Dance Department Hosts State Conference, Welcomes Guest Dance Educator

The Department of Dance welcomes guest artist Crystal Davis, Assistant Professor of Dance Performance and Scholarship and Head of the MFA Dance Program for the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, for a residency February 18-21. Davis will be the keynote speaker for the North Carolina Dance Education Organization (NCDEO) conference that will be held at UNC Charlotte on Saturday, February 18, 2023.

Crystal Davis is a dancer, movement analyst, and critical race theorist whose work has been recognized by an eclectic community of adjudicators and audiences from Donald McKayle to the royal family of Jodhpur, India. As a performer her work spans an array of genres from modern dance companies to East Indian dance companies to her own postmodern choreography at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Dance New Amsterdam.

Her current research explores implicit bias in dance through a critical theory lens and how identity politics of privilege manifests in the body. Some of her recent publications include “Tendus and Tenancy: Black Dancers and the White Landscape of Dance Education” in the Palgrave Handbook of Race and Arts in Education and “Laying New Ground: Uprooting White Privilege and Planting Seeds of Equity and Inclusion” in Dance Education and Responsible Citizenship: Promoting Civic Engagement through Effective Dance Pedagogies. Her awards include Emory University’s Pioneer Award and the Texas Woman’s University’s Kitty McGhee Honor for Outstanding Achievement. Ms. Davis has also authored a chapter in the book Confronting Critical Equity and Inclusion Incidents on Campus: Lessons Learned and Emerging Practices.

Davis will be teaching Dance Ed Methods (10:10-11:40 am, Rowe 206) and Dance in Community (3:00-3:50 pm, Robinson 115) on Monday, February 20, and Hip Hop (2:30-3:45 pm, Robinson 118) Tuesday February 21.

Davis will also be the keynote speaker for the NCDEO Sixth Annual Conference, Replenishing the Spirit: Dancing for Connection & Renewal, hosted by the Department of Dance. The conference is a one-day event with professional development classes for dance educators in North Carolina. Teachers at the conference include dance department faculty, such as Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Audrey Baran, Assistant Professor of Dance Ashley Tate, and Professor of Dance E.E. Balcos. Chandra McCloud Glover ‘03, the 2022 Distinguished Alumna in Dance, will also be a guest teacher at this event. Retired dance professor Karen Hubbard will be honored after the last session with a Lifetime Achievement Award.