Equity and Inclusion in Dance Science Resources
Susan Haines, MFA, NKT, NCPT, IASTM
This essay was presented at the Dance Science and Somatics Educators Conference In July 2021.
As I began the work to decolonize my pedagogy in dance science and technique courses, I started by examining the anatomy resources that are used as a basis for our understanding of the body in motion. The images and information about the body that are presented as the very foundation of our field, come from whiteness, from a Eurocentric ideal. How can we decolonize our teaching if we are promoting resources that only offer one
viewpoint—that of Whiteness and White body supremacy? How do we “know what we know” when “what we know” has come
from one limited viewpoint? Throughout the pandemic people have been mocking those who “do not trust science”, and yet, our scientific resources in anatomy come from a very narrow viewpoint. This “knowing” seems simple for me—a white woman who has not had to question her safety, or question that her rights are protected by the government of this country. But how does a body of color give their trust to yet another supposed truth being forced
upon them by white body supremacy?
Tom Myers states, “From Galen through Vesalius and beyond, it was the tools of hunting and butchery which were applied to the body and presented to us the fundamental distinctions we now take for granted….If we imagine that instead of using a sharp edge we immersed the animal or cadaver in some form of detergent or solvent which would wash away all the cellular material and leave only the connective tissue fabric (ECM), we would see the entire continuum.”
I used to believe that dance science brought equity to the field—
that learning how ALL bodies function, by not privileging one body over the other was inclusive—following the lead of the textbooks that want us to believe that we are all “the same on the inside.” I took great pride in teaching my students how to find greater efficiency in movement, and thus the potential for more strength and literal and figurative empowerment. Yet the deeper I dig into these ideas, I find myself further entrenched into ideals of privilege and colonialism. Is the very concept of efficiency in the body rooted in colonial ideals? You have to admit that any body with the time
and inclination to be concerned with efficiency conveys a state of privilege Or worse—is building efficiency in bodies rooted in ideals that support the body as machine, the body as commodity that can be exploited for another’s profit?
I see myself as a healer, bringing research to my students to improve the safety of dance training, prevent overuse injuries, and empower them with knowledge, I do this work through a somatic lens, honoring all bodies and all stories, and yet, if the very foundation of this information is biased, how do I move forward? How do I guide another human being on this journey—knowing that the majority of our anatomical resources are based on a fixed, historical model presented as an absolute.
When teach my students about the bones of the
foot, how the weight of the body is distributed, the weight I carry as a privileged white woman is so very different than the weight a person of color has to carry in this country. Much of dance science is based on absolutes that assume we are all the same on the inside, and yet these ideas and images of the body are filtered through a lens of whiteness. Things that are presented as absolutes—this is what your femur looks like--his is what your pelvis looks like. Is it? Are these facts that can be accepted without question? These 2 dimensional images that we have accepted as absolutes are just the beginning of the story.
Somatics offers us a lens to see the human being attached to these 2-D drawings, yet even in this field, we do not question the foundations of the body: we layer emotion and lived experience atop these historical resources. Through my work with Neurokinetic
Therapy protocols, discovering facilitated and inhibited muscles and compensational strategies for advanced movement, I see the stories of individuals embedded in unique ways on a physical and emotional level.
Through my 20 years of working with dancers and clients from all walks of life, I have never worked with a body that functions the way the anatomy books say it is “supposed” to function. Neurological patterning from overuse and compensation strategies abound, and create individual stories of physicality. How might we find the truth for each body that is not related to an absolute that comes from a white lens?
From discussions in my classes, some students have shared that the anatomical images of the body do not connect them to
an inclusive understanding of the body. They state that they are troubled by the focus on the body as a machine, and note that despite the claim that technology can further our understanding of the body—some share that the 2-D drawings with body as instruction manual, and clunky 3-D robotic images on a screen leads them farther away from a personal connection to the body and instead, guide them into a colonized framework that honors the whiteness that pervades the power structures in education. How might we shift our approach to understanding the movement of the body that honors lived experience, that honors knowledge in multiple forms?
Bell Hooks writes: “Then there are times when personal experience keeps us from reaching The Mountaintop. and so we let it go Because the weight of it is too heavy. And sometimes the Mountaintop Is difficult to reach with all our resources, factual and confessional, So we are just there collectively grasping, Feeling the limitations of knowledge, longing together, yearning for a way to reach that highest point. Even this yearning is a way to know.”
References:
Hooks, Bell, 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.
Myers, Thomas W. 2020 Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual Therapists and Movement Professionals. Elsevier.
Standring, S. (n.d.). Gray's Anatomy The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Amazon.com. Retrieved July 9, 2021, from https://www.amazon.com/Grays-Anatomy-Anatomical-Clinical-
Practice/dp/0702077054/ref=sr_1_1crid=NMWQU1VZTTV5&keywords=gray%27s+anatomy&qid=1686329186&sprefix=gray%27s+an%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-1
@danceconditioningtechnique
www.danceconditioningtechnique.com
Susan Haines is a Dance Kinesiologist based in Bellingham, WA bridging the latest research in fascia, biomechanics, and neuroscience into dance training. Susan is a Level III NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner; a sophisticated treatment modality that addresses the causes of dysfunctional movement in
the motor control center. This work led her to create Dance Conditioning Technique, a unique training system that focuses on foundational strength. She has worked with dancers from American Ballet Theatre, American Repertory Ballet, Ballet Austin, and Oregon Balle Theatre to create conditioning programs for greater ease in turnout, pointe work, and partnering. She has an MFA from UNCG-Greesnboro where she studied with leaders in the field of Somatics and Kinesiology: Dr. Jill Green and B.J. Sullivan. She is a
NCPT Pilates instructor who studied under Carolyn Watson, MS, LaC, and Karen Clippinger. She is trained in functional movement patterning and taping with Dr. Perry Nickelston and is a certified FMT Mobility Specialist. She is on faculty at Western Washington University teaching contemporary, ballet, jazz, and kinesiology in her Apolla Shocks. She has presented her dance conditioning research at conferences nationwide.
Image: Visual art by Linda Ost
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