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Movement Research


Dance scholarship plays an integral role in shaping how we understand contemporary issues. Movement is a language that clarifies relationships between the realm of the body and the natural, political, and social world. Movement research involves experimentation, on-going reflection, and continuous exploration. This illuminating process usually happens collaboratively with the choreographer and performers.

Emory faculty and students have been contributing to the cutting edge of movement research since 1987. The study of movement is powerful and guides us to connect to the complex layers of being human. We contemplate the empirical and draw from personal narratives. We invest in provocative and courageous storytelling to awaken an audience’s sensibilities to social, political, and environmental issues. We celebrate first-person experiences that influence our response to larger issues, such as gender, race, disability, agency, equity, and power.

Research and Creative Scholarship

Original choreographic work by faculty and students is presented each spring and selected for adjudication at the regional American College Dance Association Conference. Faculty member Gregory Catellier’s political work for the Emory Dance Company, Patriot Miss(led), premiered in 2018. This work posed political/social questions, in a witty and pointed way, about what it means to be American. Patriot Miss(led) was chosen by adjudicators to open the gala concert at the 2019 American College Dance Association Southeast Conference at Kennesaw State University.

The Nature of Evidence: How Do You Know, engages first-year students in the understanding and challenges of evidence inside and out of the classroom. (See video below)

Honors in Dance can be achieved through an original research project in choreography, performance, dance history, or theory. SIRE (Scholarly Inquiry and Research at Emory) and Emory Arts Grants support this scholarship.

Student Independent Projects are influenced by interdisciplinary study or civic engagement.

The Friends of Dance Lecture Series, Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Program, and the Candler Series bring distinguished artists, dance scholars, and educators to our campus to share their perspectives and pose research questions that influence our community.

Our faculty members are active in both creative and scholarly research. Please see the faculty bios for information about their research interests.