Ballet Against Brutality: Black N.J. Student's Dance Makes Teachers ‘Uncomfortable’ (VIDEO)

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Author Leo Tolstoy once wrote that art is not a handicraft, “it’s the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”

And if that art offends some people, then such is the price of truth, according to Kendi Whitaker, a student dance choreographer and senior at Columbia High School in Maplewood, which also serves South Orange.

Whitaker said that she recently raised the ire of some teachers when a dance that she choreographed was performed at Columbia High School's Special Dance event earlier this month.

The dance routine, which attempts to raise awareness about African-Americans’ daily struggles with racism and police brutality, was performed by three students to the tune of “Strange Fruit,” a song about black lynching in America. A voice-over narration provided quotes that referenced police brutality against blacks, and statements about the black experience with racism in the United States.

Watch a video of the performance below.

A few weeks after the performance, Whitaker appeared at a South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education meeting and told attendees that after seeing the performance, several white teachers and a black faculty member “felt uncomfortable and afraid.”

“One faculty member even said she was ‘checking for the exits because she feared for her life,’” Whitaker said.

According to the Village Green, which reported the story earlier this month, a district spokeswoman declined to comment on allegations that the staff members had filed a complaint about the performance and said that, as far as she knew, no complaint had been filed with the Office of Civil Rights.

When Whitaker got a chance to speak to some of the offended teachers three weeks after the show, one reportedly told her that she felt as though the dance disrespected and generalized the police force and the FBI, an interpretation that Whitaker said is light-years away from her intended message.

Here’s what she told Board of Education members about the dance and the “offended” staff members:

“If these people were educated they’d understand that the song “Strange Fruit” is about the history of slavery and lynching. The voice overs that were added to the song spoke on police brutality and the discomfort that black people feel every single day. The only people who should be able to say they felt any type of pain from this piece are black people and that’s because we have to sit and relive and listen to what our ancestors had to go through as well as what our brothers and sisters go through on a daily basis. Unfortunately, my heart is unable to ache for these teachers who are complaining about the discomfort they felt for four minutes because they had to simply listen to my history and listen to the pain that their people have inflicted on my people for years because I’m far too busy navigating my blackness every day because of the skin I was born with.”

RACE AND SOUTH ORANGE

Maplewood and South Orange have seen several other recent race-related controversies during the past year.

In March, the South Mountain Elementary School set off a firestorm of controversy when its fifth graders put mock advertisements for a “slave auction” on display inside the building.

• See related article: N.J. School's 'Slave Auction' Project Inspires Parent Outrage

That same month, South Orange Middle School saw multiple instances of racist graffiti appear in its bathrooms, one of which read “Naughty N------ Get Lynched.”

The area has seen other alleged instances of racism and anti-Semitism in the past year, reports say. In May, two students at Columbia High School in Maplewood reportedly posted an Instagram photo of themselves in what appears to be blackface makeup.

In late February, an explosion of anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered near South Mountain Reservation, prompting officials to label it a “disgusting” and “senseless” act that has no place in their community.

• See related article: ‘Disgusting’ Swastika Graffiti Appears At South Mountain Reservation

The Jewish Community Center in West Orange has stepped up security in the wake of repeated, nationwide bomb threats, including one made to the center on Jan. 31.

• See related article: Support Grows For West Orange Jewish Center After National Wave Of Threats

A cane-wielding teen allegedly smashed up a menorah display hanging in Spiota Park during the third night of Hanukkah last December, South Orange police say.

• See related article: South Orange Menorah Display Trashed By Cane-Wielding Teen

South Orange police arrested an 18-year-old Orange resident and four juveniles after they allegedly shouted racial slurs at a passing family and assaulted a teen in February of 2016.

• See related article: Bias Crime Reported In Downtown South Orange

FIGHTING HATE AND RACISM

Despite the mounting list of alleged bias incidents in the area, many residents in South Orange have also been vocal against discrimination and hatred in their community.

In February, South Orange — following on the heels of their neighbor township, Maplewood — unanimously approved Resolution #2017-027, a sanctuary city declaration that local activists lauded as a resounding victory for immigrant rights in North Jersey.

• See related article: South Orange Offers Immigrants Sanctuary, Passes Resolution (PHOTOS)
• See related article: Maplewood 1st N.J. Town To Offer Immigrants ‘Sanctuary’ In 2017

In January, students at South Orange Middle School and Columbia High School held walkouts in protest of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, marching peacefully out of school and chanting “Love Not Hate.”

• See related article: South Orange, Maplewood Students Hold Walkouts To Protest Trump Inauguration

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo via YouTube, Kendi Whitaker