Dance/Performance in Interdisciplinary Perspective Symposium

This symposium, hosted by the Williams College Dance Department, approaches dance and performance as an interdisciplinary method, site of inquiry, and medium of learning. It will bring together scholars and practitioners from Williams College and beyond who utilize movement-oriented performances to engage with disciplines as diverse as sports and martial arts, theater, music, sciences, arts, and anthropology. In framing “dance/performance” broadly as both staged and everyday acts of representation, as a lens for contextual analysis and a technique of bodily practice, the symposium will emphasize how embodied practices can provide insightful perspectives into issues relevant to the humanities and sciences. It will also highlight the various ways that “dance/performance” can enable collaborations that may be thought of as non-traditional or non-normative. The keynote lecture will be delivered by Janet O’Shea, Professor of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA.