Hair Parties is a project of the Brooklyn-based and internationally recognized Urban Bush Women (UBW). The project uses a method of cultural sharing that alternates between dance performance and dialogue to explore how ongoing debates about the politics of hair within the African American community can lead to deeper dialogue about issues of race, class, and social justice. Hair Parties were held in homes, barber shops and beauty salons, YWCAs, corporations, and other community settings. As UBW sought to establish a home for the company in Brooklyn, Hair Parties became a vehicle to bring community residents together, build new relationships in Brooklyn, and begin to explore growing issues of development and gentrification. The case study, written by Animating Democracy project liaison Caron Atlas in collaboration with Urban Bush Women, explores the powerful combination of art, dialogue, and social analysis in the Hair Parties themselves, focusing on such questions as: How does embodying dialogue within dance deepen the dialogue? Can a party format encourage candid, from-the-heart "kitchen talk"? What is the role of conflict, passion, and point-of-view in these exchanges? How does the seemingly personal topic of hair lead to critical thinking about challenging societal issues? The case also illuminates how the work with dialogue trainers helped UBW to understand its own intuitive approach to dialogue, enhance its work through skill building, and codify practice.

Hair Parties is a project of the Brooklyn-based and internationally recognized Urban Bush Women (UBW). The project uses a method of cultural sharing that alternates between dance performance and dialogue to explore how ongoing debates about the politics of hair within the African American community can lead to deeper dialogue about issues of race, class, and social justice. Hair Parties were held in homes, barber shops and beauty salons, YWCAs, corporations, and other community settings. As UBW sought to establish a home for the company in Brooklyn, Hair Parties became a vehicle to bring community residents together, build new relationships in Brooklyn, and begin to explore growing issues of development and gentrification. The case study, written by Animating Democracy project liaison Caron Atlas in collaboration with Urban Bush Women, explores the powerful combination of art, dialogue, and social analysis in the Hair Parties themselves, focusing on such questions as: How does embodying dialogue within dance deepen the dialogue? Can a party format encourage candid, from-the-heart "kitchen talk"? What is the role of conflict, passion, and point-of-view in these exchanges? How does the seemingly personal topic of hair lead to critical thinking about challenging societal issues? The case also illuminates how the work with dialogue trainers helped UBW to understand its own intuitive approach to dialogue, enhance its work through skill building, and codify practice.