writing

dancing in a turning world

on dancetabs.com

writing

dancing in a turning world

on dancetabs.com

about

IMG_4966 3.JPG

about

Juliet Burnett by Morgan Lugo

media

photo Joel Benguigui

I’ve always thought that the best way to understand social justice issues is to listen to the voices of people who experience the injustice. In this spirit, tomorrow I’ll be kicking off a series of interviews with some of my inspiring BIPOC friends, starting with a bang with the explosive Cuban ballet dancer, the OG @osielgouneo 💥 Osiel is not only one of the greatest dancers on our stages today, he’s also a real thinker and a doer, a new Dad, and has his own production company which promotes diversity. He has been vocal in the wake of the #blacklivesmatter movement; after the tragic news about #GeorgeFloyd Osiel made an emotional statement on his Instagram account: ‘I’m tired of seeing brothers slaughtered, I’m tired of seeing so much hate for our race.’ Swipe left for another post he made, which I’m going to dive deeper into as it’s an issue that has been at the front of my mind too - systemic injustice in the ballet industry. Tu

I’ve been trying to keep my feed quiet this week to give more space for black voices. I’ve been listening to, learning from, reflecting and engaging with black and POC artists - old friends and new ones. From these reflections, combined with years in the industry in which I became increasingly aware and impacted by my colleagues’ and my own issues as dance artists, I felt compelled to write this post. I write and share it now because black and POC artists still experience injustice in the industry and now is the time to bring their voices centre stage and REALLY listen. As a white-passing (half-Asian) artist I acknowledge that I am privileged and have benefitted from this flawed and archaic system. I also have many years experience in the industry. With these factors in mind I feel a responsibility to use my voice and my platform at this moment, as an act of solidarity and call to action. I love dance and I love to dance, as do dancers all over the world. But in the c

Keep the flame alive.
Solidarity, respect,
listening and learning.
Compassion and reflection.
Let’s be better.
#blacklivesmatter
#indigenouslivesmatter
#blackouttuesday
#theshowmustbepaused
#antiracism

all content copyright Juliet Burnett