Host: Pratt Institute, Department of Humanities and Media Studies
in partnership with:
The Ohio State University Department of Dance and International Human Rights Art Festival
All are welcome to these free discussions, but please register to attend>
Connect with us for an inspiring international book launch with author and interdisciplinary scholar Dr. Layla Zami (Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute), who will share thoughts on her new publication Contemporary PerforMemory: Dancing Through Spacetime, Historical Trauma, and Diaspora in the 21st Century. She will be joined by two multi-talented dancer-choreographers and educators featured in the book : Oxana Chi (Oxana Chi Dance & Art) and Wan-Chao Chang (Wan-Chao Dance).
Dr. Nadine George-Graves, Chair and Professor of Dance at the Ohio State University (OSU), will moderate the conversation. This event is sponsored by Pratt Institute’s Academic Senate (AIF), and organized in partnership with OSU and the International Human Rights Art Festival.
Panel Moderation: Dr. Nadine George-Graves
Panel Participants:
- Dr. Layla Zami (book author)
- Oxana Chi (dancer-choreographer)
- Wan-Chao Chang (dancer-choreographer)
Book title: Contemporary PerforMemory
Dancing through Spacetime, Historical Trauma, and Diaspora in the 21st Century
Author: Dr. Layla Zami, Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute (www.laylazami.net)
Publisher: transcript publishing (Germany), in partnership with Columbia University Press (USA)
Print: ISBN 978-3-8376-5525-4
E-Book: ISBN 978-3-8394-5525-8
Book Summary: Contemporary PerforMemory looks at dance works created in the 21st century by choreographers identifying as Afro-European, Jewish, Black, Palestinian, and Taiwanese-Chinese-American. It explores how contemporary dance-makers engage with historical traumas to reimagine how the past is remembered and how the future is anticipated. The new idea of perforMemory arises within a lively blend of interdisciplinary theory, personal storytelling, performance analysis, and insightful interviews with seven international artists. Scholar and artist Layla Zami traces unexpected pathways, inviting the reader to move gracefully across disciplines, geographies, and histories.
