Resisting Racial and Gender Expectations In my Own Works

Throughout the history of dance it’s clearly seen that there has always been an ‘image’ as to what the “perfect dancer body” needs to uphold. For females there’s this idea that they need to be tall, thin, flexible, and white. Males have the image that they need to move masculine, strong, powerful and be the ones lifting women. There is also a feeling Mark Broomfiled says in his article, So You Think You Are Masculine?, “For many men, dancing produces anxiety due to the stigma of gayness and effeminacy attached to male dancers.” I completely disagree with these stereotypes, both male and females shouldn’t feel like they need to fit into a body type in order to do art. When I watch art I’m more interested in its meaning, movement and energy than the gender and race of the dancers. The gender/race of the dancers won’t even cross my mind, unless it is a piece that the choreographer has specifically chosen to highlight ones gender/race. I do think the ideas of gender and race are shifting away from what the ‘typical’ dancers should look like. Ann Cooper Albright says in her book Choreographing Differences in the chapter Techno Bodies, “Although most modern and contemporary dance forms have consciously expanded the narrow image of the dancer cum ballerina (thin, graceful, feminine, white), they also create specific world views grounded in the physical contours of the body.” Though we are starting to see a shift from the ballerina body, there is still an image modern dancers think they must uphold.

In personal works I do not cast my dancers depending on their specific race or gender. I cast dancers who embody my movement and concept of my piece, and at times I’ll cast dancers who can relate with the concept of my choreographic study. When creating duets or group pieces it’s important to me to cast dancers based on how they move together and the energy/bond they have . In order to find dancers that blend, fuse and work together I cannot look for a specific gender or race, because I believe that message/concept is more important in my artwork than ones gender and/or race. In my artwork I want to push away from the idea of gender norms and instead create works of art that will give audiences different perspectives on certain concepts.

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