CITY DANCE CORPS ANTI-RACISM INITIATIVES
City Dance Corps is comprised of an ever expanding, multi-racial group of artists, dancers, choreographers, educators, administrators, and volunteers. Our ownership is multicultural and we are founded upon the belief that each individual’s diverse experiences, racial backgrounds, gender identity, cultural history and expression, bring value and vitality to their art form. We believe the dance floor is a place where all of these beautiful differences and voices can co-exist to create art. We believe in creating an inclusive environment and a community that honours many voices, supports all talents and fosters opportunities to learn, share, and become unified through our love for dance. This is what we were founded on 18 years ago, and we understand the importance of re-focusing on this mission as we are propelled into a new era.
“An artist’s duty is to reflect the times” - Nina Simone
As an educational institution, we have the ability to bring people together and use the power of education and dance to do our part in dismantling racist systems that exist in our industry and beyond. We stand in solidarity with our Black community, consisting of faculty, volunteers, students and our owner, who are fighting for their rights in a system that was built to oppress them. Every day is a reminder that nothing worth fighting for is an easy road. If we’ve learned anything over the last 20 years, it’s that there is always room to grow and improve. We recognize that it is our responsibility to take concrete actions to support Black and Indigenous members of our community by introducing new initiatives and practices that specifically address some of the barriers and inequities that face Black and Indigenous dancers and artists.
The City Dance Corps Foundation
In January 2020, we fulfilled a long-time dream of creating a non-profit branch of the studio to better help serve our community. We would like to introduce you to the City Dance Corps Foundation; a non-profit foundation with a goal to bring dance to marginalized communities by hosting programs, providing scholarships, creating mentorship programs and creating ways to eradicate barriers that prevent people and youth from accessing the dance industry, recognizing that many of these barriers predominantly impact Black and Indigenous people.
The City Dance Corps Foundation commits to establishing the following programs:
Youth Scholarship Fund for Black and Indigenous dancers. This will support 4 dancers with one year of dance classes in our youth program.
Youth Mentorship Fund for Black and Indigenous dancers. This program will provide two professional mentorships between professional choreographers/dancers with youth who have aspirations in the dance industry.
Finance and Arts Business Literacy program for Black and Indigenous dancers. Two seminars per year will be sponsored.
City Dance Corps efforts:
We have implement an Anti-Racism and Anti-Harassment policy for all staff and faculty.
We will implement Anti-Racist/Anti-Bias training annually for all staff and faculty.
Continue to advocate for cultural appreciation and actively denounce cultural appropriation by:
Ensuring instructors practice the continuous recognition of the dance form's pioneers, its roots and historical influences. Credit must always be given where credit is due. This is common practice already by our faculty.
Ensuring that our class descriptions are up-to-date and a true representation of each dance genre and its roots.
Continuing to have advanced consultations with corporate and private events requesting dancers involving cultural-specific content, to ensure the nature of the work that we are being hired for is conducted with care, respect and sensitivity before we accept the work. Profits do not come before integrity.
Continue to represent artists from diverse backgrounds and do better in that quest by:
Expanding our search for new instructors to communities beyond our own and actively seek out artists from Black and Indigenous communities.
Reaching out to communities beyond our own to create new instructor positions for up-and-coming dancers from all backgrounds, that will include mentorship and training if that is required.
Doing frequent check-ins with our faculty and staff to ensure our faculty is diverse, knowledgeable and inclusive, and to ensure we are staying true to our promises.
Ongoing Initiatives
We have always strived to use our platform to uplift and empower our dancers and give back to local communities and individuals in need of support. Here are some of the programs and initiatives that we have already taken on, and which we intend to continue:
Youth Scholarship Fund (founded 2009). The fund provides one underserved youth dancer with free dance lessons for a full dance season.
We’ve created and hosted annual dance outreach programs for youth groups, such as St. Stephen’s Community House since 2014. These programs will continue and be expanded on in our new space.
We’ve donated over $40,000 in dance classes to charitable causes over the last 18 years. Our donations to all charitable causes will continue.
We’ve created, hosted, and supported many fundraising initiatives since our inception, in support of vital causes including the Syrian Refugee Crisis, AIDS, Research, Cancer Research, Red Cross to name a few. This month’s fundraising efforts have raised over $700 for the Black Business and Professionals Association (both from public donations and company donations) as well as the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. These fundraising events will continue.
We have been active members of the government’s Youth Employment Services since 2018 where we train and mentor one co-op student per school term. As we move into a new school year, we will ensure that at least 50% of the students who are given these co-op placements come from Black and Indigenous communities.
We are grateful to all those in our community who have engaged in honest, meaningful and insightful conversations with us. We will always strive to be a safe space for all people, all backgrounds, all expressions and identities. We will continue to use dance to uplift those voices around us that have been silenced and oppressed, and we will continue to spread love and dance to our community and beyond.
Tina, Jerome and Estelle
Co-Founders, City Dance Corps
RESOURCES
Justice in June - A document with learning resources for individuals to become more informed as step one to becoming an active ally to the Black community.
Black Organizations and Fundraisers You Can Support in Toronto - An article that includes community groups, non-profits, and GoFundMe pages aimed at supporting Black residents of Toronto.
Uprooted - An independent documentary about the journey of jazz dance. Coming soon.
Ways to Respond to Microaggressions - A downloadable document that includes ways to respond to microaggressions and bias.
Promoting Racial Equity in Ballet: Strategies and Challenges - A published thesis with resources by Stephanie Ogden that is downloadable.
How to Support the Black Dance Community Beyond Social Media - Dance Spirit Magazine. Thomas Ford.
Radicalizing Dance: Confessions of an “Artivist” - Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Rodney Diverlus.
Changing the Framework: Disability Justice - Mia Mingus.
Mental Health Issues Facing the Black Community - Sunshine Behavioral Health
BOOKS
“Tap!: The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories, 1900-1955” by Rusty E. Frank
“Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers” by Constance Valis Hill
“Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader” edited by Ann Dils & Ann Cooper Albright
“The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance” by Maya Talmon-Chvaicer
“Dancing Bodies, Living Histories: New Writings About Dance and Culture” edited by Lisa Doolittle & Anne Flynn
“The Dance Experience: Insights Into History, Culture and Creativity” by Myron Howard Nadel & Marc Raymond Strauss
“The People Have Never Stopped Dancing: Native American Modern Dance Histories” by Jacqueline Shea Murphy
“Dance History: An Introduction” edited by Janet Adshead-Lansdale & June Layson
“Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance” by Marshall Stearns & Jean Stearns
“The Essential Guide to Jazz Dance” by Dollie Henry & Paul Jenkins
“Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History” by Constance Valis Hill
“Tango: The Art History of Love” by Robert Farris Thompson
“Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches” edited by Lindsay Guarino & Wendy Oliver
“Spinning Mambo Into Salsa: Caribbean Dance in Global Commerce” by Juliet Mcmains
“National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin American Popular Dance” by John Charles Chasteen
“Zina Saro-Wiwa: Did You Know We Taught Them How To Dance?” by Amy L. Powell
”Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History” by Chuck D
“Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop” by Frankie Manning & Cynthia R. Millman
“Hip-Hop History” by Wendy Garofoli Zamora
“And Then We Danced, A Voyage Into the Groove” by Alford Henry
“Dancing Revolution: Bodies, Space, and Sound in American Cultural History” by Christopher J. Smith
“Strategic Abilities: Negotiating the Disabled Body in Dance” by Ann Cooper Albright