This podcast revisits and expands on pertinent highlights from the panel discussion and intervention titled ‘Centring and Intersectionality: Black Perspectives in Dance Research’ which was presented at the Centre for Dance Research two-day symposium in November 2021, focusing on inclusion and Intersectionality.

The discussion is facilitated by Dr Mercy Nabirye, Consultant and Creative Producer for African Diaspora Arts and founding Director of Kauma Arts and it brings together Dr Funmi Adewole Elliott, Senior lecturer at DeMontfort University UK, Academic Researcher, Storyteller and dramaturge; and Duane Cyrus, recently appointed Director of the School of Dance at the University of Arizona at Tucson, USA, artist, curator, and founder of Theatre of Movement.

In conversation, they discuss and compare the ongoing struggle for inclusion from their different perspectives, intersectionality, and practice but centring on the idea of creating spaces where a range of black voices can be heard.  They explore some of the complexities of understanding Blackness in various broader contexts that impact on African diasporic dance practice and research both locally and globally.