Step Dance Workshop

Submitted by: Tanya Melendez, curator of education and public programs, The Museum at FIT

Collaborators: Melissa Marra, associate curator of education, The Museum at FIT; Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator, The Museum at FIT

Through this workshop, the Museum at FIT intends to provide a cutting-edge program to educate and confront the community with current issues of race and body diversity in the fashion industry.

Attendees of the Step Dance Workshop will be invited to join the steppers of Rick Owens spring 2014 fashion show to learn the stepping routine that they will perform on the catwalk, followed by a Q&A session with the performers. The dance workshop will be open to all the FIT community.

By showcasing the issue of diversity in a way that relates to fashion, the Museum at FIT wants this program to appeal to community-members from various disciplines. By reaching out to people of varying backgrounds, the workshop seeks to create an inclusive space where community members from all backgrounds could come together and be creative. In coherence with FIT's Diversity Council mission statement, this innovative program is intended to promote inclusiveness and equity and underline that in fashion and in our community, not everybody has to be the same size, shape or ethnicity. The workshop will take place in October/ November 2014.