AS AN EDUCATOR who teaches young Black girls in East Oakland, a Lecturer at a local university, and an aging Black Queer artist, I consider it my responsibility to empower the next generation of dancers to understand their worth and advocate for themselves. I am the squeaky wheel.
I have been dancing since I was 8 years old. Through- out my formal training in Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Dun- ham Technique in Los Angeles, and Ballet, Modern, more Jazz, Afro-Haitian, Afro-Brazilian, Salsa, and Vogue in San Francisco, I was blessed to have studied with teachers and professors who encouraged me to reflect on my artistic choices, and who respected me as a person and not just as a dancer. As a dance major and Japanese minor in college, I learned to articulate myself inside and outside of the dance studio, through my body and my words. But I was never formally taught how to advocate for myself—there’s no class for that. But what if I had been expected to point my feet, hold my core, and be able to speak up for myself? What if there had been language developed to approach difficult dance situations? When I work with my size-diverse, 10-to-17-year-old students at Heat Danceline in Oakland, or with multicul- tural undergrads at SF State, I don’t talk about bodies as
a detriment—I highlight accomplishments. I’m known to give a rigorous and demanding class rooted in the belief that we are all capable of beautiful things. I understand the weight my words carry in my students’ lives outside of dance because I know how the words of my teachers continue to echo in my body today. Above all, I want my students to know they have the right to wield the power of No. The word ‘no’ carries an air of finality. Many people are ill-prepared to hear it, and lack the ability to accept it with poise and understanding. —DAMON ZAHARIADES Before the pandemic, I was surely a “Yes” man, work- ing myself to death and somehow pulling it all off. Waking up at 7:55am to get into the city for morning rehearsal at 9, or to class at 10 or 11:30, to then rush over to my gym
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32 in dance SUMM R 2021
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