I know we are so familiar with the phrase. Today, thanks to the BLM movement, you can pretty much put anything before “matters” and it seems to be a badge of honor and of justified relevance. However, if you take a deeper look you will realize that not everything we say matters truly contributes to the uplifting of a situation, organization, people, or life.
Have you ever heard the term representation matters? What about as it relates to the world of dance and professional dance life? What do you think about when you hear that phrase? Well let’s start here. If you are a member of the Dance Career Accelerator, you heard my podcast episode on this very topic. Within that episode I exclaimed that the year of 2024 is bringing much more transparency for me on my platforms. So, I have to be honest. Every time I’ve heard the phrase I would search for an explanation. I would search through captions for some sort of strength of validity. I would look for something to get on board with why so many people feel that representation matters in dance. There are tons of examples I’m sure we can come up with today. I am endeavoring to bring out a point that shed light on the phrase actually being a tool within the world of dance. This tool is not for our benefit, instead, it is to our steady demise.
Unfortunately, every time I’ve heard the phrase it surrounds the thought of choosing or lifting black dancers above anyone else. This is not to say that everyone uses this phrase for that purpose but overall that’s the connotation. And so for the next few minutes I’m just going to lay out some of my thoughts to you, the reader. I’ll start here. And October 2022 I was interviewed for an article that shed light on diversity in ballet and how that plays a role in the city of Columbia, South Carolina. At one point the journalist asked me a very great question. I enjoyed the question as much as I enjoyed answering it. He said “Do you think you have to work 10 times harder than everyone else because you’re black”? With great understanding, I responded “No”. To that point, I would later go on to say, and just because I’m black I don’t want anyone choosing me for a role or position if I do not need to be chosen. And this is where we come in with representation matters.
I have seen different posts and have read different articles that push for an explanation of a lack of black dancers in certain spaces, roles, ballets and positions. While this question in itself isn’t wrong to ask, a lot of times it would circle the phrase and thought of representation being paramount in all of these situations. But have we ever stopped to think why we feel that representation matters so much to us ? Have we ever stopped to think if it is valid, exemplary, or helpful to our craft and profession to simply want to be put in the front because of our race? Well, if the presentation of representation within dance is coerced, is it truly representation for the right reasons? At that point does representation matter above truthfully positioning individuals based on their ability, professionalism or integrity?
Unfortunately, the concept of representation has been used as a tool for dancers to strong arm our visibility regardless of sometimes meeting standards within our craft and working environments. So I leave you with this. Does representation matter that much to you? Does the potency of your work and the influence of your craft mean more to you than having your race at the forefront?
Now understand that no matter who you are, where you come from, no matter your ethnicity or race, when you’ve earned something and it’s for you, one million percent you deserve to be in that spot. So don’t mix up what I’m saying. Standards need to be replaced in the field of dance for greatness and the molding of new legends cannot take place when all we care about are things that have nothing to do with the work. So, before we jump on trends and bandwagons, and decide to over saturate social media with actions that work against the standard of a craft we say we love and are passionate about, let’s take a moment to think about why we started dancing in the first place. Let’s practice taking a moment to think about all those who came before us, and truly meditate on how they never forced their way in but their light, strength, true audacity and integrity thrusted them into spaces where they could not be ignored.
Let’s bring dance back to dance.
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