Dancer explores race, masculinity in final UCLA show ‘ONDA’
Graduate student in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WACD) Julio Medina performed his final UCLA show, "ONDA," in Kaufman Hall. The performance explores themes of race and masculinity through the medium of hip-hop and break dance.
Julio Ulises Medina woke up to the sound of the Colombian cumbia and Dominican merengue every morning playing on his home radio. He danced salsa and punta with girls at quinceañeras. He grooved to hip-hop and reggaeton during middle school dances.
Now Medina is interested in how dance portrays race and masculinity. The graduate student in dance explored these notions through hip-hop and break dance – two genres Medina said are often depicted by the media as male-dominated and misogynistic – in his final UCLA show, “ONDA,” Friday and Saturday.
The title means an ocean wave and musical groove, but the term is also part of a popular Mexican expression, “¿Que onda?,” which translates to “What’s up?” The dual meaning reflects Medina’s dual character, he said, defined by a combination of his passion for dance and his Mexican-American identity.
Medina grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where he was surrounded by break dancing and hip-hop in school and on the streets. He would meet his high school friends, most of them Latino or black, up to one hour before and after class to break dance, and the group would gravitate towards the smooth and shiny floor of the second story to dance on. — Emanuela Boisbouvier, Apr. 7
Read the full article at the Daily Bruin website.