Originally Posted by SamanthaFortunata

I have to add in my own two cents on fusion.
I think that we need to remember that dance styles and traditions are based in a cultural, social, historical, political, and of course artistic and aesthetic context. I think that fusion is one of the hardest things to do because you really need to understand the traditions before you can blend them. As one of my old painting teachers used to say 'You have to be able to draw well before you can go abstract.'
Now this is not to say that we must be total purists, and that one can never have fun and mix things up. Tahia Carioca got her name because of her mixing it up with popular Latin and Brazilian steps! So make it creative and funky!
I just have an issue with fusion being a label given as an excuse for not really knowing what to do. Fusion gets a bad rap for that, bad art is bad art. Also you can mix elements without create a fusion.

That's my opinion.
Samantha