent of agriculturalists in California were Asian American, today less than 1 percent are Asian American.

Change occurs through open conversation and alliances between communities. The historic collaboration between Filipino and Mexican agricultural workers in the 1960’s led to the Delano grape strike, a major labor strike organized against table grape growers who were exploiting workers.

The strike lasted 5 years. It began in September 1965 and in August 1966, the AWOC, a predominantly Filipino labor organization and the NFWA, a predominantly Mexican labor organization merged to create the United Farm Workers (UFW) Organizing Committee. In July 1970, over 10,000 farm workers were granted victory from the strike, affording them safer working conditions.

This cooperation of cultural communities, positively changed the landscape of American agriculture working conditions forever.

In this production, you’ll: Experience a performance by Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company that explores the Asian American experience through a dance in three sections, each of which focus on an Asian American historical event.

Explore themes and concepts from the show, such as tolerance, communication, activism, and collaboration.

What to Expect: Performance This dance performance is approximately 45-minutes long and features Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company.

The stories are told through dance.

Performers Dancers use movement and facial expressions to communicate the stories and emotions.

Sound The music throughout the performance is live piano.

Technical Elements Different lighting effects, video projection, and costumes also help tell the story.

What to Look and Listen for: Seeds of Toil: Three stories of Asian American Resistance and Resilience is a dance piece that tells three distinct stories that reference important Asian American historical markers and celebrates the presence of Asian Americans in the canon of American history. The movements include modern dance, martial arts, and dance elements that evoke traditional dances from Philippines, Mexico, and Spain.

While watching the dancers perform, look for: Repeated movements and patterns Shifts in movement based on the tempo of the music Expressions of joy, sadness, and other emotions conveyed through the movement

Description of Each Dance Section and Questions to Consider:

The Pineapple Plantation In 1903 Koreans arrived to the plantations of Hawaii aboard the ship the Gaelic; the first wave of Koreans to immigrate to America. They dreamed of a new life free from political and religious persecution. Many of these Koreans worked as agricultural workers picking sugarcane and pineapples. They ended up living on the Hawaiian plantations and working tirelessly under harsh conditions.

Questions to consider: Are there movements that signify that the dancers share a common bond?

Are the dancers happy or sad?

What are the props that the dancers carry?

The Prisoner Executive Order 9066 (EO9066) was a United States presidential executive order signed

by Franklin Delanor Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. EO9066 created a path for wrongful imprisonment and loss of civil rights for over 120,000 Japanese Americans and individuals of Japanese descent living predominantly on the west coast of the United States. They were imprisoned in desolate locations in America for the duration of WWII. These individuals lost their homes and their land. Many were agriculturalists who had built the California agricultural industry. The last of these prison camps were closed in March, 1946.

Questions to consider: Who does the family represent?

Does the mother, father, and daughter seem scared?

Why are the main characters' costumes different from the chorus?

Does the young woman try to reach out for her freedom?

How would you describe the daughter’s solo movement?

Coalición In the 1960’s grape pickers in California worked in unsafe, underpaid conditions. A major coalition between the Filipino and Mexican workers occurred through the collaborative leadership of Larry Itliong and Cesar Chavez. Together, they organized a strike thus pressuring farm owners to raise their wages and address unfair working conditions.

The Delano grape strike was a major labor strike organized against table grape growers who were exploiting workers. The strike lasted 5 years. It began in September 1965 and in August 1966, the AWOC a predominantly Filipino labor organization and the NFWA, a predominantly Mexican labor organization merged to create the United Farm Workers (UFW) Organizing Committee. In July 1970, over 10,000 farm workers were granted victory from the strike, affording them safer working conditions and better pay.

Questions to consider: Why is it important for collaborations between cultural communities to occur?

Does the movement reflect both Filipino and Mexican cultures?

How would you describe the music?

Education Standards Alignment: National Core Arts Standards DA: Re.7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.

DA: Cn.11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.

Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

CASEL Competencies (Social and Emotional Learning) Social Awareness: The ability to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.

Relationship Skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.

Responsible Decision-Making: The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.

Further reading list: Strike! The Farm Workers’ Fight for Their Rights by Larry Dane Brimner Chino and the Dance of the Butterfly: A Memoir by Dana Tai Soon Burgess Smithsonian Asian Pacific American History, Art, and Culture in 101 Objects by Theodore S. Gonzalves Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans by Ronald Takaki They Called Us Enemy by George Takei Further information about Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company: www.dtsbdc.org