Almost per week after the Oscars, the harm and disappointment of a missed alternative nonetheless weighs closely on the minds of some South Asian American dancers, who’re getting down to guarantee it by no means occurs once more.

Many within the South Asian dance neighborhood had been dismayed by the astonishing dearth of South Asian illustration within the “Naatu Naatu” efficiency at Sunday’s Academy Awards. Whereas singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava had been readily available to carry out their hit tune from Tollywood smash “RRR” — which made historical past for India that night time by profitable finest authentic tune — they had been joined on stage by not a single dancer of South Asian heritage.

How might the Academy have gotten this so mistaken? Particularly when, 14 years in the past, they nailed it with the staging of A.R. Rahman’s “Slumdog Millionaire” hit “Jai Ho” on the 2009 Oscars as a part of a broadly celebrated four-minute medley.

“[The 2009 Oscars] had Indian singers and it was a multi-racial group of dancers and musicians,” explains Shilpa Davé, an assistant professor of media research on the College of Virginia who specializes within the historical past of representations of race and gender within the media. “They had been actually displaying that music has this world drive. That’s why individuals didn’t have a difficulty at the moment.”

Whereas Sunday night time did mark a historic turning level for India, which additionally received finest documentary quick for Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga’s “The Elephant Whisperers,” the evident absence of South Asian performers on Hollywood’s greatest stage was the “final straw” for dancers like Achinta S. McDaniel.

“Some individuals say, ‘Simply be proud of what we obtained,’ and that’s a part of [the problem] — this concept of simply accepting the scraps which can be thrown to you,” McDaniel, the founder and creative director of the Los Angeles-based Blue13 Dance Firm, tells Selection. “Simply be glad an Indian tune was nominated [and won]. Don’t be mad concerning the overwhelming racism that appeared within the efficiency.”

McDaniel’s agent put her ahead to function an affiliate guide for the efficiency two weeks earlier than the Oscars, however her rep was informed that the AMPAS-selected choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon D’uomo — the Los Angeles-based duo often called NappyTabs — had already employed their crew. (Selection understands that “RRR” choreographer Prem Rakshith was advising on the Oscars efficiency, however that NappyTabs had been the first choreographers.)

“[Equity is] an enormous a part of what I’m curious about, and this has galvanized so a lot of my colleagues within the subject,” says McDaniel. “Now it’s sufficient. That is the final straw.”

McDaniel is internet hosting a Zoom on Saturday for South Asians within the dance neighborhood to unpack the occasions of the Oscars and plan forward for a South Asian Summit this summer season — an occasion she hopes to stage together with nationwide group Dance/USA’s annual convention.

“This actually lit a fireplace,” says McDaniel. “So many individuals are becoming a member of this Zoom so we are able to begin to make an precise change. It’s been too lengthy that we’ve been quiet.”

Vikas Arun, a New York-based dancer and trainer specializing in types of Western and Indian rhythmic and percussive dance, tells Selection there have additionally been conversations this week about constructing a cross-functional advocacy group that may rally on behalf of South Asian entertainers in moments of disaster.

“When different minorities face [incidents like this], they’ve organizations they will go to,” says Arun. “Our neighborhood is poor at having organized advocacy as a result of there are so few of us. We’re individually combating our personal combat, and there’s no central group. It additionally makes it irritating for brand new South Asian artists who aren’t at our stage [and don’t have the connections].”

Davé, who authored the 2013 ebook “Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Efficiency in American Tv and Movie,” agrees the “subsequent step” within the dialog is to additional interrogate the advocacy of South Asian entertainers.

“It’s about pondering of illustration and advocacy for not simply administrators, writers and actors, but additionally performers on the bigger scale as effectively,” says Davé. “I believe dancers have been ignored of this dialog. So after we’re taking a look at casting companies and expertise companies, [we need to ask] the place are the brokers which can be advocating to the institution?”

In line with expertise akin to Ramita Ravi, one other skilled dancer and choreographer whose agent put her ahead for the Academy Awards, conditions just like the Oscars efficiency “sadly occur on a regular basis.”

“I can identify a handful of private experiences that comply with the identical thread,” she tells Selection over electronic mail. “However the fantastic thing about us coming collectively is that supporting one another and constructing a collective, inclusive voice can create change such that this doesn’t proceed taking place sooner or later.”

Curiously, 5 days on from the awards, there nonetheless stays some confusion about how the manufacturing transpired within the first place. It was initially thought that “RRR” actors NTR Jr. and Ram Charan would carry out the dance themselves, however Oscars producer Raj Kapoor detailed in an AMPAS weblog that the actors declined, as they weren’t comfy doing so with the time constraints. As such, their characters had been represented on stage by Lebanese Canadian dancer Billy Mustapha and American dancer Jason Glover, whom many wrongly assumed was of South Asian heritage.

One supply tells Selection that AMPAS then supposed to fly over dancers from India to assist the efficiency, however their work visas fell by way of, prompting NappyTabs to rent their very own dancers. (This declare has been contested by a number of dancers.)

Whereas a supply near the manufacturing says AMPAS tried to make sure the unique crew from India was looped in on each inventive choice — a crew that included the movie’s public relations crew, S.S. Rajamouli’s son Karthikeya Rajamouli, “RRR” producers and composer M.M. Keeravaani — the outrage on the ensuing efficiency additionally highlights the divergence in what illustration means for nationals versus those that are a part of a diaspora.

“For a lot of South Asian People within the U.S., we had been born and raised in America and really feel a really massive sense of belonging right here,” explains Ravi. “For different generations, and particularly immigrants or of us dwelling in India, it’s a little bit of a special equation — they could be excited to be invited to the desk, whereas the diaspora desires to be a part of constructing the desk. In that approach, I believe the thought of illustration sits very otherwise throughout the diaspora.”

Davé provides: “The Indian cinema business is the most important on this planet, and if you’re coming from that background and setting, you don’t see the injustices which can be taking place within the diaspora and in Hollywood. So [the ‘RRR’ team] was thrilled to win an Oscar — and rightly so.”

However for these within the diaspora, illustration issues vastly, says Davé.

“We’re seeing the inequity in the principle industries of America, and what it does is reinforce that concept that South Asians are foreigners who reside on the opposite aspect of the world, they usually aren’t part of the tradition and the historical past of Hollywood and the USA, which isn’t true. South Asians have been in Hollywood, and for a few years have been compelled into roles that had been minuscule or compelled to cover [altogether]. So, to try to diminish that, in an period by which we have now seen so many strides — that’s problematic.”