• Dance Discussions

    On Sexual Assault

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    Today is the third time in under a month that a story of sexual assault by a prominent dance figure has arrived in my newsfeed. That is extremely maddening. To be clear, I’m not taking a legal stance on whether or not the assaults in question ‘actually happened’, though my personal opinion is that the facts presented seem rather plausible in all three situations. But, that’s not my point today. My point today is to talk about how every person in our community has an obligation to always ensure they have a willing partner in every sexual encounter they have. No…

  • Community Building

    The Hidden Middle Ground: Why are we so polarized in important discussions?

    August 15, 2016 - By 

    The dance community has been having some very important discussions lately. We’ve been having discussions around consent and assault. Taking about sexism and sexual aggression. Having conversations on homophobia and racism. Debating about cultural appropriation and honoring the roots of dances. Invariably, there are a couple types of overreactions.

  • Leading - Social Dancing

    Your Follower is not Fragile

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    Every time I write an article on taking care of your partner on the dancefloor, I get a response that goes something like this: “When I dance with a lady, I take care of her. It is a man’s job to take care of a lady, because she is the fairer sex. On a dance floor, I must therefore make her safe and comfortable, because I am responsible for protecting this fragile gender.”

  • Following - Social Dancing

    “Just Follow!”

    June 16, 2013 - By 

    Recently, there was a question on Facebook that caught my interest. Loosely, it asked if a follow should compensate when the leader does something wrong, or ONLY follow what was led. This is a reasonable enough question, but some of the surrounding conversation made me think hard on how we as a dance community conceptualize leading and following.