[hpjgrskw] Art and politics

There have certainly been artists like Nina Simone and Dante Alighieri for whom their art was a expressly political statement.  But there have also existed artists who were expressly apolitical: they endeavored to create art that transcended political and social boundaries, art that captured a universal aspect of the human condition.  Sure, their art may reflect the sounds, language, movement, etc., of the culture they were born into, but those are the tools they had to work with, and not an endorsement of, or even participation in, a political position.  To ascribe politics to their art is profoundly disrepectful, akin to declaring that they are failures as artists, failures in their artistic quest to create something that rose above the foibles and quibbles of human politics.  Therefore, when discussing politics as it relates to an art form, e.g., dance, be mindful that adding politics to where there wasn't intended to be by the artist can be just as disrepectful as removing politics from where there was intended to be, depending on each artist.

In the context of politics of race, and dance.