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Freedom Dance Collective (FDC) is a group of 3 core teachers (Sapana Doshi, Sylvie Minot and Kamla Sufi) and guest facilitators committed to offering movement meditation/conscious dance for and by “People of the Global Majority” in Oakland, California, USA. FDC emerged from a need for regular dance spaces that center on BIPOC—a term used in the U.S. to highlight those identified as Black, Indigenous and People Color who have experienced current and historical harm, erasure, and marginalization.

We offer joy-forward dance for BIPOC to address two major concerns. First is that many of us experience dance spaces as “minorities” despite our contributions and numbers around the world. It is difficult to benefit fully from dance when there are so few people who look like us and share our experiences. Despite the best intentions of inclusion, barriers remain and diversity has been hard to sustain. Dedicated spaces that center the diverse experiences and needs of BIPOC provide the safety and resources to go deeper into the practice. Second, FDC believes we cannot heal from social wounds without acknowledging them. We prioritize joy, liberation, and healing but also do not shy away from challenging topics of social inequity and power; this is what we mean when we say we offer “decolonized” movement practice.

The first Freedom dances for BIPOC were offered in 2023 as Sapana Doshi was completing her movement teacher training. In 2024, she connected with Sylvie Minot and Kamla Sufi to share our experiences as women of color in dance space and a lot of laughs. We quickly came together as a collective of 3 fiery, joyful Leos and started offering dances regularly on the first and third Saturdays of the month in the racially diverse context of downtown Oakland. Beyond our movement modalities, we bring several other relevant skills and backgrounds. Sapana combines training in The 360 Emergence and Open Floor with a lens on social justice as a university professor who has studied and taught about unjust global political and economic systems as well as social liberation movements for over 25 years. Sylvie brings over two decades of teaching the 5Rhythms®, indigenous healing modalities, a Masters in Theology, embodied racial justice, and outreach among veterans, people in recovery, the elderly and healthcare workers. Kamla brings three decades of educational leadership and embodied practices while also integrating nervous system science and relational dynamics into her facilitation of Open Floor, alongside her work as a DJ and Embodied Success Coach to people of all cultures from around the world.

It has been a joy and honor to establish and expand our community and hear from our dancers about how deeply they appreciate the dedicated BIPOC space. In the future, we plan to offer workshops and special events for BIPOC as well as mixed groups with the intention of exploring how dance can offer healing in solidarity. We also plan to bring in more guest teachers for additional important and diverse lenses. We are not alone in this work. We are inspired by teachers offering movement for BIPOC including Valerie Chafograck of Movement Liberation (who guest taught for FDC last fall), Kaia Hawkins in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Shakaya McFarland in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA) and Marissa Duarte in Tucson, Arizona (USA). We envision creating a network of mutual support and exchange for conscious movement teachers serving BIPOC. Ultimately, we believe in the potential of conscious movement to unite and heal our world; affinity spaces like FDC support dancing into this future.

freedom-dance-collective.com