Teaching Dance with Cultural Integrity: Honoring Origins

Key Takeaways

• Cultural appropriation in dance occurs when studios use elements from marginalized cultures without understanding origins, honoring lineage, or building mutually supportive relationships with those communities, often while profiting financially from styles created by BIPOC artists.
• Competition routines and costume catalogs continue to rely on ethnic stereotypes, with judges regularly witnessing dancers wearing makeup to appear like another ethnicity or traditional ceremonial garb unrelated to the choreography being performed.
• Jazz, tap, and hip-hop dance share layered histories rooted in West African and Afro-diasporic traditions; understanding the cultural context and community origins of these styles is more important than executing the specific movements themselves.
• Authentic teaching requires expert consultation: choreographers exploring cultural styles outside their own background should hire trained specialists to guest choreograph or lead master classes, compensating them for time and expertise rather than copying movements from videos.
• BIPOC representation in dance leadership remains critically low, with only 7% of major performing arts organization leaders identifying as BIPOC as of 2025, despite industry-wide initiatives like THRIVE launched this year to build leadership pathways.
• Economic justice matters: predominantly white entertainment companies and studios benefit financially from appropriated cultural dances while artists from those cultures often receive no credit or compensation, as seen when the Renegade dance created by 14-year-old Black creator Jalaiah Harmon launched Charli D'Amelio to an $8 million net worth.

Why cultural integrity in dance teaching matters more than ever in 2026

Dance studios across the United States are facing renewed scrutiny around cultural appropriation, representation, and ownership of dance styles, particularly in competition settings and everyday curriculum. Social media platforms have amplified awareness of how dance styles pioneered by Black artists are regularly colonized by white creators, with TikTok algorithms favoring white-washed iterations that gain more views and financial returns. This dynamic mirrors longstanding practices in brick-and-mortar studios, where predominantly white-owned businesses profit from teaching jazz, tap, hip-hop, and other cultural forms without crediting or compensating the communities that created them.

Meanwhile, major dance conventions and education platforms are responding by bringing in instructors who specialize in different cultural dance styles, signaling industry momentum toward formalized best practices. For studio owners and teachers seeking practical frameworks for what respectful teaching actually looks like, the question is no longer whether to address cultural integrity, but how to implement it effectively.

The difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation in dance

According to Dance Magazine's reporting on cultural appropriation, cultural appreciation in dance refers to understanding, respecting, and valuing traditions and movements of other cultures. This differs fundamentally from appropriation, which involves taking elements from a culture without understanding or honoring its origins.

As one dance educator explained, cultural appropriation means "taking the external trappings of cultural traditions and using them as decorations on your own history without developing mutually supporting relationships in the community that you're taking from." Importantly, every dance form is an ethnic form, including ballet and modern dance. What determines appropriation versus appreciation is power dynamics: it's fundamentally different for someone in a position of privilege to borrow from a dance form created by a marginalized community.

How cultural appropriation shows up in competition and studio settings

Competition judges regularly witness cultural appropriation in routines that rely on stereotypes to portray marginalized cultures, often resulting in watered-down, superficial versions or outright caricatures. Dancers frequently wear makeup to appear like a particular ethnicity or don traditional garb made for ceremonies that have no connection to the dance being performed.

The problem extends to costume catalogs, which advertise "China doll" or "Arabian Bollywood" outfits that lean into the exoticization of cultures and people, notably women of East and South Asian descent. When confronted about dressing white children as Asian women for routines set to songs from Mulan, some studio owners have dismissed concerns by saying "the kids just liked the song" and asking "why race had to be brought into it," claiming the purpose was to honor other cultures. This defense misses the fundamental issue: using cultural elements as decorative props without understanding their significance or compensating the communities they come from.

The economic justice dimension: who profits from cultural dance forms

Entertainment companies, cultural institutions, and private dance studios, which remain overwhelmingly white-owned, benefit financially from appropriation of cultural dances due to existing economic structures, while artists from those cultures don't benefit from hip-hop's mainstream presence or commercial success.

A stark example: the Renegade dance was originally created by 14-year-old Black creator Jalaiah Harmon but paved the way for Charli D'Amelio's fame and estimated net worth of $8 million. The original creator received no compensation while a white influencer built a multimillion-dollar brand on her work. This pattern repeats in studio settings when predominantly white-owned businesses charge tuition for teaching jazz, tap, and hip-hop classes without hiring BIPOC instructors, paying royalties, or acknowledging the Afro-diasporic roots of these forms.

Practical frameworks for teaching cultural dance styles with integrity

Teachers and choreographers exploring cultural dance forms should start by asking themselves: "Am I paying respect to the culture from which this music, dance, choreography, or costume originates, or am I using that culture to tell a story that is not my own?" This question, recommended by dance educators focused on respectful choreography, helps distinguish between genuine engagement and superficial borrowing.

When choreographers are interested in exploring another cultural dance style, they should seek the perspective of an expert and compensate them for their time. If no one on faculty has the necessary training, hire someone to lead a master class or guest choreograph. This approach prioritizes authenticity, creates opportunities to discuss the history of the cultural dance form, and directly supports the culture through paid work.

For teachers who receive a job involving a cultural art form that isn't their own, the recommendation is clear: find ways to use your platform to give opportunities to artists from that culture, perhaps as performers and consultants. That choice is under your control, even when other aspects of the production are not.

Understanding the Afro-diasporic roots of jazz, tap, and hip-hop

Jazz, tap, and hip-hop dance have some of the most layered histories in American dance. Much of the aesthetic of the original dance forms has been lost in modern society as these styles evolved from their original sources, which were predominantly West African and Afro-diasporic dance traditions. The move to return to the roots of these dance styles is not just about honoring history; instructors and choreographers focus on origins because the context and culture of dancing is often even more important than the specific movements themselves.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded in 1958 to bring African-American dance to all audiences. When breakers in the Bronx invented spins and freezes, they borrowed old jazz moves. Rather than being isolated styles, Black social dances form a continuum of shared communal language. One reason Black dancers found greater opportunities on Broadway was because they were locked out of ballet and modern dance companies. Ailey was one of many Black choreographers asserting their voices in modern dance during the civil rights movement, drawing from different dance traditions and educating audiences on Black roots often excluded from dance history books.

Moncell Durden, a USC Kaufman professor, specializes in pedagogical practices providing cultural and historical context in Afro-kinetic memory. He created the organization Intangible Roots, which offers courses on preservation and education of Afro-diasporic social dance formations. Some educators now provide choreography, in-school residencies, and lectures about tap dance history in public schools. Others have founded professional development programs like Roots, Rhythm, Race & Dance, a six-week program helping dance educators introduce age-appropriate lessons around race and dance history to students.

The representation gap in dance leadership and BIPOC youth programming

While 53% of principal administrators of major performing arts centers are female, only 7% of leaders of these arts organizations are BIPOC, and only 16% of leadership teams include BIPOC representation. This leadership gap has direct implications for studio culture, hiring practices, and curriculum decisions.

In response, THRIVE: A BIPOC Arts Leadership Program launched in 2025 to provide BIPOC arts leaders, visionaries, changemakers, and culture bearers resources and skills to grow community, belonging, and confidence rooted in power. BIPOC youth dance programs are being designed to provide safe, inclusive spaces for students of color to learn from teachers who bring artistry, professional training, and lived experience that inspires the next generation to see themselves fully in the art form.

BIPOC dancers continue to face obstacles in predominantly white studio environments, where being late, wearing the wrong outfit, or having the wrong tone can get them labeled as difficult. Teachers are encouraged to help their Black students confront these unfair truths, and both teachers and peers agree the best way to change surroundings is to use your voice to call attention to what you're observing.

What This Means for Dance Studio Owners

Editorial analysis — not reported fact:

The practical path forward for studio owners starts with honest examination of current practices. If your studio teaches jazz, tap, or hip-hop, can you name the BIPOC artists and communities who created these forms? Are those histories part of your curriculum, or are students learning movements stripped of context? If you're planning competition choreography that draws on cultural elements, are you prepared to hire a cultural expert as a paid consultant, or will you rely on YouTube research and costume catalog shortcuts?

The financial dimension matters, too. If your studio profits from teaching styles created by marginalized communities, how are you reinvesting in those communities? Hiring BIPOC instructors at competitive salaries, programming guest artists and master classes led by cultural specialists, and allocating scholarship funds specifically for BIPOC students are concrete actions within your control.

For studios in predominantly white communities, the objection "we don't have any Black families here" doesn't eliminate responsibility. It intensifies it, because your white students are learning their understanding of these dance forms exclusively from your teaching. If you're not providing historical context, crediting origins, and modeling respect for cultural lineage, you're teaching appropriation as standard practice.

The industry is moving toward formalized standards. Studios that get ahead of this shift by building genuine relationships with cultural communities, compensating experts appropriately, and centering BIPOC voices in leadership will be better positioned as expectations continue to rise. Those that cling to "the kids just liked the song" defenses will find themselves increasingly out of step with both their peers and the next generation of dance families.

Sources & Further Reading

• Dance Magazine: Understanding Cultural Appropriation in Dance — definitions of appreciation versus appropriation and power dynamics in borrowing cultural forms
• Dance Teacher: Cultural Appropriation in Competition Settings — documented patterns of stereotyping, costume choices, and judge perspectives
• Dance Magazine: The Economics of Hip-Hop Appropriation — financial benefits flowing to white-owned institutions and creators versus original BIPOC artists
• Dance Teacher: Framework for Respectful Choreography — practical questions and hiring recommendations for cultural dance forms
• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater History — founding mission and context for African-American dance in modern dance movement
• Intangible Roots — Moncell Durden's organization offering courses on Afro-diasporic social dance preservation and education
• Americans for the Arts: Arts Leadership Diversity Data — statistics on BIPOC representation in performing arts organization leadership

Editorial coverage of publicly reported industry developments. Dance Studio Journal has no commercial relationship with any companies, studios, competitions, conventions, or organizations named.