SOC!ETY DANCE ACADEMY

CINDYLEE “ASIA” MOON, MOVED FROM KOREA TO NYC'S EAST VILLAGE. BOUND BY HER KOREAN FAMILY’S TRADITIONAL VIEWS ABOUT THE FEMALE ROLES SHE REBELLED, STRUGGLING TO DEFINE HER NEW AMERICANIZED "BODY AND SOUL." THE SALSA AND STREET HIP-HOP BURSTING OUT IN THE LOWER EAST SIDE "WERE THE MOST EXCITING THINGS I'D EVER SEEN," AND ASIA IMMEDIATELY STARTED TAGGING ALONG WITH FRIENDS TO CLUBS WHEN SHE WAS ABOUT TEN YEARS OLD. FUNDAMENTALLY SELF-TAUGHT, SHE MIMICKED WHAT SHE SAW ON TV (“HOW I ALSO LEARNED ENGLISH”), PICKING UP STYLES RANGING FROM BARYSHNIKOV AND BALLET TO MTV TO HIP HOP/RAP (ASIA IS ALSO A RHYMER).

SHE ATTENDED LAGUARDIA HIGH SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND THE PERFORMING ARTS (SHE IS ALSO A VISUAL ARTIST), WHERE SHE WAS ON THE GYMNASTIC TEAM HER SOPHOMORE YEAR, AND, SHE ALSO TOOK SOME CLASSES AT ALVIN AILEY. RESTLESS AND CURIOUS SHE KEPT MOVING FROM "CLUB TO CLUB," IN ALL FIVE BOROUGHS, SEARCHING FOR GREAT MUSIC AND DANCERS FROM HOUSE TO REGGAE TO SALSA AND JAZZ. DESCRIBING HER STYLE, SHE NOTES: “I’VE TAKEN SO MANY DIFFERENT KIND OF DANCE CLASSES AND MIMICKING FROM TV -- THERE’S NO NAME FOR IT. IF THERE IS A PHRASE TO DESCRIBE THE WAY I DANCE, I FEEL THE BEAT, THE RHYTHM, LIKE BONGO DRUMS IN EVERY PART OF MY BODY; [I] WILL MOVE WITH THE DRUM BEAT.” ABOUT THREE YEARS AFTER FILMING CHECK YOUR BODY AT THE DOOR, ASIA WENT “MISSING IN ACTION” AS THE EXPRESSION GOES IN THE CLUB COMMUNITY. 

THE OTHER DANCERS’ REACTIONS TO THIS BECAME AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE FILM. HOWEVER, ASIA RECONNECTED TO THE HOUSE COMMUNITY AFTER 2007, COMING BACK AS A SUCCESSFUL ACTRESS AND HAVING TOURED KOREA AND EUROPE AS A DANCER. NOW AN ACTRESS IN FILM, TV, AND THEATER, SHE HAS WORKED WITH SUCH DIRECTORS AS SPIKE LEE, DAVID PLATT, APPEARING ON “LAW AND ORDER,” THE “CHAPPELLE SHOW,” THE “COSBY SHOW,” “SEX & THE CITY” (AMONG MANY OTHERS).