DanceHE

Dance HE recognises that providing equality of opportunity, embracing diversity and actively promoting inclusion is vital to the success of Dance within the Higher Education sector. However, we also acknowledge that everyone has the right to feel safe, the right to respect, the right to freedom of belief or religion and the right to safety. This is not simply about the success of the sector, it is about supporting one another in the fight for a fairer, more equal and more tolerant society. We recognise that we must do more, and we must do better.

We are committed to taking action to support faculties, students, staff, artists and dance as an entity, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This statement covers all protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act (2010), including (but not limited to) age, disability, race, religion and/or belief, sex or sexual orientation, as well as socioeconomic factors.

We acknowledge that Dance in Higher Education has traditionally and historically been dominated by privileged leaders and been diversely deficient. Dance HE will address this inequality through the following aims:

• To work on supporting a sector-wide approach to decolonising Dance HE curricula, through dialogue and cross-institutional learning

• To facilitate knowledge transfer opportunities and initiatives that empower a new kind of solidarity, working together to better empower peers and colleagues, as well as cultivating a more diverse generation of dance students

• To harness recent technological developments to expand accessibility for those previously excluded from engaging with dance practice due to a plethora of physical, social and cultural barriers

• To tackle racism, ableism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, ageism, sexism and other forms of discrimination against members of our dance community

• To stand in solidarity with colleagues, students and peers who are facing challenges to their work or their participation, using our resources to advocate for them and our subject as needed

• To assess the impact of our activities to identify, remove or mitigate any disadvantage to underrepresented groups

• To engage in regular dialogue and discussion about our failures, our mistakes and our misunderstandings, to better improve our provision for minority and/or traditionally excluded population groups

• To reach out and foster relationships with organisations in the sector, to work alongside the wider higher education dance community

• To address representation inequalities within our Board and our opportunities, activities and events, by seeking out new connections, new networks and inviting diversity of role models to join in with our activity

We will ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of all that we do going forward.

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SUPPORTING AND EMBRACING CHANGE

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