LaTasha Barnes remembers dancing with her great-grandmother long before she came to know that movement as Lindy Hop. Later, her studies also took her to Sweden. Her NPR interview describes heritage as a personal relationship that changes through learning. This raises a question for international dance communities: how can we pass on a dance while keeping the people behind it in view? Communication scholar Richard Rogers distinguishes several processes within cultural appropriation: exchange, adaptation under domination, exploitation and cultural mixing. In his framework, relationships and differences in power are central. Exploitation includes using others’ cultural expressions without appropriate recognition or giving something back.

Recognising creators and involving people

When we learn Lindy Hop, names from its history can become part of what we learn. In her conversation with Barnes, jazz researcher Melanie George puts recognition of the creators at the centre. Barnes also emphasises the people carrying this culture today. From this perspective, learning includes listening to them and passing on our points of reference. One famous name alone does not explain which people and traditions have shaped the version taught in a particular class. Naming teachers, documenting encounters and explaining traditions of transmission can make these connections concrete. This recognition also has a practical dimension.

The Black Lindy Hoppers Fund identifies financial, administrative and mentoring barriers for Black dancers and other cultural practitioners. Its programmes include training, networking and support for local activities. This also brings opportunities for emerging voices in the scene into view. For event organisers, the example raises a concrete question: do the people whose cultural work a programme draws upon also have opportunities to participate in it? Recognition then concerns how work is planned and supported, alongside the words used to introduce a dance.

Who explains dance and earns from it

In Kizomba, this question can be traced through access to the teaching market. Anthropologist Livia Jiménez Sedano studied dance settings in Spain and Portugal between 2012 and 2015. Her analysis found that connections to existing salsa schools and festival networks could matter more for professional opportunities than experience within African dance communities. Arguments about origins therefore also concerned income and recognition. She documented competing claims among Angolan and Cape Verdean teachers. Treating these disagreements simply as disputes over a flag overlooks unequal market conditions and the participants’ differing experiences.

A class level, however, says little about a dance’s meaning outside the school. Drawing on the same fieldwork, Jiménez Sedano describes how some clubgoers’ dancing was dismissed as merely beginner level. This met resistance. The clubgoers who objected included both Black and white people. Meanwhile, African teachers also helped shape the marketed versions. These disagreements therefore cannot be explained through skin colour alone. These were particular scenes, not a unified African perspective. Talking about basics or advanced variations describes an area of learning; it does not establish a hierarchy of entire dance cultures.

Whose dancing is considered right

An older case from American DanceSport shows how restrictive a cultural image can become. In Juliet McMains’ study, published in 2001/02, Maria Torres, whose training included Afro-Cuban dance, recalled judges criticising her performance for exceeding their expectations of Latin authenticity and street influence. She also described changes she had helped bring about. Here, the label Latin denotes a selection shaped by particular criteria. This case does not describe every competition today. It illustrates a conflict between a particular competitive format and a dancer’s wish to be recognised within it with her own cultural experience.

Such conflicts cannot be resolved by treating cultures as unchanging blocks of property. Rogers emphasises their interconnections and capacity to change without suggesting that differences in power have disappeared. In her NPR interview, Barnes describes an approach for her own work: people outside Black dance culture can take responsibility for carrying it forward. She calls this cultural surrogacy: an active relationship with the tradition, rather than mere permission to copy it. She also acknowledges that its international circulation enabled her own access to Lindy Hop.

Passing on a tradition together

UNESCO’s ethical principles for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage offer guidance here. They centre the participation of the communities carrying a tradition and their moral and material interests. Living culture must also remain able to change. The principles are an ethical framework, not a ready-made teaching code. Applied to passing on a dance, this means discussing together what is represented, who participates in decisions and who benefits from the work. Different opinions can have a place in that process. Appreciation becomes ongoing collaboration with people who practise the dance and develop it.