Embodying Resistance

Abstract

The struggle for justice is not new, yet the impact of intentional embodiment and dance in protest is on the rise. Bringing together embodied anti-racist work and dance as a practice of resistance, this artists’ statement describes a grassroots coalition in Rochester, NY: Artists Coalition for Change Together. Co-founded in 2017 as a response to the recent election, ACCT began as an organization of progressive dance artists and collaborators who sought to generate social change through performance, direct action, community dialogues, and scholarship. Written as a dialogue between two founders of ACCT, this statement examines the history of the coalition and its acts of embodied protest. As moving bodies and art communicated resistance in direct “ACCTions,” community activism was generated. Through the lens of existing research and college courses on arts activism, the authors reference multiple reckonings in the North American cultural body, which peaked during the pandemic in 2020.