Dance – Laney Barhaugh

How Do We Do Better? Personal and Political Dilemmas

Premises the following assumes are true: We live in a racist society – the systems this country uses are generally biased toward white people. Race, while often signified by physical characteristics, is *not* an appreciable biological difference (e.g. black humans and white humans are all homo sapiens), but a socially formed idea that white peopleContinue reading “How Do We Do Better? Personal and Political Dilemmas”

Community

Community has been on my mind lately, and I wanted to say a few things about the national blues dance scene. ***Sappy post alert, read on at your own risk*** I love this community. I love that it allows people to learn dance in the context of a genre that deals with all the upsContinue reading “Community”

Visioning: Or How to Be Awesome at Planning Events

At the very last Winter Blues, I taught a class for the Organizer Track called Visioning. Which sounds like some hippy-dippy nonsense, but was actually a primer on what types of events to plan and why. I’ve gotten a few nudges to turn it into a blog post, so here it is! Organizers should always startContinue reading “Visioning: Or How to Be Awesome at Planning Events”

2014 in Review

I just looked at my dance event log for this past year, and hot. damn. I went to a lot of stuff, folks! More than twice as many events as 2013, and that’s not even counting the ones I organized. Dang. It’s simultaneously gratifying and exhausting to look at that list. The more I think aboutContinue reading “2014 in Review”

Gender in Lindy Hop and Blues

**This is another Facebook note that I posted in March 2011** I recently attended the Heartland Swing Festival in Des Moines, Iowa. As part of this event, there was a team competition that raised some latent concerns of mine. Another part of this event was the Miss Heartland Swing competition. I want to make clearContinue reading “Gender in Lindy Hop and Blues”

Musings on Dance and Race

**This is actually a Facebook note that I posted in April 2013, and resulted in the group Blackness, Whiteness, and Blues, which I moderate.** Often when heading home from dance weekends I’ve had the sensation of returning to “the real world”. Lately, though, that sensation has weakened. Over the course of a couple of conversationsContinue reading “Musings on Dance and Race”