Dancing Theories of Race

What can choreography and movement practice lend a comparative understanding of race studies? Pairing critical theory in race studies with dance performance, this course moves through ten units to scaffold a nuanced orientation toward race and dance that moves beyond questions of representation toward agency, animation, and action. Each week centers one key dance performance alongside one formative text in comparative race studies to allow for close-analysis and critical interpretation, featuring choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, Trisha Brown, Lenora Lee, and Ralph Lemon alongside theorists like Frantz Fanon, Cedric Robinson, Edward Said, Patricia Collins, and Jose Muñoz. Through interdisciplinary modes of knowing, we will pair text and movement through the dancing body to (re)consider the social, historical, and political formations of race and its presentation on and off stage.