Wednesday, September 15, 2021
As the Dance World Works to Become More Inclusive, Conservative Religious Dancers Still Encounter Challenges
www.dancemagazine.com: Passover was going to be a challenge. During her years as a modern Orthodox Jewish student at the School of American Ballet, Dena Abergel had stayed with a family in the city every Friday so she could attend Friday night and Saturday classes without taking the train home to New Jersey, in accordance with her observance of the Sabbath. But as a teenage member of New York City Ballet, she requested three days off—the first two days of Passover followed by Shabbat—which, as far as she knew, was unprecedented for a company member.
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4 comments:
The title is a bit misleading--it’s really about how DEI needs to include everyone, including respecting diversity, providing equity, and promoting inclusion in regards to various faiths. The article refers to the dance industry as ‘secular’, but I’d argue that it’s current observance of faiths and holidays are objectively Christian. Easter, Christmas, and more Christian-centric holidays are given time off and socially accepted, thus they may seem to be secular, but again, many industries are Christian-centric but labeled as secular. It’s important to recognize this in order to promote DEI and make positive changes moving forwards, namely, making space for those of other faiths. Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute says, "As long as everybody can work together and respect one another, we can treat each other with humanity and compassion." I would swap the statements--as long as we can treat each other with humanity and compassion, we can work together. While the article says that we should be inclusive of people who think differently, there has to be a basis of respect, humanity, and compassion.
It’s really interesting to see how the word conservative can mean different things and still spook me so deeply. I think I often forget that conservative ideology is not inherently racist, classist, homophobic, etc. Conservative ideology is by definition, conservation of older beliefs and practices. In American society, conservative ideology is inherently racist, classist, etc. but in religious ideology, it just means conservation of religious texts and traditions. This can be discriminatory, like in the case of literal readings of the Bible endorsing slavery and homophobia, but sometimes it just means being observant of fasting a services before other obligations. Like El pointed out, taking time for Christian holidays is very common, but on Jewish and Muslim holidays people are expected to violate their religion to participate in larger society. Arts is so dependent on differing views and stories that the industry cannot afford to disrespect these artists and continue claims of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As we continue to push for a more just, inclusive, diverse, and equitable theater, we need not forget that religion is a part of it. While I’ve understood how religion can affect what a performer wears or is comfortable performing, I’ve never thought about the extent it can impact a performer, like Abergel putting on makeup in the dark to avoid using electricity. I know in several of my classes, my Jewish peers were frustrated with assignments being due on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which they were able to work around, because it felt inconsiderate to their faith. While I believe politics and religion do belong in some of the works of theater, I was impressed with how the directors of Ballet West don’t allow political or religious speech in the rehearsal space with the goal of creating a safe working environment.
I went to a high school with a relatively high Jewish population. We still had school during most holidays, but the cafeteria always served matzo ball soup and other options. I also had friends who did not attend school on those days and there never appeared to be issues with it. Of course, this still does not really address how the Christian holiday of Christmas is automatically respected in most workplaces and educational spaces. There are major holidays for every religion in every part of the year, so I do not think there is a way to shift breaks to be entirely equal, but I think we can absolutely work together to make people of all religions feel confident in observing their holidays by not giving anyone a hard time and even by making small gestures like the cafeteria at my high school did. If you are a person in a position of authority such as a professor or an employer, it is incredibly important to respect when the people under you let you know they will be missing a day or two for any reason, but especially when it is for religious reasons.
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