DEI for Dance 2024

sarAika movement collective
August 2023~November 2024

Change does not come by itself, we need to make it happen

for all of us

DEI for Dance=DEID

Message from Aika Takeshima, Co-founder & DEI Officer of the sarAika Movement Collective

Since we launched the DEI for Dance initiative in sarAika movement collective in 2022, I have noticed that more companies and organizations are beginning to work on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). However, many of these efforts seem to prioritize diversity—specifically the hiring of people of color (POC)—without giving equal attention to inclusion and creating a non-hostile work environment. As an immigrant of color, it often seems to me that the true purpose behind these DEI efforts is to gain societal approval, access to opportunities, and funding. This indicates that many organizations are not fully engaging with DEI by leveraging the diversity they have.
As a certified DEI practitioner and co-founder of a dance company in New York City, I believe we still have a long way to go in our industry regarding DEI.

DEI is not just a number game of POC.
Creating an inclusive environment and leverage the diversity you have.
It is a key to innovation
That is the DEI.

DEI is not merely a numbers game focused on hiring more POC. It involves creating an inclusive environment and effectively utilizing the diversity in your organization. Diversity is essential for innovation; a collaborative approach fosters a safe space for individuals to express themselves, leading to unique ideas. If your focus is solely on increasing the number of POC without also prioritizing inclusion, you risk creating an environment filled with dissatisfaction. This can lead to a confusing mix of differing approaches, behaviors, and cultural norms, resulting in chaos rather than harmony. DEI initiatives by major corporations demonstrate that genuine DEI benefits both the companies and all individuals.

As a dance company with three years of DEI experience, led by a certified DEI practitioner, we are confident that a strong commitment to DEI can benefit both your organization and your employees.

That is why I am here to share effective DEI strategies
tailored for the dance industry

And I named it DEI for Dance

shortened DEID.

DEI for dance industry

Our company advocates for a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. We aim to offer the platform which we have been looking for, a safe place of growth and launch desired from our diverse communities. And we aim to spread them in the dance industry.

Introduction of sarAika

sarAika movement collective is a contemporary/conceptual dance collective based in New York since 2021, funded by Aika Takeshima and Sara Pizzi, who are immigrants, women, POC, multidisciplinary artists, dancer-choreographers, activist and LGBTQIA+ supporters and representatives.

sarAika is dedicated to making art about and for humans creating awareness and reflection on actual social issues and self-consciousness, breaking the concept of standard performance creating collaborative, conceptual, interactive art experiences.

sarAika strongly believes in the power of art. It raises individual self confidence, leading to the understanding of diversity, opening the doors to eliminate prejudice and discrimination. No matter one’s career, their being – emotions, conscious and unconscious thoughts, and life experience – are expressed through art, which we capture to bring a wider perspective to the world.

Mission:

Make art about and for humans, facilitating their process of finding more freedom and possibilities in themselves, through our movements, words, and passion.

Values:

Respect
Communication
Collaboration
Inclusion
Community

Thus, opening space to allow everyone to be authentic to themself,
bringing comfort in togetherness, to ultimately grow the strength and bond our community.

Why We Foucus On DEI:

sarAika movement collective is a collaborative dance company founded on the principle of creating art for and about people. We strive to produce unexpected and innovative works while fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. We believe that an inclusive work environment is essential for the growth and sustainability of our creative efforts. As representatives of underrepresented communities, including LGBTQIA+ individuals, immigrants, people of color (POC), and women, we prioritize respect and safety for our professionals and all communities we engage with. Ensuring that everyone feels a sense of belonging is fundamental to our mission.
In short, we envison to create an environment we’ve been looking for.

DEI unlocks innovation and builds sarAika where we all can feel respected, safe to be authentic ourselves, belonging and contributing.

Community value

The founders of the sarAika movement collective, Sara Pizzi & Aika Takeshima, are multidisciplinary artists, dancer-choreographers, activists, and representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community. As immigrants, women, and POC, they create art that represents and empowers the communities to which they belong. Their work aims to raise awareness of topical issues, sparking creativity, reflection, and imagination.

The balance of your artistry and diverse professionals - it is challenging, but not impossible and it will be an innovative creation if you find the proper strategy and keep taking action.

What we've done

August 2023 ~ November 2024

1. Renewal of contracts/protocols

Implemented our firm commitment to DEI in the dance ecosystem to our company description and protocols

2. Seperating "Hispanic" and "Latinx "in the demographic survey

3. Proactive Attendance To More Diverse Community Events

The oldest Latinx art organization in NYC
2 theater companies
Physical Theater company
Fashion magazine
Visual artist
Sweden & Japan
Film company
Kids programs
Asian orgs, in addition to Japanese orgs

3. Produced a show for Latinx community

One hour show created for and presented at IATI Theater, the oldest Latinx theater organization. Hiring all Latinx performers(total 6 performers), highliting Latinx women’s history and women’s journey toward empowerment.

3. Largely involved performers own strengths in movements and voices to creations

4. Creation of monthly community event

Safe place to gather with both new and old friends, and
share ideas.

3 Key elements to ask ourselves to achieve our DEI goals:

Stay Curious

Embrace and learn from differences among us. Understand that no two people have identical backgrounds—whether in culture, education, age, social status, or other factors. Rather than expecting everyone to have the same thoughts, let’s be open to sharing and learning from each other’s perspectives.

Trust

We are a team working collaboratively towards final creation. While conflicts may arise during the process, our shared goal is to produce the most innovative work together. If we keep this in mind, we can turn conflicts into opportunities for innovative ideas.

See from other perspective

"Why did you do that!?" - "I thought it's good! That's normal in my culture!" - "Oh I didn't even think about it in that way!"
Understanding perspectives different from your own is very challenging. However, keep trying and be transparent each other. Then, slowly you and everyone will have a wider and wider perspective that leads to a respectful environment where everyone can be authentic themselves.

sarAika’s DEI for Dance focus areas:

Company culture

Building an inclusive, respectful collaborative and professional company culture

Diverse talents

Addressing diversity gaps in our workforce/collaborators pipeline

External impact

Making an impact to communities of dance facilities in New York City with our DEI method specialized in dance industry to create inclusive culture together.

ENVISION

In the next 3 years

Keep going, and polish the goals

The second year of our DEI initiative at sarAika movement collective was a transformative journey of action and implementation. We successfully engaged with a new community, one we had never collaborated with before, and the outcomes were tremendously rewarding. While we encountered challenges along the way, the benefits far outweighed the difficulties, and we look forward to partnering with an even more diverse group of individuals/organizations in the future.

However, we recognize that not everything we envisioned last year was accomplished. As we move forward, our focus for the next cycle is to establish realistic DEI goals that align with our current capabilities and phase of growth. We will continue to reflect on our experiences from the past year, using them as a foundation to expand our outreach to a broader range of organizations, beyond just those in the dance sector.

Our DEI for Dance strategy is how we activate everyone’s curiosity and trust in each other and bring a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable culture to life every day.

sarAika appreciate each one’s differences and commit to make an environment where everyone respects each other’s differences, trusts in ourselves as a team, feel safe to be authentic themselves, belonging, and their voice is heard.

When everyone can feel so, we can perform our best.

(Adapting The People Company DEI Implementation Framework, 2022 by Deborah Biddle.)

DEI for Dance STRATEGIC PLAN

For the next 3 years

COMPANY CULTURE

Building an inclusive, respectful collaborative and professional company culture through

-Strengthen DEI value to our contracts
-DEI training to our professionals (as representatives, teachers & members)
-Make tailored summary of our DEI training to share to all our collaborators
-Pulse survey to our professionals
-Feedback survey to collaborators
-Constant examination of format and terminology of all sarAika’s documents & company protocols
–Involving workers voices in our creation

DIVERSE TALENTS

Addressing diversity gaps in our workforce/collaborators pipeline through

-Proactive attendance to various community events, teaching and performing in various community/area
-Build our methodology classes regularly where emerging dancers can learn the skills to be a professional dancer level
-Creation of community event/residency in the support of local companies/schools

EXTERNAL IMPACT

Making an impact to communities of dance facilities in New York City with our DEI method specialized in dance industry through

-Interviewing with them about their DEI environment
-Create platforms to discuss DEI such as “What is DEI and the struggle in the dance industry?”
-Consulting
-Spread awarness by social media
-DEI for Dance webinars

COMMUNICATION

How do we tell our DEI message?

To Audience/clients(=curators, directors, schools, students, collaborators, supporters)
-Social media branding, website, news letter, flyers, promotion
To Applicants
-Social media branding, website, hiring ads, event pages
Our professionals
-Pulse survey, daily behavior, learning & growing together
Daily behavior

What do we tell them about DEI?

sarAika’s DEI value
The importance of diversity
Knowledge Sharing on DEI
Current state, sarAika’s Goal of DEI
Improvments
Sharing our DEI methods or tips
Promotion in the context of event/training/ regarding DEI

EDUCATE

DEI for Dance seminars

Foundation of DEI (Dimensions of diversity, Differences from previous effort, What is DEI?, Why do we need DEI?, Effects & Trends of DEI, Keys to foster inclusive culture, Considerations in dance industry)
Unconscious bias & Microaggression
Basic DEI framework
Cultural competencies, Cultural appropriation
Inclusive casting, Widening your artistry for more innovative work with inclusive and diverse casts

MEASURE

Our process of DEI

Annual survey and event feedbacks about demography & satisfaction to workers and collaborators
(How is your leader’s leadership? Could you share your opinions enough and were those heard enough? Did your leader and co-workers respect you? etc…)
Demographics of clients,donors,audience,commentators, engagement,students, directors, curators and communities we interact with.
Diversity score cards and Checklist
The number of publicity about our DEI(social media, news letter, poster, etc)

What we are going to do for the next steps in the next year

1. Establish priorities among the DEI goals we want to pursue.

2. Proactive attendance to more diverse community events

3. Creating Diversity score cards and Checklist specialized in dance industry

4. Interviewing with other dance related organization

Conclusion

After analyzing sarAika’s achievements in this second cycle of DEI for Dance, we conclude that a serious commitment to DEI fosters a safe space for everyone to share their voices, making our collaborations with diverse individuals and organizations deeply rewarding for all involved—our team, our audience, and the communities we serve. While we recognize that our ideal DEI goals may exceed our current capacity as an emerging organization, the past two years have demonstrated that these efforts significantly enhance our work environment, creativity, and outreach.

sarAika’s dedication to continuous improvement through a DEI consulting approach, combined with our openness to innovate programs, creates a flexible and dynamic environment ripe with potential for growth. We remain committed to advancing DEI for Dance both within sarAika movement collective and in our broader community.

By listening to one another, challenging what’s possible, and living our values of Respect for All People, Continuous Improvement, and Act for Others, we will continue to make our workplace, communities, and world better for all.

Every day we commit ourselves to continuous improvement.

We know DEI is a journey, not a destination.

DEI for Dance is expanding possibilities and lighting our path to a limitless future.

DEI for Dance survey

Share with us anything you would like to know about DEI, questions or concerns! This is an anonymous format.

Contact us for Free initial consultation
for DEI for dance

What would you like to know about DEI? What is your concern? Where to start? Any issues have been rising up in your organization?
Any questions or requests would be welcomed.
Share all of them with us in a 30mins completely free initial cosultation.