The reality of a dancer’s life is often more complicated than what we imagined as young students. We must become not just powerful artists but also skilled marketers, social media managers, and self-care experts. This, coupled with the need to pay rent and buy food, can create a heavy schedule of work and art. Time […]

What does dance bring to a conversation about creative administration? Well, to start, dance artists have an embodied understanding of dynamic systems. The human body is a magnificent example of a dynamic system. Dances are dynamic systems, happening in the exchange between people, ideas, and perceptions, each new creative process and context generating new results. Many dance artists bring to creative administration a propensity for investigating underlying ideas and relationships, versus patching up problems without questioning the systems that gave rise to them.

When you’re in the role of leading, it’s a hard job. You have to manifest success while listening to everyone. I think women leaders are perhaps judged more harshly than our male counterparts. What I would like to see is more opportunities, more communication. I see more women leading in academia, and that is changing.

As youngsters, my brother, Gregory, and I went to the Apollo Theater in Harlem to watch tap greats like Teddy Hale, Bunny Briggs, the Step Brothers and Coles & Atkins. Most of those guys would come on the stage and just tap.

A recent win for size inclusivity has even cemented itself legally: On May 26, 2023, New York City mayor Eric Adams signed new legislation to prohibit height or weight discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations, adding these two physical characteristics to the list of those protected, which includes race, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation.

In order to be approved for domestic employ­ment, professionals without a U.S. passport need exten­sive paperwork. For individuals and touring groups, part of that stack needs to be evidence supporting the petitioner’s claim that the dancer or ensemble is one of a kind and something special. The evidence should include dance reviews; petitions without them may be unsuccessful. For dance companies in cities without critics, this could ultimately mean fewer international artists.

We would all like to feel free to express ourselves without feeling endangered. I just hope that Goecke-gate motivates the dance world to engage in efforts to promote understanding among different sectors of the dance ecology.

While the phrase “my dancers” may not deliberately subjugate dancers, the notion of ownership over other bodies, their work and their ideas is linked to patriarchal traditions and the legacy of slavery. With that in mind, the linguistic habit, used mostly as a shorthand—or even a term of endearment—becomes rather alarming.