Critical Correspondence
University Project
The University Project is an initiative of Critical Correspondence that aims to shed light on the shifting relationship between academia and working artists. More and more Universities are interested in bringing working artists on to their faculty, and many Universities now offer low-residency MFA programs to assist working artists in obtaining higher degrees. What are […]
Jan Erkert in conversation with Maura Donohue
Jan Erkert, Head of the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois, spoke with Maura Donohue, former editor of Critical Correspondence’s University Project and Assistant Professor at Hunter College/CUNY, about recent pedagogical shifts in the curriculum at the University of Illinois, where they have begun applying the idea of “community as curriculum”. […]
Alyssa Gersony in conversation with Simon Dove, former Director of the School of Dance at ASU
I was a sophomore at ASU in 2009 when Arizona State University’s School of Dance began its curriculum overhaul. I witnessed the silence and skepticism both in the classroom and at the National Dance Educators Organization National Conference as former Director Simon Dove and Assistant Professor Karen Schupp asserted the importance of “personal movement practices” […]
Photo by Yu-Chen WuAlyssa Gersony in conversation with Karen Schupp
In this conversation, Karen Schupp, Assistant Professor at The School outlines the foci of “Dance 2050” from both 2012 and 2013, her personal research about the effectiveness of the ASU curriculum, and her own pedagogical approaches to cultivating leadership in the classroom. Karen also offers her perspective on the currency of Master’s degrees in dance, […]
The Coalition for Diasporan Scholars Moving, part 2 — A Conversation with A’Keitha Carey and Liana Conyers
To deepen the conversation around issues addressed in Jaamil Olawale Kosoko’s discussion with Brenda Dixon Gottschild, we asked two dancer-scholars to share personal stories that point to the racism that often goes unnamed in university dance programs. Here they describe the way assumptions and stereotypes made about their bodies, identities, backgrounds, and interests have affected […]
The Coalition for Diasporan Scholars Moving, part 1 – Brenda Dixon Gottschild in conversation with Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
Curator/choreographer/performer Jaamil Olawale Kosoko talks with Brenda Dixon Gottschild, whose scholarship on the presence and influence of Africanist aesthetics in American dance forms has made an indelible intervention in the genealogy of dance history and contemporary dance. Here they discuss what led her to a career of writing about dance through the embodied perspective of a black female dancer. Their conversation also touches upon Gottscchild's most recent endeavor, the Coalition for Diasporan Scholars Moving; a nation-wide network of support organized to assist black scholars who have encountered racism in their attempts to attain degrees, tenure, diversity, etc. within U.S. university dance programs. This interview is part one of a two part series dedicated to this issue. Check back for a conversation between two dance scholars who found support through this resource.
