Dance the Vote is a nonpartisan arts initiative that pairs dance, poetry, spoken word, song, graphics, video and texting with voter awareness and registration. It was founded in 2016 by theatre artist and activist Joan Lipkin, activist and designer Anne Taussig, voter registration specialist Sabrina Tyuse, and choreographer Ashley Tate.

 

Historically, we have raised public awareness by performing dance in outdoor settings and cultural institutions featuring choreographers and dancers from a wide variety of  St Louis dance companies including Ashleyliane Dance Company, Karlovsky & Company, Beyond Measure Dance Theater, and the AfroKuumba Dancers, Innervision Dance Theatre, among others, and the dance departments of Washington, St Louis, Webster and Lindenwood universities.

 

Due to the pandemic, we have moved the bulk of our programming online for the 2020/2021 seasons. 

 

This allows us to proceed safely with the initiative and also creates a great opportunity to add artists to the project who are doing exciting work in different parts of the country and world.

 

Most of the choreography is based on various themes of the voting experience, including the experience of African-Americans, women, people with disabilities and immigrants around voting, voting rights, voter suppression, voting in other countries, among other themes. Artists also create work about issues that might compel them to vote including climate change, Black Lives Matter, immigration reform, disability, gun sense, policing, gender, and representation.  
 

This project brings together local, national, and international artists who creatively seek to make a difference during different election seasons by promoting voter awareness and getting eligible voters registered and committed to vote for the upcoming elections. 

 

We also used the arts and creative messaging to help pass Medicaid and to encourage participation in the census.