Dance Studies Association Announces Scholarship Winners

The Dance Studies Association announces four scholarships for the pre-conference workshop on Thursday, October 14 with A14Africa at the Annual Meeting at Rutgers University, NJ. The scholarships are provided with funds approved by the American Society for Aesthetics Board of Trustees. In addition, a limited number of registration fee waivers is available to ASA members for the Workshop October 14. Please contact secretary-treasurer@aesthetics-online.org if you are interested.

Tashara Gavin-Moorehead, MFA in Dance (2021)
California State University-Long Beach, USA

Ms. Gavin Moorehead is a professional dancer, choreographer and educator, based on Los Angeles. She is currently researching the relationship between Nguzo Saba, the seven principles of Kwanzaa, and improvisation as a liberation practice.

Audrey Lane Ellis, PhD in Philosophy (2021)
State University of New York-Stony Brook, USA

Dr. Ellis is a philosopher and dance critic trained in the traditions of phenomenology, ethics and aesthetics, in addition to women’s gender and sexuality studies. Her research focuses on contemporary philosophies of embodied knowledge and corporeal ethics, with an emphasis on how these theories are materialized in dance and improvisational practices.

Sanchita Sharma, PhD in Culture and Performance student
Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, University of California-Los Angeles, USA

Ms. Sharma is a dance artist, filmmaker, and scholar based on Los Angeles. Her research explores the role of somatics and touch in Indian contemporary dance, especially how material and cultural situations shape perception, corporeality and choreographic prac-tice.

Alma Gabriela Aguilar Rosales, PhD in Philosophy student
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, México

Ms. Aguilar Rosales is a philosophy and aesthetics student with a focus on dance, with an emphasis on choreography and improvisation, stereotypes and cultural policies, and the mind-body problem. She has studied the Day of the Dead in México as well as the Mexican-African practice titled La Danza de los Diablos in the region located between Oaxaca and Chiapas.

The project is directed by Jeff Friedman, Associate Professor of Dance Studies, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. For more information, please contact Jeff Friedman: jfdance@mgsa.rutgers.edu