5.31 : Rosemary Candelario

May 31, 2011
Rosemary Candelario
Eiko & Koma: Choreographing Spaces Apart in Asian America
12pm Kaufman room 160

Choreography inherently theorizes a relationship between bodies and space. My research pushes beyond the reach of the dancing body to the idea that choreography may serve as a nexus of the politics of place and space, constructing a multiplicity of inter-relationships among bodies, sites, and technologies. In my dissertation on the Japanese American dancers, Eiko & Koma, I argue that the pair's choreography does exactly this, effecting as a result new spaces- which I term spaces apart- where alternatives may be performed. Rehearsing my dissertation's main arguments, I will describe the qualities and mechanisms of these spaces apart, each of which evinces a particular choreographic process while concentrating a series of recurring questions asked by Eiko & Koma's body of work. I will demonstrate how the choreographers have for the past forty years generated spaces apart that rework mourning, perform reparation, interrupt nature/culture binaries, and forge intercultural alliances.

Rosemary Candelario is a PhD Candidate in Culture and Performance at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is completing her dissertation on the US-based Japanese dancers, Eiko & Koma. Rosemary earned an MA in Culture and Performance from UCLA in 2007, and a BA in Anthropology and German Language and Literature from Boston University in 1992. Areas of specialization include the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form butoh, and the Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam, with research interests in the globalization of these movement forms, and on dance in diaspora, intercultural collaboration, site-specific performance, arts activism, and ideas of place and space. Rosemary published the article "A Manifesto for Moving: Eiko & Koma's Delicious Movement Workshops" in the Journal of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training in 2010. She is also active as a dancer and choreographer.

5.24 : Alexandra Shilling

Alexandra Shilling
Dancing Onscreen: Where does that place us?
May 24, 2011
12pm Kaufman room 160

Ruth St. Denis danced on film in 1894; dance has been featured onscreen for over a century and still we search for places to be seen and heard. As an accidental dance filmmaker, I am interested in utilizing my experimental choreographic investigations to make decisions for the camera and in the editing room. Now that dance is showing up on television (in competition, reality-TV format, supporting singers on shows like 'Glee' and continuing the music video format), on YouTube, and in festivals, is there a space for a deliberately raw, experimental and often wordless aesthetic? If we work outside the codes and formulas laid down by the film industry, where will we be seen? I will discuss my choreographic pursuits that began in response to the events of 9-11 and my family's history of surviving war, the desire to engage with audiences outside of the the traditional theatre space and as an inquiry into the potential of performance to transform spaces and sites while being influenced by cinema and photography. Please join me in approaching dance and experimental film making that invites an immersive experience, viewing a works-in-progress mock installation that is inspiring my inquiry.

May 17 : Damola Osinulu

Damola Osinulu
Searching for God on the City's Edge: A Journey through Lagos's Pentecostal Spaces.
May 17, 2011
12pm Kaufman room 160

There are few developments at the intersection of religious practice and public life in post-independence Nigeria more striking than the advent, over the past three decades, of Pentecostal Christianity. In this presentation, viewers will be invited on a journey through three Pentecostal sites in and around the city of Lagos' Redemption Camp, Canaanland, and Mountain of Fire and Miracles. How are we to understand these sites in relationship to the city? Are they a Utopian alternative to the often-difficult conditions in the city or are they a continuation of the city, acting to perpetuate existing social orders? What is it that draws so many "at least half a million in one gathering" to these sites?  At the core of the arguments I will be presenting is the idea of a Pentecostal Imaginary that subsumes existing cosmologies, incorporates notions of global continuity, and provides appealing explanatory frameworks for believers' lived experiences.

Damola is a PhD candidate in UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures, from where he also obtained an MA in Culture and Performance.  In addition he holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Houston. After practicing architecture for five years in Houston, Boston and New York, he returned to graduate school in 2005 to fully pursue his interest in the study of culture.  His present work investigates three Pentecostal sites in and around the Nigerian city of Lagos as venues where complex cultural identities are negotiated and resolved.  More generally, he is interested in contemporary African identity and how that comes to be expressed through and in space. He recently concluded his dissertation fieldwork research as a Social Science Research Council Fellow and is completing his dissertation based on that research.

5.3 : Kat Williams

Kat Williams:
Outlining American Liberation Mythologies: Democracy and Domination in U.S. Visual Culture
May 3, 2011
12pm, Kaufman room 160

In this presentation I will overview my dissertation project which addresses the cultural commitment of the United States to violent and economic interventions around the world, the current state of democracy in the U.S., and the role of consumerism in each. Harbored in the interdisciplinarity of performance studies, this project investigates the dialectical relationship between entertainment and political action as a force that can be labeled myth. By utilizing anthropological theories of myth I analyze popular media (American Idol, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Tears of the Sun, Gran Torino) in order to interrogate the hegemonic ideologies of American culture.  While my method is a myth analysis of media  my aim, by relying on generative theories of culture, is to assert our collective ability to shift U.S. cultural patterns away from the practice of violent interventions and toward a democracy of dialogue and a consumerism of consciousness.


Kat Williams is a PhD candidate in the Department of World Arts & Cultures. Her research interests include myth/cultural studies, U.S. history, non-violent resistance, Buberian philosophy, arts practice and sustainability. Originally from the conservative suburbs of eastern Kansas she began her undergraduate education as a Fine Arts student at the University of Kansas where she stumbled upon a course in African Art History. Drawn to the intense aesthetics of African arts and thier broad significances within cultures she declared a dual degree. Thus began her education in cultural studies and globalization. She relocated to Los Angeles in 2003 to begin a Master?s degree from UCLA?s African Studies program where she investigated the use of popular media in pursuing cultural change. In 2006 she began her PhD studies in WAC, turning her attention to U.S. culture?s notion of liberation as a motivation for violent intervention in foreign affairs. This summer she will be moving with her family to the forests of Northern California where they have accepted a position as caretakers at a ranch/summer camp. There she intends to focus on the craft of writing and complete her dissertation while further researching sustainability and arts practice as a process of dialogue.