Articles from the ‘Interviews’ collection

Kazuyo Morita's illustration

Kazuyo Morita: “We Need Role Models”

"We need role models in this field so there's somebody who other disabled people can copy or aspire to be, but I don't think that's possible unless more dancers come into this field. I personally think it's very important to establish the status of disabled dancers and train more disabled dancers." Kazuyo Morita, a dancer and actress from Osaka, Japan, shares how crucial role models are to motivating people with disabilities to try dance.

April 18, 2022  |  Read Article

Two students bend over with their hands raised behind them with flexed wrists.

How Cultural Production Functions

Ninoska M’bewe Escobar, a dance scholar and Postdoctoral Fellow in Dance at the University of New Mexico, discusses her focus on bringing more awareness to the legacy of Pearl Primus, as well as why it is important to teach the history of dance forms alongside technique.

March 21, 2022  |  Read Article

Students take Maguette's class with a drummer in the corner. High rises are out the windows behind them,

“It Always Comes Back to African Dance”

Maguette Camara, a globally recognized West African dancer, choreographer, teacher, and drummer based in New York City, shares how African dance is at the root of most dance forms and thus benefits any dancer to train in, as well as how New York City has a flourishing African dance scene.

March 14, 2022  |  Read Article

Momar sits in a chair on a sidewalk. Pieces of paper are taped to the wall behind him.

Discerning The Diversity and Multiplicity of Dances within Africa

Momar Ndiaye, a dance artist from Senegal who is on faculty at the American Dance Festival and is an assistant professor at Ohio State University, talks about the political, technical, and social aspects of why Afro diasporic dance forms deserve equal footing with European classical dance forms in American college dance programs.

March 7, 2022  |  Read Article