Dance the Continuum: The Black Art Fund in Action

“Dance is not just movement; it is our archive, our prophecy, and our power.”

In Maya Angelou’s Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, she writes, “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. The best thing one can give is that which is appreciated. The giver is as enriched as is the recipient, and more important, that intangible but very real psychic force of good in the world is increased.”

August is Black Philanthropy Month and IABD joins Back Black and a cadre of Black-led and Black-benefitting organizations in this global celebration of Black giving, generosity, and community stewardship. Our ask is simple and direct – GIVE TODAY – as all gifts we receive on the Givebutter platform in the month of August will be matched.

Dance is the ultimate language understood across countries and language barriers. And dance by people of African Ancestry or origin serves as a Diasporic archive carrying our stories of struggle, growth, and joy across generations. It depicts communities alive and living with traditions, hope, and resilience, communities alive with careers and livelihoods built through this art form.

This month we launch ‘Dance the Continuum: The Black Art Fund in Action’ - our commitment to Preserving Our Heritage, Commissioning New Canons, and Sustaining the Field. A commitment to raise an initial $20,000 to keep Black dance in motion this month.

By expressing your generosity through a gift today, you are investing in community and expressing your commitment to protecting our art and our history. Larger institutions have failed to recognize our value and systemically worked to underfund, erase, and marginalize the Black dance canon. Together, we take back the stewardship of our own stories across the global diaspora.

Take your place in the Continuum.

Preserving Our Heritage

When you give, you directly safeguard and uplift masterworks across generations, genders, genres, and geographies:

Pioneering Classical Traditions: From West African dance origins in Asadata Dafora’s Awassa Astrige/Ostrich (1932) to Donald McKayle’s Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder (1959), depicting the emotional and physical struggle of chain-gang prisoners in the American South.
Spiritual & Historical Memory: From Alvin Ailey’s seminal Revelations (1960), exploring religious heritage and Southern roots, to London-based choreographer Dickson Mbi’s Enow (2022), which blends hip-hop and contemporary movement to explore genetic memory and ancestral lineage.
Social Critique & Resilient Truths: From Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Shelter (1988), addressing systemic neglect and human endurance, to Belgian-Zimbabwean choreographer Alesandra Seutin’s Giant (2021), a powerful critique of political tyranny and collective silence.
Radical Joy, Romance & Modern Transformation: From Kyle Abraham’s An Untitled Love (2021), a rich love letter to Black culture and kinship, to Bebe Miller’s The Hendrix Project (1991), an exuberant rendering of dance, music, and community built around Jimi Hendrix’s anthem call in “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Commissioning New Canons

The Continuum doesn’t end with the works we preserve but moves forward through artists creating right now. Chanel DaSilva, the first Black woman to choreograph for Joffrey Ballet’s mainstage and co-founder of MOVE|NYC, continues this work of shaping new stories and new generations. Across the Atlantic, South African-born, London-based choreographer Mthuthuzeli November known for Ingoma, his acclaimed work honoring the 1946 South African mineworkers’ strike extends the diaspora’s reach, proving that Black dance’s archive is being written in real time, on stages across the globe.

Sustaining the Field

None of this exists without the people who show up Black in dance every day – dancers, choreographers, teaching artists, stage crews, and administrators who build their livelihoods in service to this art form. Your gift helps ensure the field itself is sustainable: that a career in Black dance is one an artist or administrator can build a life on, season after season, generation after generation.

The Continuum is not a fixed point in history – it is alive. It carries our past forward, grounds us in the present, and reaches toward everything still to come. It does not sit still, and neither should our support for it.

Dance by people of African ancestry and origin has moved world culture for generations; shaping how the world moves, feels, and tells its stories. When you give, you don’t just support an art form; you increase that “intangible but very real psychic force of good in the world” Angelou speaks of, rooted in a culture that has always given generously to humanity.

Our ask – Be a giver and give today in support of those who give us dance. Your generosity protects our archive, fuels our prophecy, and powers our future. Keep Black dance in motion.