Dance Education in an Era of Racial Backlash: Moving Forward as We Step Backwards

ABSTRACT

The field of dance education is not immune to conflicted discourses about race in the United States. This article investigates the subject of race, education, and dance, and problematizes current postracial discourses in postsecondary education. It examines the implications of race and ethnicity in a number of critical areas, such as faculty and student populations in dance, dance content and curriculum, access and equity, and the ways in which dominant ideas continue to situate dance practices, primarily in a Western theatrical paradigm.

Notes

An earlier version of this article was presented as part of the panel “Progress and Complacency: A Post-Racial Dance Education?” presented at the 2010 National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) conference in Tempe, AZ, and was published in the conference proceedings. That paper received the NDEO Top Paper Citation for 2010.