Translating Wikipedia to Empower Women in Dance in Spanish-Speaking Communities

I am a long-time Wiki-advocate of knowledge for everyone, and I believe open platforms like Wikipedia are not only tools for learning, but also powerful instruments for equity, public research, and creativity!

My first experience using Wiki-resources began with a short research where I investigated historical ballet collaboration networks to identify key legacies in this performing art. That work, which relied on Wikidata, led to a workshop paper at WikiWorkshop 2020 and a Data Story presented at Central European University, in Hungary. Since then, I’ve continued to use Wiki as a source of data to complement my research exploring prestige, community dynamics, and diversity in the arts.

Editing Wikipedia

Last month, I had the chance to learn the basics of Wikipedia editing at the Wikipedia at ND: Edit, Empower, Inspire workshop, hosted at the University of Notre Dame. The session offered a relaxed, hands-on introduction to editing guidelines and invited us to either follow a structured path or explore independently. As I am a ballet lover, I chose a little adventure: my first edit was to the Swan Lake Wikipedia page, where I contributed with new cited content about its performance history, including the landmark 1946 production by the Royal Opera House in London.

Women in Dance and Wikipedia

Learning how to edit the Wikipedia reignited my commitment as an advocate for equal representation of women in dance leadership. After the workshop, I started a personal project to translate ten biographies of inspiring women in dance, including iconic performers as well as pioneering dance researchers, from English to Spanish, my first language. The goal was to increase the visibility of these women as role models and to make their contributions to the world accessible to Spanish speakers. This effort also builds on my previous research investigating gender inequalities in ballet, where I examined how structural and historical dynamics limit opportunities for women in leadership and creative roles. 

Here is the list of pages I translated to Spanish:

1. Tiler Peck
2. Adji Cissoko
3. Jurgita Dronina
4. Cathy Marston
5. Karen Kain
6. Jennifer Tipton
7. Merritt Moore
8. Catie Cuan
9. Marisa Hamamoto
10. Emily S. Cross (translated to English as draft)

Each of these women brings a unique legacy to the arts, and I personally admire them! 

Impact In and Off Wikipedia

By independently working on this project, I’ve learned that editing Wikipedia is not always straightforward. It involves knowing the use of markup code in two languages, resolving system flags, and learning how to manage references correctly. I also learned that it is not about translation only: it is also about verifying references and improving the narrative and readability of Wikipedia pages.

This project feeds into something larger: imagining how public data and open platforms can inspire new, data-driven research in the arts, especially in historically overlooked communities. I found that there is still much to do to fill the gap of female dancers in Wikipedia. Pages for dancers and choreographers like Isabella Boylston, Devon Teuscher, Pippa Moore, Ruthanna Boris, and Gillian Lynne are still underrepresented in Spanish and other languages. Moreover, contributing to Wikipedia public knowledge also strengthens my continuous work with the Dance Data Project, which is committed to improving the representation of women in dance leadership. There is so much potential in aligning cultural scholarship with accessible, collaborative tools!!

Appreciation

I have a deep gratitude to Karina Mondragón-Shem, postdoctoral research associate at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and experienced Wikipedia/Wikidata editor, for leading this thoughtful workshop and making it both welcoming and empowering. It was especially meaningful to connect with another Spanish speaker championing inclusive knowledge. Thanks also to the College of Science at Notre Dame and the Future Faculty Workshop team: without their support, I wouldn’t have connected with Karina or started this new initiative of empowering women in dance through Wikipedia.

More contributions will come! Let’s keep knowledge dancing!