Faculty

In my research, I analyze the social, cultural, and historical conditions that affect how people move. I’m fascinated by critical theories of the body, and I tend to think about dance as an arena for experimental relations between self and other. These interests are informed by my experience as a dancer – taking class, rehearsing, and performing (most recently for the choreographers DD Dorvillier and Beth Gill). Persistent shuttling between dance practice and academic work – two worlds that I’ve been trying to bridge for as long as I can remember – has shown me that dance and critical theory inform each other in significant ways, revealing much about embodiment, subjectivity, and notions of identity. I hope to make these relations apparent in my classes.

MA and PhD, Performance Studies, New York University BA, Philosophy, Stanford University

Books: I Want to be Ready: Improvised Dance as a Practice of Freedom, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010. Book Chapters: “Improvised Dance in the Reconstruction of THEM,” Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies, eds. George Lewis and Benjamin Piekut, Oxford University Press. (Online Publication date: February 2015.  Print publication forthcoming) “Deborah Hay’s O,O,” Planes of Composition, eds.André Lepecki and Jenn Joy, Seagull Press, 2010. Edited Journals: Co-editor (with Trajal Harrell), Movement Research Performance Journal #33 (August 2008). “Sound Gestures: Posing Questions for Music and Dance,” Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 17,2 (Summer 2007). Articles: "Turning Toward Trisha Brown: Valiance and Fragility in Beth Gill's New Work for the Desert," TDR: The Drama Review, 59:3 (Fall 2015). “Deborah Hay: Stepping Aside, With Eyes Askance,” TDR: The Drama Review, 51,2 (Summer 2007): 157-170. “Introduction: Sound Gestures: Posing Questions for Music and Dance,” Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 17,2 (Summer 2007): 123-138. “A Conversation with Zeena Parkins,” Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 17,2 (Summer 2007): 247-256. “Bodies on the Line: Contact Improvisation and Techniques of Non-Violent Protest,” Dance Research Journal, 37, 1 (Summer 2007): 60-74. “Ghostcatching: an Intersection of Technology, Labor, and Race,” Dance Research Journal, Winter 2003 & Summer 2004: 68-87.