Women of Color in Academic Dance: An Evaluation of How America and Oklahoma’s History of Racial Injustice towards Black and First American People Correlates to the Experiences of Black and First American Female Identifying Students Majoring in Dance at Oklahoma Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the difficulties faced by female-identifying dance students of color in Oklahoma higher-education. Due to the lack of educational training provided by higher-education dance programs, critical accessibility and an and share some of my own critical reflections on how educators have the ability to create an accessible and equitable experience within studio classroom settings. Speaking from the position of a researcher who belongs to the thesis demographic, my decade-long investigation into the experience of female-identifying Black and First American dance students within higher education dance programs highlights and uncovers traumas experienced by dance students within institutions in Oklahoma .