I was recently on the Blues Dance World podcast in a conversation about Blackness in blues. Although, we didn’t get as far as I would’ve hoped we didn’t talk a lot about some common experiences of what it maybe like in the scene for community member. I think sometimes people don’t understand if you’re not in minority what it feels like to be in a room that is filled with people that don’t look like you. Sometimes, I think people feel like oh when I say that that I mean, Is because they don’t look like you that it makes you uncomfortable. Yet, that’s not actually the problem. Majority of people are from a particular culture values and assumptions inner dance community. This affects the dancing, what people wear, where people go, what people think, and who wins competitions. It goes beyond what people look like, and turns it into a question of how do you feel comfortable in a foreign culture. And then to check on the fact that the culture should feel normal to you and they should be the foreigners kind of gets to you after a while.
I think this podcast is a great start to open conversations about multiple people’s experiences within the community. I feel that sometimes in a discussion about race people get caught up in guilt and stop remembering that these are your friends and fellow dancers that were talking about. Shouldn’t everyone feel comfortable in these dances. The podcast is long but I think it’s really fun, and entertaining, I hope you really enjoy it.