Dance Inclusion and Belonging initiatives
Programming that represents a global perspective
The dance program is committed to leading the way towards an inclusive learning experience via its curriculum and programming that represents a global perspective. Students can study multiple movement forms including hip-hop, Afro-Latin salsa, contemporary ballet, somatics, and contemporary modern. These embodied histories, represented in the studio, on stage, and in our daily social interactions, inform the way we continue to become culturally aware of who we are, how we identify with each other and the world at large, and the continual work of furthering the conversation about inclusion in the dance profession.
Sol Motion initiative
Sol Motion brings together pre-existing events that enhance the social dance communities in Phoenix: Sol Power, Latin Sol, and Sol Rhythms. These events serve as anchors for the year-long project, where hundreds of Phoenicians come together to increase access, knowledge, and participation in the hip hop and Afro-Latin social dance communities in Metropolitan Phoenix as a means of empowerment, community building and cross-cultural exchange. These events are supported by community social gatherings and evening social dance events that happen in between the anchor events to further develop and enhance learning and engagement.
A cross-institute initiative, Sol Power harnesses the resources of the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts to promote hip-hop artist culture of DJs, MCs, graffiti artists and dancers in the Valley of the Sun. Founded in 2010, this event served as a platform for a rich, uncharted collaboration among scholars, performers and hip-hop artists. The week-long event started as a dance gathering point and expanded to include the creative elements of hip-hop (emcee, DJ, breaking, graffiti). Each element informs the other. The festival includes performances by hip-hop dance crews, local artists, as well as open battles, movement workshops, and community seminars. Access to facilities coupled with in-kind services from artists and current networks made Sol Power affordable and accessible to a wide audience. Over the past years, the event has reached and engaged over 1,000 Phoenicians as a part of the event.
Latin Sol is a week-long festival that integrates social partnership dance to connect, enrich, embody and develop our ASU Afro-Latin dance community. The festival happens each spring on campus and provides a space for local Phoenix-based audiences to engage with each other through dance workshops, lectures involving culturally relevant topics within the dance industry, and offers a performance showcase to highlight Afro-Latin movement styles.
Latin Sol encourages intergenerational communities to come together and learn various styles of Afro-Latin social dances, such as salsa, mambo, Afro-Cuban, kizomba, bachata, etc. Hosted by both the Salsa Club at ASU and the dance program, Latin Sol programming is curated by the students, designed primarily for the ASU dance community in mind. Latin Sol also welcomes and cherishes participation by outside members of the dance community. The event bridges these communities and encourages a unification of all dance lovers.