Hi there! Nice to meet you!Ana and Kennedy here. This past semester we've taken Professor Tuttle's Intro to East Asian Civ: Tibet course and have absolutely loved it. As our final project, we've decided to make this site, which explores the intersection of tea customs and ritual dance through the lens of the Tibetan Butter Tea Dance.
With the hopes of building upon our previous knowledge, we used this project as an opportunity to see how our previous research manifests itself in the larger New York City Landscape. Ana's object biography explored Tibetan tea and its social, cultural, and economic significance while Kennedy's explored the Black Hat Dance and the use of dance as a ritualistic practice. When brainstorming what the topic of our final project should be, we happened on the Butter Tea Dance, which seemed to exist at the intersection of both of these practices. However, rather than just re-stating our findings as it relates to the Butter Tea Dance--using this dance as a new lens in which to frame our research--we decided to take a more interactive approach. While we were ultimately unable to attend a live performance of the Butter Tea Dance for it is a ceremony that is rarely performed anymore, we did explore the social, cultural, and economic practices that the dance embodies. New York City has a rich Tibetan community, so we took it upon ourselves to explore some of its tea houses and dance offerings. Our final project thus not only explores the Butter Tea Dance, but also speaks to our experiences as we explored the larger Tibetan tea and dance communities in NYC. We hope you enjoy! |