Messy Talk - An Organised Community Discussion about Solidarity

The Messy Talk is a format for dance professionals to practise listening, speaking, and consensus-building while we as a community continually attempt to promote destigmatising difficult conversations in dance. Participants collaboratively converse about challenging topics based on a facilitator-conducted score. ‘Messy’ is an acknowledgement that many of these discussions are places of learning - which means places of mistakes, imperfect phrasing, and confronting which directions we might need to grow in order to experience progress. This framework is developed by Whistle While You Work. In this session Messy Talks will be held in small groups of less than 10 people. Each group will have a pre-designated facilitator to manage the score.

How do we navigate consent and boundaries, coercion, (self) power, working conditions, discrimination, intimate relationships across the hierarchy, white supremacy, patriarchy, binary gender roles in dance, and how do we do it together?

Come with thoughts and ideas about 'solidarity'. What can solidarity look like in dance? What’s getting in the way of solidarity? What do you need and how can you support others?

Whistle is a platform established in 2017 which aims to promote conversations confronting violence such as discrimination, sexual harassment, and abuse of power in dance. Whistle advocates for dancers first and works with institutions to support dancers’ diverse needs for healthful and safe working environments.