centring Black voices in vancouver’s dance industry: reflections and initiatives
Before reading this article, please watch this video apology from our founder, Vanessa Young.
As part of our ongoing commitment to educating ourselves, we attended two panels this past week (hosted by VIBFA and Nii (Prince) Engmann) to deeply listen to Black leaders in our community about how we can better practice anti-racism as individuals and an organization.
The intention of this update is to explain how some of the concepts/call to actions addressed by these panelists (and other folks from the community) apply to Luminesque Dance specifically, and to share what we’ve learned in an effort to uphold our commitment to transparency. We hope it will also encourage you to reflect on what you learned during your own research and discussions, and how you can integrate new insight into your daily life and role as a leader.
Thank you to panelists Lilac Lust, Roxie Reverie, Androsia Wilde, RainbowGlitz, Dominique Wakeland, Nii (Prince) Engmann, AJ (MegaMan) Kambere, Kevin Fraser (of Immigrant Lessons), and Venom (of KETCH DI VYBZ) who opened and generously shared in these talks:
VIBFA’s Centering Black Voices: An honest discussion in Vancouver burlesque with proceeds benefiting the NuZi Collective: Vancouver Therapy & Advocacy Fund and the Loveland Foundation. Access the panel by emailing: info@vibf.ca
Nii (Prince) Engmann’s Dance Leaders Meeting. The panel recording is being published next week; @princenii can be contacted by DM for details.
If you haven’t already, we encourage you to watch the two panel recordings yourself and compensate those involved, and decide for yourself how to integrate their insight into your own commitments to anti-racism.
We also thank the Black students, teachers and performers (as well as white and IPOC allies) who held public and private discussions with us to inform our strategy to make our community a safer place for Black dancers, and ensure our white and IPOC staff and teachers are being respectful guests of cultures originating from the African diaspora.
This is by no means a comprehensive summary of every point made by the generous, insightful folks who took the time to educate their communities this week. It is a summary of key takeaways from our conversations and independent research this past week, and an outline of some initial plans to ensure these insights are put into practice as thoroughly (and quickly) as possible. This is only one step of 1000+ steps we are taking in this iterative process. This is not meant to be a comprehensive plan, but a summary of lessons, themes, our intentions and our immediate steps. Although this document addresses some points of intersectionality (given the VIBFA talk addressed these at times), it prioritizes racism towards Black folks, as that was the main topic covered by these two particular panels. Our commitments to inclusivity for all BIPOC, gender identities, sexual orientations, levels of income, (adult) ages, shapes, and abilities, is available to read online at luminesquedance.com/inclusivity (and will be examined and updated as we continue to improve). You may also contact us directly at glow@luminesquedance.com.
We hope you will join us in making your own goals, plans and intentions for practicing anti-racism and promoting equity for Black folks in Vancouver and beyond.
Being respectful guests of Black culture
Summary of our new understanding based on what we learned about being respectful guests of Black culture
The metaphor often referenced by the panelists was that Black artists allowing white and other POC dancers, teachers and businesses to participate in and profit from Black culture, is like inviting a guest into your home. First, the guest must receive an invitation. Then, the guest must behave respectfully within the space and only take what they are offered. Lastly, the guest must never take something from the home and use/sell it without permission - and especially never steal it and then claim it was theirs all along. Importantly, none of the panelists stated that they believed that white or IPOC people should never enjoy, participate and/or even profit from music, dance and art that originates from the African diaspora. Instead, the resounding theme from the panelists was that outsiders can only partake if they’ve been invited, are respectful of the context and significance of the art, and give proper credit/compensation when it’s due. And just like a guest - if you’re disrespectful, you can also be un-invited for bad behaviour.
Hiring a more diverse team
Summary of our new understanding based on what we learned about hiring a diverse team
We understand that by historically hiring most positions internally (versus a public call for applications), we created barriers to employment for Black teachers and performers that do not already have a relationship with one of our current staff. We acknowledge that although a few of our teaching staff are BIPOC, most of our current staff are white.
We believe the best way to further diversify our team is to provide more opportunities for employment, with fewer barriers to applying. Only providing 3 full-time HQ jobs at our company inherently limits the amount of perspectives at the table. Only providing teaching positions to those who are able to commit to weekly classes for long periods of time, with non-compete clauses in their contracts, inherently prevents high-demand artists/teachers from working with us. Hiring internally and not posting public calls for applications inherently limits the potential pool of qualified applicants with access to the job. By publicly offering a wider range of positions/contracts with varying degrees of commitment, we hope to remove barriers for BIPOC and move towards having a diverse team of qualified professionals with varying perspectives and areas of expertise.
Unlearning white supremacy and promoting equity for Black students
Summary of our new understanding based on what we learned about promoting equity for Black students
We’ve created a metaphor that helps us understand how best to put this into practice:
When you’re in a fitness class, the teacher can have two approaches to modifications:
“Hey class - here’s the move we’re all going to do. If you’d like an extra challenge, here is a modification.” This accommodates all students to start, and empowers students to make adjustments to better suit their own situations if they desire. By changing the default, they’re actively choosing to be different in a positive way, rather than being different in a way that makes them feel unusual.
“Hey class - here’s the move we’re all going to do. If you feel it doesn’t work for you, here’s the modification if you need it.” This alienates anyone who needs the modification, and makes them feel “lesser than”. They’ll either end up doing the default move and risking hurting themselves; or they’ll do the modification and feel like they’re not part of the group.
When we build programming for the most privileged group (i.e. affluent, white cisgendered folks), it prioritizes them as the “default” way to be. In the context of race, this is white supremacy. When we provide modifications to adapt an otherwise white-centric default to accommodate a BIPOC dancer - especially after the fact - this alienates them and makes them feel like they don’t belong. They’re then faced with three awful choices: (1) participate in self-harmful behaviour to fit in (2) stand out in a way that promotes shame, or (3) leave (and lose) the experience. This is an unacceptable way to run a business aimed at providing joy, empowerment and connection for everyone.
Next Steps
We’d like to express our gratitude to all of the generous folks that shared their insight and perspectives with us this past week. We look forward to practicing these policies to better serve our community, and hope that this provides some takeaways that our students and staff can integrate into their own commitments to practicing anti-racism. We’d like to reiterate that this article is to specifically address how we’re planning to better support Black students, teachers and artists, though we have touched on some points of intersectionality. We hold similar commitments to all BIPOC students, teachers and artists; and folks who are marginalized by our society for other reasons, and will continue to promote transparency for these policies at luminesquedance.com/inclusivity.
This week of researching and attending these panels is just a small part of our continual journey to provide safe spaces for everyone to dance, connect, and empower each other. We are committed to continually educating ourselves on our own time. If you would like to share resources, events and leaders you look to for guidance on your own journey towards anti-racism, your recommendation is most welcome via email to glow@luminesquedance.com.