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 […]

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Jeff Friedman in Conversation with Will Rawls

After ten years on faculty at Rutgers University, Jeff Friedman, Ph.D, is nearing the launch of this research university’s first MFA in Dance. Among the first Ph.Ds in dance in the U.S., Friedman talks with Will about his approach to critical pedagogy, the development of a globally literate dance practitioner and how to create the […]

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  • 11.14.15
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Studies Project Notes: Dance and Publish Salon

On March 3rd, 2015, The Movement Research Performance Journal and Critical Correspondence hosted a public salon, inviting interested parties to break into groups and discuss how to optimize the Circulation, Design and Content. Below we share with you some of the notes and thought that came up. Our goal at CC, is to continue to […]

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  • 5.12.15
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Robert Swinston in Conversation with Kimberly Bartosik

My desire to interview Robert Swinston-31 year veteran of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and current Artistic Director of the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC) in Angers, France-arose, in part, as a response to the uninformed attacks against his appointment, but mostly as a way to reflect on how the notion of legacy is […]

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  • 3.16.15
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Dr. Sally R. Sommer in Conversation with Abigail Levine

Sally Sommer has a unique eye on the history of post-modern dance. Arriving in New York in 1967, she fell immediately into the post-Judson scene, writing criticism and reviews for the Village Voice through the 70s and 80s. With a doctorate from NYU’s Performance Studies Department just as the discipline was forming, she went on […]

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  • 5.8.14
Jan 2014

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”.   […]

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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” […]

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Alyssa 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, […]

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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 […]

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  • 9.5.13

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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.

University Project: Notes on DTW Lobby TALKS, Part Three

Relevance of the University – Lobby TALKS at DTW organized by Chase Granoff, 2/9/10 Notes by Levi Gonzalez Moderated by Maura Nguyen Donohue Panel Participants: Gerald Casel, Maura Nguyen Donohue, Jana Feinman, Susan Marshall, Juliana F. May, David Neumann, Chase Granoff The second round of talks on the Relevance of the University drew a smaller […]

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  • 4.5.10

University Project: Simon Dove, Director, School of Dance, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State

in conversation with Levi Gonzalez Interview 09.16.09 Download this interview as PDF Levi Gonzalez: What is your actual title at Arizona State? Simon Dove: I am Director of the School of Dance in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Levi: It’s very complicated. Simon: It’s simply to do with […]

University Project: Stephan Koplowitz, Dean of Dance, CalArts

in conversation with Maura Donohue Interview 10.07.09 Download this interview as PDF Stephan Koplowitz has been the Dean of Dance at the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts in Los Angeles since the fall of 2006. He holds a degree in music (composition) from Wesleyan University and an MFA in choreography from the […]

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  • 11.8.09

University Project: David Roussève, Full Professor of Choreography, University of California, Los Angeles

in conversation with Maura Donohue Interview 10.08.09 | Download this interview as PDF David Roussève is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and a 2004 Guggenheim Fellow. In 1989 he created REALITY, a multi-racial dance/theater company that has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and South America, and was commissioned three times by […]

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  • 10.19.09

University Project: Cynthia Oliver, Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

in conversation with Maura Donohue Interview 10.06.09 Cynthia Oliver (Associate Professor) joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as Assistant Professor in August 2000. A former dancer with numerous companies including the David Gordon Pick Up Co., Ron K. Brown/Evidence and Bebe Miller, Ms. Oliver is also a Bessie winning choreographer. She holds a Ph.D. […]

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  • 10.7.09
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