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Stop Reducing Cultural Dances To Weight Loss Strategies!
If you are not interested in learning about the cultural traditions and emotional, heartfelt stories behind the movement of bodies that were once enslaved, raped, beaten, mutilated, discarded, and moved from their homelands, do yourself a favor and abort the fucking mission.
While I have made progress in leaps and bounds when it comes to my frustration regarding the fact that ignorance, mainly expressed in people, will never cease to exist, I thought I would do these individuals a favor and shed some light on the innocent and well-meaning yet disrespectful question that seems to make its rounds in the world of dance, more specifically cultural dance. The question is usually posed like this:
“Will (insert intricate traditional dance with specific movements that have been practiced and passed down for generations) help me lose weight?”
Again, I understand that people who ask this question do not mean harm. But I still must call out the underlying assumption behind this inquiry which reduces an intimate cultural tradition to merely a weight loss program! Have some respect. It is anything but!
One such question was posed online about Tahitian dance, and a dance instructor named Kanani Lokelani Asuega (IG handle: kananilokelaniworkshops) answered:
