Acknowledging women’s contributions to dance, Oakland’s Traci Bartlow says it best: “We got the funk. We got the bottom. We got the bass.” Bartlow, a dance historian and OG practitioner of funk boogaloo and various Black dances, kicks off our If Cities Could Dance mixtape for Women’s History Month. This special release highlights women movement artists from across the country who are finding their power and asserting their voices through dance. From the girls and women helping revive Washington, D.C.’s Beat Ya Feet culture to San Francisco tap dancers creating space for a new Chicana aesthetic, watch how women are breaking barriers in dance and forging paths for future generations to follow. Together, their movement reminds us of what is possible when women, with our multitude of intersectional identities, collectively come together and demand to be seen, respected, and celebrated in our fullness.
Watch more remarkable women dancers in this If Cities Could Dance Celebrates Women’s History Month playlist with videos from four seasons of the award-winning series. Below are a few of our fans’ favorite episodes.
Love what you see here? You’ll want to watch these next:
This SF Dance Crew Channels Chicana Resistance
The women of La Mezcla call on the histories of tap and son jarocho to create their own rhythmically percussive dance style.
This Miami Dance Theater Company Shapes Feminist Messages into Sensual Moves
Watch members of the women-centered company dance on the city’s beaches through its art district and night clubs.
How Women Dancers Are Redefining Oakland’s Street Dancing Scene
Mixing hip-hop moves with breakdancing, house, samba, waacking, ballet, and jazz, the women of Mix’d Ingrdnts started their own dance.
A Detroit Dancer Creates a Gumbo of Movement to Reclaim Her Power and Safety
Dancer and choreographer Erika “Big Red” Stowall blends African and Caribbean traditions with contemporary and jazz dance to express her femininity, vulnerability, and power, and to reclaim her personal safety.
For the Ancestors: Bomba is Puerto Rico’s Afro-Latino Dance of Resistance
Meet sisters María and Mar Cruz who along with other Afro-Puerto Ricans are bringing back this dance of resistance to the streets of Puerto Rico.
