At the 1989 Black Choreographers Moving Conference, Zollar expressed concern about the need some African-American choreographers were feeling to resist the pigeonholing they said was forced upon them by the label "Black artist," as if the term enjoined upon them the responsibility of representing a predetermined slant on issues.

When I hear choreographers say, "I'm a choreographer who happens to be a Black person," I understand what they are saying, but it's an unfortunate choice of words. Something about that statement is very painful because what I hear them buying into is, "Yes, I see Black as limited, too, so I don't want to be defined by that," rather than saying, "I am an African or Black American choreographer, and I choose to work with this aesthetic, or I choose to work in a culturally specific aesthetic based on growing up as an African or Black American person and everything that means." It doesn't mean any limitations. It hurts me to hear people say, "I'm colorless"...We are artists; we are working with an art form that we are passionate about; and we are bringing all of who we are into that art. I don't think Americans can recognize that fact (Zollar, in Osumare and Lewis-Ferguson, 1991, p. 79).

In other words, for Zollar, the identification as "Black" is a starting location, certainly not a limiting one. It is one that could lead her to highlight different aspects or perspectives of identity.