Our Unity Statement

As a community of educators, administrators, dancers, choreographers, directors, and advocates, we stand firmly against discrimination, institutional racism, and racial injustice.

However, we recognize standing still, albeit passionately, is not what this moment calls for, as words are not enough. Instead, this is our cue to move with our black, indigenous, and people of color communities in solidarity toward a better tomorrow for our lives and our children’s future. We, as a dance community, share a collective pulse, and our broken hearts beat as one.

Our inherent knowledge of how to move together in a space, no matter how small or suffocating, will prove invaluable throughout the coming days and months, as we rise and sink together. Hand in hand, we will lift and support our brothers and sisters, and, with grace and dignity, balance on the precipice of what was, however painful, and what urgently needs to be.

We will amplify the voices of those who have been silenced, validating their truth and illuminating their beauty. Together, with love, through dance education, collaboration, creation, and performance, we will do better. We must do better. This is our plea: Unmask the injustice. Embrace our humanity. Find the breath and hope to create a new legacy for the next generation, one of empathy, endurance, and equality. We are all created equal.

This is our truth. Black Lives Matter. This is our promise.