The Reaction

The reaction on social media was swift and heated.

On Monday March 12, 9:45am in the “Jive Junction” Facebook group, Gary Chyi posted the following: “Remember that European dancer what did a routine in brownface? She might not have learned that lesson so well.”.

Another poster replied: "What’s being pointed out is that this woman has a pattern of not understanding cultural sensitivities. She is participating in aspects of cultures while centering herself. That makes it hard to see how/if she is giving back to the cultures she is taking from which makes her look like a culture vulture."

This led to a very long and heated debate about Ksenia’s actions and intent. At the time we went to publish, it had 682 comments.

Soon after another lengthy debate ensued on Reddit, that you can follow there.

One commenter: "I agree with the criticism about blackface but this? This is ridiculous. Also it looks like she was teaching a group of african dancers. We don't know the full story. What is the diference between getting your hair braided and dancing lindy hop? It reminds me of the old conversation of white people can't do tap dancing."

At the time of this being published that thread has 235 comments.

Another thread started on the FB page Followlogie, an event where Ksenia is booked to teach at in November.



The Background

You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal, a dancer got her hair done in Senegal and posted a pic of it online? Why are people so mad?” The issue is that this isn’t the first time that Ksenia has been called out for wearing representations of Black people that many found offensive.

She has performed in what in the American context can only be called “blackface” a number of times. Here’s her in 2010.[NOTE: The video has now been taken down]