麻豆影院

鈥楽ystemic racism is a real problem in our country鈥攁nd dance is uniquely positioned to help dismantle it,鈥� professor says

The 麻豆影院鈥檚 dance program is one of four in the country committed to 鈥渄ismantling white supremacy,鈥� .

The publication鈥檚 fall 2020 edition, dubbed 鈥淭he College Issue,鈥� identified CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 dance program as being especially committed to diversifying its dance curriculum.听

Dance Spirit contends that most college dance departments focus on Western styles鈥攂allet, modern, contemporary鈥攔ather than on the world鈥檚 other dance forms.听

鈥淔ortunately, some college degree programs have pledged to diversify their course offerings and to dismantle the layers of white supremacy that still pervade our art on a larger scale,鈥� the magazine wrote.听

CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 Department of Theatre and Dance began working to address racism in dance 18 years ago, Erika Randall, chair of the department, said.听

鈥淲e first began dismantling the ideas of level and 鈥榯echnique,鈥� offering instead a variety of styles that include Hip-hop, house, jazz and transnational fusion,鈥� she told the magazine.

Randall, a dancer herself, noted that this approach buck鈥檚 tradition. She herself grew up dancing in a competition studio and then went on to a conservatory. She learned that ballet and 鈥渃lassical modern dance鈥� were the basis of good technique.听

She also recalled learning jazz dance early on, but, she noted, its origins in jazz music weren鈥檛 discussed. It wasn鈥檛 until she became a swing dancer, dancing and improvising to live music, that she started to see 鈥済aps and misinformation鈥� in her training.听

鈥淭hose gaps have become more and more clear to me as I work with artists at CU who have shared their dances from Ghana and the Bronx, from North Africa and from Philadelphia,鈥� Randall said.听

One of the hardest semesters in her life was when she took Hip-hop dance with CU 麻豆影院 instructor Larry Southall, she said. Not only did her technique improve, but so did her capacity for teaching dance history and ballet, she said.

Such training yields a 鈥渇aceted body鈥� and able mind, she said, adding:听

鈥淭raining across disciplines wakes students up to the truth that their lives have always been influenced by cultures and forms from all over the planet.鈥�

鈥淐lasses that have in the past or in other programs been relegated to elective status are absolutely required here鈥攏ot because of their diversity but because they are essential to training,鈥� she continued. 鈥淲e want to support the education of dancers who are going to become the problem solvers of our global experience.鈥�

For example, African and, specifically, Ghanaian dance as taught by senior instructor Nii Armah Sowah is required for all majors. Students, both in the program and not, consistently report that it is one of their favorite classes.

Dancers who are accomplished in ballet might be frustrated as they strive to learn new forms of the art, she said. 鈥淏ut they learn a new virtuosity, a new relationship to speed and rhythm. 鈥� They find gravity and groundedness and a new connection to the earth that they had perhaps spent a lifetime trying to defy.鈥�

Randall noted that CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 dance faculty is diverse; half of the faculty are African or African American, 鈥渁nd yet we know we can do more to complexify and model difference to create more in-roads for new students.鈥�

鈥淪ystemic racism is a real problem in our country鈥攁nd dance is uniquely positioned to help dismantle it,鈥� Randall said.听

鈥淏orrowing language from our swing-dance masters, we know that dancers can kick-ball change the world.鈥�

CU 麻豆影院 Chancellor Philip DiStefano recently interviewed Randall, Southall and Helanius Wilkins, assistant professor of dance, in a video titled The Bridge, the Break and the Belonging. See it at this link.