NOTE: This paper serves as the script I used for my
presentation at the NAAAS conference in Baton Rouge. The original version was a
25 page thesis for my MA from NYU.
The American dance education system continues to function
with an archaic model. One that specifically caters to both 19th century and
racially marginalized hierarchies. Stemming from the historically recognized
“high art” (European) vs. “low art” (Black/African) dichotomy evident in
western concert dance, this structure is imported into and persists in the
curriculum model for dance education. Although the following components of
African American dance techniques such as Jazz, Hip Hop and African derived
styles are being offered, they are typically not a central part of the
curriculum but rather exist as electives. While learning classical ballet and
modern dance techniques are essential to the development of any trained dancer,
other cultural approaches are generally overlooked and or considered
non-essential as a foundation of the well-trained 21st century
dancer and dance studies major.
Black Popular Culture and Dance Studies Scholar Dr.
Halifu Osumare poignantly stated, “Almost every discipline in the academy has
had to adhere to a revisionist history of their discipline and dance has yet to
do so. Why is that?” W.E.B Du Bois tells us that, “The problem of the twentieth
century is the problem of the color-line.” I argue that this problem
remains in the 21st century. And while many disciplines in the
academy have recognized this and are taking the necessary steps to interrogate
the issues of racial and cultural biases, dance has yet to join in the
reforming in any substantive way.
Consequently, dance students in higher education are not
developing the skills or knowledge base to incorporate a well-rounded dance
education that includes an Africanist aesthetic approach to dance. The current
inclusion of black dance styles into higher education dance curricula are
superficial and that does not explore the genres' complexity and sophistication
in proportion to its influence within American and world cultures.[1] Interrogating
the ideology of western concert dance and education, which misappropriates and
segregates the practice and performance of Black dance is the subject of this
research. In so doing I examine its realities and explore its
ramifications, while offering a more inclusive alternative dance curriculum.
My purpose is to promote authorized appropriation and proper
integration of the Black dance aesthetic in the methods for dance
studies and performance. What I refer to as “authorized appropriation” draws on
aesthetic traditions derived from the West African, Afro-Caribbean and Black
American cultures.
Achieving authorized appropriation is not only essential to
the aim for reparations required to end the conscious and unconscious
decentralizing and misappropriating of the Black dance aesthetic in its
practice and performance, but also to end the discredit of and disrespect for
the potency and significance of Black dance aesthetics inherent in American
dance history and culture. The purveyor’s of dance education and performance
should be required to be authorities of this Black dance aesthetic and maintain
the ability to provide authoritative and inclusive knowledge. In this way dance
artists, scholars and educators can provide a mutual respect for all
contributors to the field, past, present and future.
Why are African-American dance techniques under represented
in higher education? How has it been decided that European dance techniques are
most essential to the development of dance curricula? Why aren’t we being
expected to learn African-American dance techniques at a level comparable to
existing ballet and modern dance techniques? If dance students are to be amply
prepared for access to the profession as performers and or choreographers, why
are so many dance programs limiting the focus of their intensive training to
Western concert dance practices? Since the job market and industry for dancers
has greatly expanded and continues to do so with each new rising
modern/contemporary company shouldn’t dance students be fully prepared to
compete for positions in the wide range of work that encompasses today’s dance
world? The answer to these questions brought me to this research topic. This paper
endeavors to offer methods, materials and modes of inclusion in dance curricula
that reflect a Black dance aesthetic.
My argument is, African American dance curricula in higher
education has yet to reach a level comparable to existing ballet and modern
dance techniques. Of the three existing codified techniques for African
American dance: Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, and Umfandalai (Asante, 1993),
only Dunham and Umfandalai are sparsely implemented in dance curriculums. The
purpose of this study is to provide a greater understanding for developing and
implementing an African American dance curriculum in higher education. This
study advocates heightening cultural/racial awareness, broadening dance
curricula perspectives, and a complete dance curriculum overhaul. The major
focus of my argument is for the inclusion of African American dance
perspectives in higher education.
My research adheres to a qualitative descriptive case study;
techniques included are, interviews, surveys and a literature review. The focus
of this study is delimited to research inquires which consider only African
American dance curricula in higher education. The research for this study is
limited to participants and resources available on both the East and West
Coasts. The data I have collected is concentrated on faculty and student
perspectives as well as scholarly texts that address the driving questions of
this study. In my experience as an African American student of dance, Western
concert dance is commonly stressed more than any other style or technique and
other approaches assume a minority role. As an African American dance educator
I would be remiss not to pursue such a study for the purpose of furthering my
own education and in preparing myself, my cohorts, my students, and the dance
community at large, to meet the challenges of overhauling the curriculum for
dance in higher education.
In addition to the progress of education, the job market and
industry for dancers has greatly expanded and continues to do so with each new
rising modern/contemporary company. Beyond Eurocentric ballet and modern dance
companies are a wide range of Afrocentric ballet and modern dance companies,
including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theater, Dance
Theatre of Harlem, Garth Fagan Dance, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company,
Philadanco, and Urban Bush Women just to name a few. Perhaps, ballet and
modern/contemporary techniques cannot efficiently inform students about the
techniques and methods for African American dances and students’ limited
diversity may hinder their opportunities to succeed in less traditional dance
companies such as the ones I’ve mentioned and more.
While dance programs appear to be more diverse in recent
years, African American artists, texts, and dance techniques remain excluded
from the American cultural arts curricula. As long as the influences and
contributions of the Afrocentric aesthetic on the European aesthetic are not
recognized, the American cultural arts curricula as a whole is diminished
(Asante, 1993; Bennefield, 1999; Hazzard-Gordon, 1991; Hubbard &
Sofras, 1998). While the minority innovators of revolutionary scholarship and
art have a presence in American culture, our culture has yet to reach a point
where issues of race are non-existent.
When students and faculties question the value of education
based on the exclusion of their cultural heritage, a resistance to learning and
teaching becomes instinctively inherent. Responding to this resistance will
require an informed and objective plan for the stimulus of dance curricula
expansion. According to author and dance educator Hubbard (1988) and many
educational theorists (Dixon, 1991; Kerr-Berry, 2004; Smith, 1993; Thompson,
1997; Ward & Overby, 1993; West, 1994), providing minority students
with a form of cultural validation is often a neglected aspect of the course
design. Carter G. Woodson argues, “Students must see something of themselves in
what they study” (Hubbard & Sofras, 1998, p.77).
Several other educational theorists (Dixon, 1991; Hubbard,
1988; Vandarakis-Fenning, 1994) agree that the realm of dance curricula must
broaden to be more inclusive and subsequently more substantial. The challenge
and responsibility dance educators are being charged with is the implementation
of a well-rounded dance curricula that promotes dance, “as a meaningful and
viable discipline and provides scholars and students with a means of study that
does not compromise the heritage of any people” (Asante, 1993, p.51). Ward
& Overby (1993) present a similar argument stating, "Ethnic dance
brings various cultures together where participants begin to recognize and
appreciate the contributions of various groups to society"
(pp.72-73).
The American culture has been infused with African American
influences for its lifetime, which in turn, has transformed the evolution of
American dance culture. Kerr-Berry (1994) claims that, “there are endless
examples of how African Americans have contributed to the Western hemisphere”
(p.26). She also argues that the Western European perspective of dance must be
challenged to develop beyond its current spectrum to include other approaches.
Her sentiments are coupled with various cohorts namely Vandarakis-Fenning
(1994) who would agree that, “the significance of teaching various approaches
to dance serves as an essential method for providing American students with
cultural literacy” (p.44). If we as dance educators disregard the charge to
expand the curriculum to provide a more balanced perspective, ultimately we are
continuing to perpetuate a biased, and delusional picture of American dance
culture, thereby doing a great disservice to all students (Dixon, 1991).
If we continue to seek refuge in the comfort zone of
one-dimensional, marginal thinking, then a superlative world will always be
unattainable (West, 1994). Much is left to be done is an understatement that
requests a call to action for implementation strategies which demand curriculum
revisions that extend beyond the classroom. Jackson (1996) argues the
following: "More African American and African dance professionals need to
be part of higher education; more research needs to be done on figures lost and
more questioning needs to be done about modes of representation of race in
American dance" (p.110). Developing strategies and modes of inclusion only
scratch the surface of the many necessary curriculum revisions required to
effectively represent our diverse American dance culture. Acknowledgement and
authorized appropriation are the next steps to accurately implementing a
curriculum resembling a more balanced perspective.
Fifty-two years later some may argue that Affirmative Action
has resolved these issues and that we are in a post-racism era and others will
disagree, arguing that it only sought to bandage the wounds since inclusion has
now become about tokenism, racism’s greatest disguise. Strategically positioned
throughout the classrooms of various education systems seeking to fill their
quota, sits the “spook” by the door. Thus, the fact remains that, “the supply
of minority teachers does not correspond with the current or future supply of
African American children who need cultural role models" (Smith, 1993,
p.66).
Admittedly, some progress is better than none and without
the many efforts of educators who have and continue to advocate for equality in
conjunction with inclusion, our evolution thus far would be non-existent.
Recent evidence shows that this ongoing struggle is not in vain: "A new
report from the U.S. Department of Education states that in 2002, the latest
year for which complete data is available, nearly 2 million Black students made
up 11.5 percent of the 17 million students of all races enrolled in higher
education programs in the United States. In 2003 there were 33,097 Black
full-time faculties at degree-granting institutions of higher education
nationwide" JBHE (2005).
While the presence of African American artists, scholars,
writers and educators are prevalent in American higher education, they are not
being equally represented and neither are their influences and contributions.
"Traditionally Blacks have been shortchanged both financially and in the
area of public recognition for their contributions to mainstream American
culture" (Dixon, 1990, p.120). There is a continuing struggle to bring the
contributions and influences as well as the legacy of African Americans into
the full view of the predominately European American education system. Scholars
in support of this struggle such as Dixon, "aim to promote continuous
dialogue, needed definitions, and heightened awareness in this area"
(p.117).
Historically Europeans deemed African dance a vulgar, impure
and essentially unethical form of dancing, yet their fascination with the
unfamiliar resulted in contrary views and adverse affects. Epskamp & de
Geus (1993) make a similar claim, "African dance was uncivilized, and far
from exercising any influence at all on North-Atlantic forms of dance. However,
there are innumerable examples of the opposite phenomenon. The White man’s
culture acquired itself a place in African dance” (p.59). Even Balanchine
believed, "Black dancing was an important source of revitalization for
ballet and routinely incorporated steps and movements that were derived from
African American theatrical and vernacular dancing" (Jeffrey, 2000, p.35,
39). Then why discredit the significance, value and cultural richness of
something you wish to take credit for? This phenomenon has prompted researchers
to investigate the issues surrounding appropriation and ultimately discover
methods for purging such exploitation.
To consider appropriation merely an accident rather than
another form of racism, would be a considerably naïve concept in my opinion. My
experience as an African American student renders me defensive in an education
system that would rather I be present but silent. My experience as an educator
tells me that years of progress have afforded me a position in life that no
more than twenty years ago I couldn’t even have imagined. Still, the issues
surrounding race relations are not obsolete and the time is yet to come when
this topic will be null and void. Overcoming this grievance should not be met
with avoidance or silence but confronted with uncomfortable discussions that
become the driving force for immanent approaches to “rebalancing the equation
of race relations and the universe” (Hazzard-Gordon, 1991, p.38).
As American citizens and more specifically as educators how
can we overlook the racial issues that remain prevalent in our society?
Perpener III (2000) writes, "in spite of the progress toward inclusiveness
that dance as a performing art and as a field of intellectual pursuit has made,
I believe that racially prospective thinking still exerts its presence with
surprising force in different aspects of our discipline” (p.63).
I believe racial awareness requires the realization that the
human race involves more than just Blacks and Whites. In order to move beyond
the surface of this issue we must acknowledge the beliefs, attitudes, and
symbols legitimized by successive generations that have caused a trickle down
effect. By restructuring curricula and teaching methods and addressing
dialogues of racism, our education system can encourage acceptance,
understanding, and celebration of racial and cultural differences. Dance
educator Julie A. Kerr-Berry addresses the concept of race:
The very concept of race was invented by Whites in [sic]
post-Enlightenment Europe for purposes of power and imported to the Americas so
that Blacks could be identified, denigrated, and bought and sold like
livestock. Intertwined with this phenomenon, Whites have envied, imitated, and
[sic] exotified the Black body. Despite the inequities, Blacks and
Whites kept talking through an intense bodily discourse that has been going on
between them for over four hundred years. Ironically, this clash of dance
cultures, which occurred when African and European peoples came to the “New
World,” has produced amazing and diverse forms of dance in this country. The
fusion of these culturally distinct dance/movement traditions is where the
story of American dance begins. (Kerr-Berry, 2004, p.45)
I cannot say that I totally agree that appropriation, or
even “clash of dance cultures” for that matter, is the sole cause for racial
indifference within our education system. However, it is the lack of racial
dialogue, the lack of representation of race and the lack of diversity in
student and faculty populations. Fear of discussing this subject matter keeps
us ignorant and full of hostility and resentment, thereby devaluing the effects
of race in education.
I believe we must refrain from the subtleties with which we
use to address the topic of race in the classroom. Yes, this age old topic is
difficult to discuss but that is because we fail to utilize a candid approach
when confronting the ugly truths and harsh realities that are attached to it.
Audrey Thompson provides an exemplary candid description of the effects of race
in education:
Liberal education helps us flourish within a society
committed to individual freedom. If society in question is actually organized
to prevent or suppress the flourishing of some groups so that others may
flourish, liberal education lacks the framework it requires to support its
mission. Because race does matter in American society-although race, even more
than class, is something we resist seeing as an organizing principle of social
relations-the effort at colorblindness actually serves to deny the
effects of racism, rather than to eradicate racism. In seeking to avoid racism
by avoiding race, colorblind liberal education actually undercuts its own
scholarly mission, for by refusing to address questions of race directly, it
sidesteps one of the most pressing social questions confronting democracy in
the United States. Such an education thereby risks promulgating either
miseducation or non-education. (Thompson, 1997, pp.8, 14 & 26)
Denial is the first feat we must conquer in order to begin
addressing curriculum revision needs. The common misconception is that if you
are not a minority you are not affected by diversification. However, ignorance
holds the same power that knowledge does and if our future means anything to us
then ensuring that our children are exposed to a complete historical/cultural
perspective is crucial.
African American dance education research spanning the last
two decades reveals the abhorrence towards appropriation, lack of recognition
and exclusion that many scholars of Black dance have reflected in their studies
(Dixon, 1990; Hubbard & Sofras, 1998; Jackson, 1996; Perpener III,
2000). This abhorrence stems from the repercussions of many years of
oppression, dehumanization, and disrespect as well as the constant reminder
that there is no cure for racism. My study seeks to reignite the waning murmur
of this topic, which now more than ever desperately seeks attention.
[1] Dr. Halifu Osumare
(in conversation).
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