Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) Efforts
As an organization built around dance forms with African diasporic roots, Rhythmically Speaking believes cultivating an atmosphere of inclusivity, respect for diversity and effort toward equitable access is critically important to our work, and we have strived to reflect and celebrate these roots and approaches in our artistic work and all of our operations since our founding in 2008. Our current actionable efforts include:
- Communicating through our marketing and programming about how the African diasporic root and branch movement forms that deeply inform our work have long been invisibilized due to ignorance, commercialism and racism;
- Counteracting that erasure by prioritizing the hiring of BIPOC dancers and choreographers, and selecting works for programming that center the African diasporic roots of jazz by highlighting sensibilities like groove, improvisation and complex interactions between the dancers and the music;
- Donating yearly 1% of our annual income as an organization to the International Association of Blacks in Dance;
- Focusing our outreach programming on benefitting underserved populations of people, including urban youth and senior citizens.
We understand these efforts as an ongoing journey we are dedicated to being on and learning from. We always welcome feedback, and appreciate the care and labor put into sharing such thoughts.
Rhythmically Speaking 