Dance: A Form of Political Activism?
A deeper look into the art form that provides a safer planet for future generations.
“Dance is the fist with which I fight the sickening ignorance of prejudice.”
Dance, as an art form, has the power to bring change to important issues in our society. For hundreds of years, dance has been solely recognized as a medium for visual entertainment. In recent decades, the art of dance has evolved to also be used as a form of activism towards political issues. These political issues can include, but are not limited to, racism, animal rights, abortion, and gun laws. What makes an effective form of activism? The process of creating an efficient campaign is that it first must be able to attract attention, spread knowledge and then make audiences interested in creating change; to further donate funds to encourage future activism. As seen, important tools such as playing to the audience’s emotion and logic are used to create effective activism. Through activism, one is able to motivate, raise money, and spread knowledge.
Dance is an effective form of political activism because performances provoke an emotional response and raise funds for charitable organization, which creates positive change worldwide.
Dance has the ability to insight emotions within their audience, which is essential to political campaigning. In 2016, a dance performance named “Invisible: Imprints of Racism”, was shown to the passing bystanders near Ramsay Park in Boston. In Sophie Flack’s article, “Powerful dance explores issues of race,’’ she describes the artistic choreography taking place. She explicitly details the touching and expressive dance scene, as the “audience seemed to hold their collective breath”. This example reveals how emotion is a powerful tool by captivating audiences and by pulling at one’s heartstrings. Such angelic and dynamic movement is able to create an emotional response within the audience. This shows that dance is an effective form of activism because the use of emotion resonates deeper to viewers as one is able to feel connected to a piece on a rooted level. By provoking dialogue and talk within the audience, this furthers the conversation of political issues.
Within Ryan Fawwaz’s article, “Kaufman students express, interpret social issues through dance”, a choreographer and dancer Jon Boogz explains how dance is an effective form of communication. He goes into detail of the power that movement has towards acts of communication. Boogz explains, “sometimes if I have an opinion on something, people may not want to hear it. But when you tell it through music, movement and expression, I just think it creates an entry point aesthetically that allows people to digest the topic that normally wouldn’t be too easy to talk about”. This evidence shows how through the movement and expression that dance exhibits, dance has the ability to provoke emotion. It shows how the emotion within the act of dance creates an effective response, displaying it is a powerful form of activism. This quote reinstates the idea that dance goes deeper than just being pretty to look at. It allows people to gravitate towards issues as it is easier to digest due to the emotional connection it has on audience members. When people are able to connect emotionally to a political issue, it is more likely to resonate with them. Dance has the ability to insight emotions within their audience, which is essential to political campaigning.
Dance performances attract audiences that bring funds to important philanthropic foundations. The acclaimed dance organization, On the Floor, organizes and executes yearly performances to raise money for The Hospital for Sick Children, located in Toronto, Ontario. They have raised over $300,000 for this charitable cause. This is a prime example of what effective activism truly is. The On the Floor dance organization creates money for foundations regarding political issue of healthcare. Healthcare funding is an extremely important issue in Canada and this organization is a powerful tool to increase the amount of funding the healthcare sector receives. In 2016, I personally participated in this event as a dancer. I witnessed the fundraiser’s full success first hand as I was able to witness the multiple donations given towards the SickKids Hospital, as well as the amount of people who came to watch the performance. This project is effective in creating change because it attracts a large amount of donations through dance performance.
In Descoteau’s article, “African rhythms, dance performance to help out Sierra Leone charity group,” he describes how one dance performance is raising money for a Sierra Leone foundation. He details how a group of Victoria, British Columbia teachers looked to create a larger impact for change. Through a dance performance that celebrates African heritage, the event helped raise funds for equipment and supplies. This dance piece was effective at promoting change towards poverty in Sierra Leone as it brought people together and persuaded them to donate to the cause. Through the allure of an exciting and entertaining show, dance brings in bigger audiences. This shows that this form of activism has the ability to bring political awareness to audiences. By creating dialogue and subsequently raising funds for charitable organizations, dance has the power to affect political change.
By using dance as a platform for advocacy, we will help make this world a safer and more harmonious place.
In order to bring awareness to political issues around the world, the art of dancing effectively communicates the presence of such issues with a means of creating change. By provoking emotional responses and raising money for charitable organizations that are affiliated with political problems, dance has the ability to create a large impact on such issues throughout the world. There are a wide variety of problems in politics throughout the world. It is our job as people who live on this planet to contribute in providing a change for future generations. Dance has the ability to help in the role of the positive evolution of such issues. As Jon Boogz said “We can use dance to create change. Whether it’s a big change or a small change, it really doesn’t matter. Dance is more than entertainment — dance has the ability to inspire, educate, heal, liberate, and create social impact”. As a society we must work together to help create change within our community. Therefore, we must optimize as many resources we have today to provide change for future generations. By using dance as a platform for advocacy, we will help make this world a safer and more harmonious place.
