Dancing Conversation: Shifting Cultural Power

On October 21, Hope Mohr (San Francisco, CA) and Cristina González Alcalá (Akron, OH), Community Investment Officer at the Akron Community Foundation, will participate in a Dancing Conversation around the themes of Mohr's book Shifting Cultural Power: Case Studies and Questions in Performance. The book, released September 1 2021, reflects on Mohr’s ten years at the helm of The Bridge Project and covers a range of equity-related subjects including transitioning a hierarchical nonprofit to a model of distributed leadership; expanding the canon; having difficult conversations about the racial inequities that continue to pervade the performing arts field; and reckoning with aesthetic bias in dance.

The event is co-sponsored by ArtsNow, Summit County's arts advocacy organization. ArtsNow Executive Director Nicole Mullet (Akron, OH) commented, “This book and its subject is so timely with the implementation of Akron’s first ever Cultural Plan. The cultural plan is intended to examine and strengthen the soul of a community through the exploration of arts, humanities, culture, natural resources, and heritage throughout all neighborhoods of Akron.”

Dancing Conversations are free public events that locate dance among broader topics and offer an opportunity to demonstrate the aesthetic range within the dance field. All our 2021 Dancing Conversations — on dance & music, women & witchcraft, Black male choreographers, and queer movements — are available on our YouTube channel.