A divisive dance performance that segregates audience members according to the colour of their skin is ruffling some feathers, as critics condemn the theatre piece for its apparently racist overtones.
University of Melbourne student Isabella Mason is the woman responsible for ‘Where I Stand’: a performance piece that aims to shine a light on the systemic social exclusion faced by indigenous peoples and people of colour throughout history.
White audiences members are separated from people of colour and forced to sign a declaration that states ‘I acknowledge where I stand’ before they are allowed to enter the theatre, The Australian reports.
Student Isabella Mason (pictured) is the woman responsible for ‘Where I Stand’: a dance piece that segregates audience members according to the colour of their skin
The performance is organised through the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts (pictured)
While people of colour take their seats, white audience members must wait outside where a group of four dancers talk to them about white privilege.
Once the ratio of seated audience members is more than fifty per cent, the show stops altogether.
‘Realistically, there are simply two different shows for two different audiences,’ said Mason, 20, who is in her third year at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts.
‘The audience in the foyer are invited to go through a process of accepting/transitioning/cleansing similar to a rite of passage. I do not consider the ritual in the foyer to be any ‘lesser’ a part of the performance.’
In a social media post on Sunday, Mason further added that ‘This ritual is merely a continuation of the legacy of storytelling, song, dance, yarning, ritual, ceremony that has occurred on this land for over 60,000 years.’
In a social media post on Sunday, Mason further added that ‘This ritual is merely a continuation of the legacy of storytelling, song, dance, yarning, ritual, ceremony that has occurred on this land for over 60,000 years.’
Some audience members, however, are taking a less charitable view of the performance’s unique style.
‘We were both fascinated and appalled to be living in our own episode of the Chinese Cultural Revolution experience,’ said one man who attended the production on Saturday and wished to remain anonymous for fear of backlash.
‘I blame the University of Melbourne… I am gobsmacked that any university would preside over an event where entry is based on skin colour. I naively thought this was a line that even the regressive left wouldn’t cross.’
Others have voiced similar criticisms of the production’s somewhat extreme approach to issues of identity politics.
Institute of Public Affairs director Bella D’Abrera called the practice ‘reverse segregation’ and declared that the University of Melbourne should cancel the performance.
Acting dean for the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music Jon Cappatan, meanwhile, applauded the dance piece for being ‘provocative’ and ‘exciting’.
The University of Melbourne (pictured) is being condemned for its support of ‘an event where entry is based on skin colour’