Today we’d like to introduce you to Marlene Baldonado.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
KASA Ignite is derived from and founded under San Diego State University’s Korean American Student Association (KASA). KASA Ignite, as part of SDSU’s KASA, explores the realm of K-pop. Our group is an open dance team with three main principles: to connect, unite, and Ignite! As cheesy as our principles may sound, our group serves as a safe and creative community where those interested in K-pop music and/or dance can connect with other individuals with similar interests. K-pop is just one aspect of a plethora that makes up Korean culture and identity, but within it are so many subcategories such as performance, makeup, choreography, music, production, etc. Despite K-pop’s increased popularity in the United States, there is still a stigma around liking K-pop. Through providing accessible and free workshops, performance opportunities, and information on local K-pop-related events, we hope to serve as a catalyst, connecting and uniting people over their shared interest in K-pop.
Our workshops are hosted almost every week on Fridays at 5:30 p.m. at SDSU Parking Structure 3 Level 4. We have a rotation where of our three captains, a different one teaches each Friday. Our performance opportunities are generally done in collaboration with cup sleeve event hosts and other organizations on and off campus. In recent years our team has been presented with more performance opportunities for a variety of events. We owe a lot to SDSU KASA advisor and SDSU Associate Professor of Dance Theory/Practice, Dr. Chuyun Oh, who has given us her endless support and guidance! Dr. Oh has given us countless opportunities just this year alone! Ignite is on the cover of The JoongAng magazine, performed for the SD Padres Korean Heritage Night Pre-game Show (09/19/23), SDSU Arts Alive K-pop Dance Showcase (09/06/23), appeared in the intro for the documentary K-POP Generation episode 4, performed for Dr. Oh’s K-pop Dance Fandom Lecture which was filmed for an Amazon Prime film (10/27/22). We have also performed at K-PlayFest San Diego 2023, and our returning captain, Marlene Baldonado, had the honor of being selected as one of Dr. Oh’s undergraduate TAs for the first-ever U.S. college credit-bearing K-pop dance course during CSU Summer Arts 2023!
“KASA Ignite is organized and run by college students. Our current captains, including myself, are all full-time students. This holds for past years as well. Captains of KASA Ignite could change on a semesterly basis or a yearly basis depending on captains’ circumstances (graduating, class schedule conflict, other responsibilities, etc.). I joined KASA Ignite as a member during my first year at SDSU in 2021. I became an Ignite captain my second year at SDSU in 2022. From my knowledge, ignite started around 2017-2018, which is a few years before I joined. Like our logo, which is a flame, the past captains of Ignite passed down a torch that continues to be handed off. Despite there being the constant change of new captains to run Ignite, the flame keeps burning as the passion that founded Ignite remains. We carry on and expand upon the principles that allow Ignite to continue to burn bright.” – Marlene Baldonado (third-year SDSU Liberal Studies elementary education major, returning and current Ignite captain)
“I joined KASA Ignite during Fall 2022 during my freshman year through their first workshop of the year, “Talk that Talk.” I really liked that workshop, so I kept coming to the ones after that and eventually, I started joining the performances that they offered. Through these performances, I was able to meet so many new people, and it also gave me an opportunity to improve on my dance skills since I only started self-teaching myself a year beforehand. Through this experience, I was able to get the courage to become one of the captains for this incoming 2023-2024 school year, and I’m so glad I did. I really enjoy meeting lots of new people, teaching pieces that I love to share, and organizing performances that in the end are worth watching at the end of the process.” – Trisha Vann (second-year SDSU Public Health major, current captain)
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are new challenges every semester as the captains (returning or new) have to adjust to their course load and find a balance in their schedule for academics, work, extracurriculars, personal time, and then Ignite. A lot goes on behind the scenes in preparing for workshops, events, and performances. Captain schedules may not always align, so a captain may have to work on a project primarily by themselves to ensure we can provide our members with as many workshops and performance opportunities as we can. Being an open dance group, it can be challenging to arrange practices to accommodate the majority of our dancers and also be able to mobilize recruitment for dancers as we often only have a few weeks or less to prepare for performance(s).
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
KASA Ignite is by no means a professional team; as an open team we generally accept anyone and everyone who can commit to practices and of course the performances themselves. We take pride in being an all-inclusive team that allows for the exploration and creative expression, through dance, of individuals of differing dance levels and disciplines. Our captains also embody our teams’ value of inclusivity as we all come from varied dance backgrounds- we often have a mix of captains who are self-taught and are fairly new to dance and some who have trained in dance for a couple of years before branching into K-pop dance, etc.
“What sets Ignite apart from others is our collective passion, accessibility, accommodations, and our positive and nurturing community. Though we have grown in numbers over the years and have more of a name for ourselves, we have remained our authentic selves without succumbing to the pressure of “being perfect.” The goal is not to be “perfect” in our performances, the beauty of K-pop cover dance is adding your style and enjoying the moment; I feel our team has always stayed true to that!” – Marlene Baldonado (third-year SDSU Liberal Studies elementary education major, returning/current Ignite captain)
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
“The COVID-19 crisis has taught me not to confine myself to “what ifs” and instead approach life with “why not.” I tend to get too much in my head space, especially when trying new things for the first time, which has caused me to miss out on opportunities that I regret not going for, as now I will never know if I could have achieved them. Adopting this new lens on life has allowed me to grow alongside Ignite as we have been introduced to many new experiences we would have never thought we would get to. Life is short and unpredictable, as exemplified by the COVID-19 crisis, so why live a life of regrets when you can live life to the fullest.” – Marlene Baldonado (third-year SDSU Liberal Studies elementary education major, returning/current Ignite captain)
“Through the Covid-19 crisis, I was able to learn the importance of putting yourself first before anything else. I used to very much be a people-pleaser when it came to the point that I was sacrificing things in my life for the sake of others, which was affecting both my physical and mental health. When quarantine happened, I was able to reflect on myself, and it made me realize how am I supposed to care for others if I can’t care for myself. Ever since then, I have been trying to be less of a people-pleaser and instead trying to stand up for myself more by putting my needs first before anything else. By loving yourself, you are able to love others with more care and also will find life to be more enjoyable to live in.” – Trisha Vann (second-year SDSU Public Health major, current captain)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kasa_ignitedance
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sdsukasaignite?feature=shared
