Matters of Diversity

Subathra Subramaniam is Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive Officer of Akademi. She looks at how the vital shift in conversation around diversity has impacted the South Asian dance sector, and offers an opportunity to implement lasting change.

Black lives matter. We knew, we know, we shall continue to know. But the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is truly a movement in that it has challenged, shifted perspectives and changed trajectories. It has helped reposition and regroup scattered marginalised voices, art forms and communities so they can come together on common ground, combining and coalescing to tackle mutually held frustrations and achieve mutually held ambitions.

That includes combatting the many forms and shades of racism that continue to dwell within our own communities. From individual to interpersonal to institutional. As Audre Lorde said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives.” That was in her address 'Learning from the 60s' which she delivered at Harvard in 1982. The 60s, the 80s, now: for all that learning, it’s been another half-century of too-slow progress. Of no solution, no revolution and precious little evolution.

But now – right now – we have an opportunity to not just change things, but to change the pace of change. Intersectionality is key to this. Yes, it’s been an ever more popular buzzword ever since its recent escape from sociology to wider society. It’s also a call to ditch the fractious fragmented failings of the past and to look more holistically at societal shortcomings – in particular how racism infiltrates and operates.

When I first joined the National Dance Network (NDN), I was the only person of colour who was part of it. All that connectivity and just me. Now the NDN is, slightly, more representative of the wider sector. But is it, and the various organisations it spans, any more representative of the world we live in?

Most are acutely aware that the sector needs radical change. Change in response to the ongoing pandemic as well as the injustices that the BLM movement has brought to the front of our thinking.

Subathra Subramaniam

More in-depth engagement with artists in the form of conversations. More listening. More inclusion in decision making. And all of this needs not just to be initiated – as it has been – but to be normalised. Programming also has to change. More discussions need to take place between artists and venues about what they mutually need to take different dance forms to communities and engage with audiences, and of course these discussions need communities at the core.

Artists have started to shift the way they use language to articulate their work, artforms and to discuss some of the injustices that exist in our society. Through their work today, South Asian artists are tackling some of the injustices and polemic issues that we face; some in subtle ways and others more directly.

It has been wonderful to see more South Asian artists at the heart of discussions around social injustice, marginalised voices and radical changes that are needed in the arts. The South Asian dance sector is small but hugely nuanced. In order to provide possible career paths and to ensure the art forms continue to be a part of our society, we need to see more resources going to artists and organisations who have the capacity to facilitate this.

BLM has also made South Asian artists more acutely aware of the whiteness of the industry and we are demanding that our voices are heard and valued. We are asking more questions and tasking organisations to be accountable for the decisions they make. If we take a truly intersectional approach, we can do more than ask pertinent questions: we can deliver workable answers.

Further information

www.akademi.co.uk

Photos: Top: Akademi Associates British Museum May 2019, photo by Vipul Sangoi. Subathra Subramaniam, photo by Quentin Cooper.