Where Does Dance Live in Our Society?
From Nancy Ng, writing for The Huffington Post:
Yet, those of us entrenched in dance education know that the joy, hope and beauty that is experienced viewing dances and creating dances is generally limited to the middle and upper classes. Arts education in the California public school system demonstrates a large equity gap — only 16 percent of public school students from low-income households experience quality standards-based arts education, compared to the 84 percent of students from moderate to upper income households who receive rigorous arts instruction. This equity gap widens when you factor in the dance arts — with only .3 percent of children in our state enrolled in a school-based dance course. This means 99.7 percent of children do not receive the benefits a dance education can bring.