International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Koff, S. R., Overby, L. Y., & Anttila, E. (2022). Editorial: Dance education throughout the world: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice reckoning. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 23(SI 1.0). Retrieved from http://www.ijea.org/v23si1.0

The years 2019¬–2020 and beyond were like no others, as we encountered the colliding issues of the global COVID-19 pandemic and a global reckoning with racism. Dance educators, performers, choreographers, and many others were impacted by these monumental events and concerns. Along with fellow members of the Board of Dance and the Child International (daCi), Jeff Meiners, Nicholeen DeGrasse-Johnson, and Lisa Wilson, we initiated a series of online meetings when faced with major shutdowns of our professional practices due to the global pandemic. Through these meetings, organized to check on the health of the organization and its membership in this time of international crisis, we recognized that children especially were severely limited in their ability to access dance and that many access-related issues that had long existed in dance became uncovered by the current global events.
The pandemic and racism both focus on our lives as fueled by our breath. In dance and movement, we need to breathe. We all need to breathe to live. Yet these two issues, George Floyd’s murder and the global pandemic, were connected by breath. As George Floyd was being murdered, we hear him say: “I can’t breathe.” One of the devastating effects of COVID-19 is that it affects the lungs and severely limits lung capacity, sometimes leading to death. Lives have been suffocated by racism. Lives have been suffocated by a devastating disease. Dancers cannot ignore this intersection.
Though several years have passed since the height of these events, it is now clear that their lasting and lingering effects will be with us for a long time. In fact, many of us, regardless of the setting, have fundamentally changed our practice to incorporate new learning and new ways of teaching and working with students. We have opened possibilities in teaching, content, awareness, and manner of engaging with students. Additionally, we recognize that this is not a temporary shift, but rather a shift in approach that is constantly evolving and never in a fixed position.