Configurations in Motion: Performance Curation & Communities of Color

June 27-28, 2015
Duke University // SLIPPAGE: Performance, Culture, Technology

SLIPPAGE: Performance, Culture and Technology at Duke University will host a two-day event on June 27 and 28, 2015 to address how curatorial practice and live arts presenting can engage the particular concerns of audiences and artists of color. Configurations in Motion: Performance Curation and Communities of Color will gather performers, curators, scholars, presenters, and managers from throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean to examine how their work involves, invests, and can further support the creative growth of people of color. The event will be held at the SLIPPAGE laboratory on Duke’s Central Campus, at 1515 Hull Avenue, Durham, NC, 27708.
 
The event is convened by Dr. Thomas F. DeFrantz, Chair of African and African American Studies and Duke University and Director of SLIPPAGE: Performance, Culture and Technology); Dr. Jane Gabriels, director of Pepatian (Bronx, NY) and co-founder of the International Community of Performing Arts Curators CICA-ICAC (Montreal); and Dr. Dasha A. Chapman, postdoctoral associate in African and African American Studies at Duke University.  
 
The event intends to take on important questions surrounding the presenting of live art, including: How do we imagine twenty-first century configurations of performance curation and presenting that acknowledge the particular concerns of audiences and artists of color?  How does performance that relates to people of color fit into trends of contemporary curatorial practice?  
 
Participants will share their work and insights to produce focused thinking about the future of live art/performance/performing arts curation, with special attention to communities of African, Caribbean, and Latin@ interests.
 
Confirmed Participants include:

  • A. Nia Austin-Edwards  Founder, PURPOSE Productions // Editor and contributor, The Dance Enthusiast
  • Moira Brennan  Program Director, Multi-Arts Production/MAP Fund
  • Dasha A. Chapman  Postdoctoral Associate, African and African American Studies, Duke University // Ph.D. NYU Performance Studies
  • Thomas F. DeFrantz  Chair, African and African American Studies, Duke University // Professor, DUKE DANCE|Theater Studies // Director, SLIPPAGE:Performance|Culture|Technology
  • Jane Gabriels, Ph.D.  Director, Pepatian (Bronx, NY) // Co-founder, International Community of Performing Arts Curators CICA-ICAC (Montreal)
  • Aaron Greenwald  Executive Director, Duke Performances
  • Levi Gonzalez  NYC-based dance artist // Director of Artist Programs, Movement Research
  • Ishmael Houston-Jones  Choreographer, teacher, performer, author, arts advocate
  • Rasu Jilani  Independant curator, social sculptor, entrepreneur // DIrector of Community Programs, MAPP International // Co-Founder, Coup d’etat Arts
  • Joseph Jordan  Associate Professor of African/African-American Studies and Director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Christina Knight  Art historian, playwright // Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow in Theater and Dance at Bowdoin College
  • Jaamil Olawale Kosoko  Co-director, anonymous bodies :: art collective // Founder and director, The Philadiction Movement
  • Nicole Martin   Ph.D. candidate, Performance as Public Practice at The University of Texas at Austin
  • Paloma McGregor  Choreographer, writer, organizer // Founder, Dancing While Black ; Co-founder, Angela’s Pulse
  • Sarah Schroth  Senior Curator and Director, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University // Adjunct Associate Professor, Duke University
  • Marýa Wethers  Dancer/Performer // Independent Manager, Producer and Curator
  • Andrea Woods Valdes   Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance, Duke University // Artistic Director, SOULOWORKS/ Andrea E. Woods & Dancers
     

Events will begin at 1:00pm Saturday June 27th and end 2:00pm Sunday June 28th.  Participants will have ample time for introductions and discussions with opportunity to attend a performance at the American Dance Festival. Meetings are open to the public and will take place at the SLIPPAGE Lab, 1515 Hull Avenue, Durham, NC, 27708. The event will point towards a small publication with online documentation of its contents, available to those who are unable to attend. This symposium is convened with support from Duke University’s African and African American Studies Department, Dance Program, and the Franklin Humanities Institute.  

For more information, call (919) 668-1929 or email dasha.chapman@duke.edu.