Equitable Freedom beyond Proscenium Stages

Initiated by the recent equity discourses of inclusion that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian performance now sees an increase of Black artistry and performance on the proscenium stages. This article asks if that is the only way they express freedom. Black creative expressions have long communicated freely about freedom in a myriad of ways off proscenium stages. This article looks at the ways the author, Collette Murray, participated in Afro-diasporic dance practices that signify and articulate freedom, performed by people identifying as African, Caribbean, and Black in Canada. Sacred, ceremonial, and social practices convey how freedom is displayed in their settings. The embodied process is not meant to only be legitimized on proscenium stages. Black dance artistry does not seek permission and approval from a dominant dance hierarchy as its expressions freely engage many spaces.