Yesterday, I reposted an article from Dance Magazine on my Facebook feed, speaking to the use of “my” in dance class, aka, “my dancers”, “my dance”, etc. It caused some good discussion there, so I thought I’d share what I’ve already explored on this topic. The following is an excerpt from my thesis on the ways I am examining language in dance class.
The first part speaks directly to the above. But the second part examines technical language. It is a firm value to me to not use ballet terminology in modern or jazz class, unless I mean to be quote ballet movement in there. For many students, this is unexpected. According to some of my teacher evaluations, it is even jarring or upsetting.
Some students do not believe I am using “proper” dance terminology if I am not using ballet terms. This speaks clearly to the indoctrination still occurring in dance studios and other dance programs that “ballet is the foundation of all dance”. Which is patently, obviously false, as dance existed long before ballet did. Yet, this unexamined aspect of white supremacy culture filters through dance classes and performances, from very young ages.
As dance educators, I believe we have a responsibility to examine the language we use in classes, just as we look at the movement we teach, the music we use, and the costumes we choose. We have the opportunity to dismantle or uphold the shadow curriculum of European aesthetic supremacy with our choices.
Another way to consider bodily control of students collaborators is in language. In workshops, I talk to teachers about how this mindset shows up with a language of possession. Possession, rather than sharing, is a practice of colonialism, as well as a denial of autonomy. “My dancers,” “my students,” etc., deny the agency of the dancer-collaborators in our spaces. Directors and choreographers often use similarly possessive pronouns. A challenging, yet effective mindset shift can occur when we acknowledge full humanity by leaving out ownership, and simply calling them dancers, students, performers, etc.
Language also plays a role in colonization, and this shows up in the dance classroom as well. I have worked concertedly over the past two years to remove ballet terminology from the modern and jazz classes I teach. Ballet is an imperialist art form and is structured as such. However, modern dance was created to communicate a dancer’s inner life. Its early concern was with personal expression and exploration, rather than adherence to rules or a previously held structure. Jazz dance developed out of social dances of enslaved African people in the Americas who had to use movement and music to communicate with each other, because they did not share the same verbal language (Guarino 2014, xv). To subject these two forms of dance to the language of ballet is a form of colonization and erasure.
I am transparent with students about why I do not use ballet terminology in these classes, as it is a huge shift from how dance classes are often experienced in a studio setting. Instead I use anatomical actions, describing a plié-like movement as “hip flexion, knee flexion, ankle flexion”, or a tendu-like movement as “stretching the leg from the glutes through the toes.” Since I teach somatics-based modern, the emphasis is on the body of the dancer, so the anatomical language also upholds the goal of helping dancers connect to their bodies. If I was teaching a specific technique, different vocabulary may need to appear to honor the creator. I do teach a day or two of Graham, because I love floor work, and we do refer to “seated fourth” on the floor, as she did, but I also introduce the term “shin box” which is used to describe the same position in personal training and physical therapy exercises.
The jazz class that I teach is Theatre Dance Forms, and is currently the only place jazz appears in the curriculum. We spend the first two weeks of class looking at historical African- American dance steps, and discussing jazz’s musical and social roots. I emphasize the importance of relationship, to both music and others, to truly call a dance a jazz dance. These concepts are often different from how students have experienced jazz in a studio setting. Since this is Theatre Dance Forms, we do spend one week on ballet, as that vocabulary will show up for folks dancing in musicals. However, it is not the focus, nor is it how I introduce the definition of jazz for the course, nor discuss jazz movement throughout the other thirteen weeks.
While the language adjustment was initially challenging, and there are still times I struggle (I cannot find a concise, yet descriptive alternative for pirouette in parallel, for example), it has become a normal part of class instruction of me. I recently took a jazz class and a contemporary dance class, in which both teachers spoke about pliés and tendus. I found it quite jarring, and realized how often we take vocabulary for granted and leave it unexamined in our movement classes.