Strategies for Diversity and Inclusion in Postsecondary Dance: How Five Baccalaureate Programs are Recalibrating

Abstract

ABSTRACT The call for substantive curricular change in US postsecondary dance programs has taken on greater urgency since the racial and cultural divides of 2020, erupting within a landscape that included a global pandemic. In response, critical discussions are informing policies to counter academia’s embedded inequities as expressed through White, Western-centered curricula. Baccalaureate dance programs must determine how to actualize values encompassing diversity, equity, and inclusion, from course offerings and faculty hirings to entrance policies and performance opportunities. The authors examine how five dance major programs are meeting today’s societal and disciplinary shifts and the ways interdisciplinarity can support such efforts. The study reveals there is not one “best” path to decolonizing curricula. Yet, the authors found recurring strategies amongst this cohort of dance programs that successfully embrace the challenges put forward by today’s ever-changing world.