DANCE IQUAIL!

Dr. Iquail Shaheed founded DANCE IQUAIL! (DI!) out of a commitment to telling stories of struggle through dance, motivated by his own lived experience growing up in the Mantua neighborhood of West Philadelphia, the poverty-impacted community where he was born and raised, and where Black and LGBTQ communities continue to do battle with systemic racism and homophobia. DI! brings artists together to open up about their autobiographical stories and to become a conduit for sparking innovation in the hearts and minds of changemakers in historically disenfranchised communities impacted by these same issues of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, mass incarceration, systemic racism, and lack of resources. These efforts allow Black and brown artists to engage with work that is specific to them and tells their story. DI! shares these stories through: Premiere concert spaces, which dominate the current performing arts industry. Working-class public spaces, including community centers, prisons, jails, nursing homes, and other locations which make up the places where our stories are happening right now. DANCE IQUAIL! places these stories right back into the spaces and into the hands of those individuals and communities where their stories take place. DI! fosters this creative agency in the community by incorporating discussion groups and community creation into its creative process, working directly with those impacted by issues such as domestic abuse, addiction, the Black male experience, marginalization of Black women, and incarceration. Issues that are deeply embedded in the fabric of DI!’s community. This work involves cultivating deep engagement with Black and brown communities, and building relationships with community centers, jails and prisons, and schools with little to no access to the arts, including especially dance-theater and the power that it wields as a tool for healing justice.