A Conversation on Race in the Belly Dance world

For many years I believed that the belly dance community was a shining example of openness and inclusion.

In the wake of the racist tensions rocking the US and beyond many dancers have spoken out to the contrary and I’ve found myself having to question those previously held beliefs.

So I’m reaching out – to organizations at the forefront of this struggle to offer support, to people of color to hear their voices and their experiences, and to friends and fellow dancers to be able to openly and thoughtfully communicate in a non-judgemental manner in order to find the next steps in the anti-racism journey we need to make together.

This is a recording of one of those conversations. It’s two long-time friends and belly dancers openly and honestly discussing a black experience in the belly dance world – what is working, what is not, and how we can move forward together towards a more just, equal and racially-diverse future.

I hope you will listen to this with an open heart and mind and use it to inspire conversations and action in your community and to help right the many years of wrong that have been happening on our watch.

A gigantic thank you to my friend Sharron Melton for being a woman I can always have any conversation with – for her acceptance of me, my questions and my flaws and her willingness to share her story here with us.

Let’s keep the conversation going and include every voice.

Add your thoughts below. (Racist or inflammatory remarks will be deleted. Please respect one another in civil discourse.)

Thank you for being a part of the movement.

#blacklivesmatter #raceandbellydance

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