{"id":1081,"date":"2016-12-08T17:46:48","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T17:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2025-07-25T17:52:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:52:50","slug":"from-philly-to-darkinjung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\/","title":{"rendered":"From Philly to Darkinjung"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s the beginning of the school year, and Iquail Shaheed has set up camp at the library\u2019s copy machine, preparing handouts for his dance composition class. The Philly native came to Goucher last year from New York, where he\u2019s lived on and off since he was 16.<\/p>\n

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Shaheed teaches the Horton technique, named for modern dance pioneer Lester Horton. Horton was known for incorporating his activism into his dance, and drawing on the traditions of different cultures in his choreography. Horton\u2019s most famous pupil, Alvin Ailey, continued that work, and Shaheed is on the faculty at the Ailey School in Manhattan. He also founded his own company, Dance Iquail!, based in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally it uses the art of dance as a conduit for social justice,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of the work we\u2019re doing is about alleviating issues of divisiveness, sexism, racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the past four years, Shaheed has been taking his Horton classes to a new audience, teaching at the NAISDA Dance College in New South Wales, Australia. Located on aboriginal Darkinjung land, NAISDA\u2014the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association\u2014has been teaching indigenous Australian artists for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was founded by an American dancer and educator,\u201d Shaheed explains. \u201cGoing to Australia in the \u201970s, she noticed that the Aboriginal community was having the same fight as the African American community for equality and economic equity. She started a school to give the indigenous people in that country the opportunity to dance and express themselves, and use it for social justice as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Shaheed draws parallels between the Australian Aboriginal communities and Native American
\nones. Both have seen their culture appropriated by colonizers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe names of the towns and the metro stops there are all Aboriginal names, but the culture has been driven underground,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Aboriginal dance tradition forms the bedrock of the school, he says, but NAISDA\u2019s curriculum also encompasses modern, ballet, contemporary, and jazz styles, and graduates have gone on to successful dance careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re fighting between the traditions of their home, but living in a world that\u2019s contemporized,\u201d he says of NAISDA\u2019s students. \u201cAt the school, they learn those traditional dances, because that was the language. There were signs and markings on stones, but also the dances and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaheed would like to build on his relationship with the Australian school, possibly bringing some of its students to Goucher, and he\u2019s excited at the prospect of starting a Goucher study abroad program dealing with Aboriginal culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would allow me to use my resources and take our students there,\u201d he says. \u201cJust examining the music, the song, the dance, the painting, by itself. For them to see the richness and vastness of that culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teaching and learning, in one of the world\u2019s oldest cultures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":312,"featured_media":1082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7935],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[87492],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goucher-today"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Philly to Darkinjung | Goucher Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Philly to Darkinjung | Goucher Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teaching and learning, in one of the world\u2019s oldest cultures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Goucher Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-08T17:46:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-25T21:52:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2016\/12\/Iquail-CIV-Dip-e1481054797117.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"664\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Landers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Landers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Landers\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ef504ed2ab0c7dbae6f691953a48467\"},\"headline\":\"From Philly to Darkinjung\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T17:46:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-25T21:52:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":466,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Iquail-CIV-Dip-e1481054797117.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Goucher Today\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/\",\"name\":\"From Philly to Darkinjung | Goucher Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Iquail-CIV-Dip-e1481054797117.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T17:46:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-25T21:52:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/from-philly-to-darkinjung\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Iquail-CIV-Dip-e1481054797117.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/Iquail-CIV-Dip-e1481054797117.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":664,\"caption\":\"Iquail Shaheed (Center) and NAISDA students. 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