Oku's story: conflict arises
From the beginning, Oku and Nemesis’ different, disparate approach to training and dancing creates disagreement. In his narrative, Oku differentiates between his free-spirited philosophy of dancing and Nemesis’s strict training-orientated philosophy of dancing. Oku describes Nemesis’s cypher, a dance circle, as “artificial” because Nemesis intended to force his style of cypher and dancing upon Oku and his friends (Oku 1). However, Oku does not believe that this artificial manner of practice is the way for him (Oku 2). He goes outside and performs a “real cypher” out on the streets, and dances with his friends freely and the way he wants to perform (Oku 2). From the surface, these two philosophies seem to be in opposite ends of the spectrum. According to Oku, “it seems as though, Nemesis and I speak different dialects of the same language and we plan on spreading them in different ways” (Oku 3-4). As such, these two monolingual languages ultimately achieve the same goal of spreading culture and advancing the art. What is under attack in Oku’s personal language is not so much the goal, but the pathway in achieving this goal. In this pathway, he does not merely want to speak a mentor’s language just like “when native speakers communicate, they don’t . . . repeat each other’s ‘moves’” (Oku 2). Thus, Oku initially neglects in attempting to understand Nemesis’ reasoning and philosophy because the break-dancing norm and his previous experience with break-dancing formed a rigid boundary between the two apparently polar languages.
In addition, although the discrete monolingual communications collide head-on, the conflict leads to a search for cultural identity. After practicing in the rundown dance studio with his seven friends, Oku and his friends go out to the streets to seek for what they think is the “right” philosophy of break-dancing. He freely dances with his friends out on the street, and allow other dancers to join to “talk about our beliefs and goals, and where [they] come from” (Oku 3). From the conflict, Oku acquires a deeper sense of individual identity, realizing that his style and approach to break-dancing is too different from that of Nemesis. Unlike Nemesis’s technique and practice based training regimen, Oku believes that one “can’t just learn a culture or language by taking a course or a class. [A person has] to get out there and see” (Oku 3). Oku realizes that he must perform on the streets, not on the hardwood dance studios, and dance to the music he feels that will carry him. The contrast between the two different philosophies enhances Oku’s understanding of his former, native language of free spirit. He further realizes this identity within the break-dancing culture, finds his own niche and community, and becomes fluent in his means of communication: not only monolingually fluent, but transligually adept.
In addition, although the discrete monolingual communications collide head-on, the conflict leads to a search for cultural identity. After practicing in the rundown dance studio with his seven friends, Oku and his friends go out to the streets to seek for what they think is the “right” philosophy of break-dancing. He freely dances with his friends out on the street, and allow other dancers to join to “talk about our beliefs and goals, and where [they] come from” (Oku 3). From the conflict, Oku acquires a deeper sense of individual identity, realizing that his style and approach to break-dancing is too different from that of Nemesis. Unlike Nemesis’s technique and practice based training regimen, Oku believes that one “can’t just learn a culture or language by taking a course or a class. [A person has] to get out there and see” (Oku 3). Oku realizes that he must perform on the streets, not on the hardwood dance studios, and dance to the music he feels that will carry him. The contrast between the two different philosophies enhances Oku’s understanding of his former, native language of free spirit. He further realizes this identity within the break-dancing culture, finds his own niche and community, and becomes fluent in his means of communication: not only monolingually fluent, but transligually adept.