Dancing With Ghosts: Foraging embodied histories and the construction of popular Americana. A McKenzie Salon Series Event.
“OH YEAH, LIFE GOES ON, LONG AFTER THE THRILL OF LIVING IS GONE” -John Mellencamp
This is the American Dream, or is it the American Nightmare?
In his 1982 single, “Jack and Diane,” Mellencamp celebrates the melodious mundanity of the mythical American Dream: a boy, a girl, football, debutantes, big city dreams, and chili dogs. Popular culture reflects and constructs broader sociopolitical norms. Capitalist overconsumption and heteronormative white supremacist notions are disguised into lyrical melodies (often sanitized from artistic innovations emerging from Black communities) for consumption and repetition. In Assistant Professor Elliot Reza Emadian’s experimental dance performance, Jack and Diane, personal narratives are positioned in tension with these tropes to elucidate the interconnected nature of culture and politic. Eminent dance dramaturg and faculty at the University of Illinois, Betsy Brandt, will offer a contextualization of the performance.
Presenter
Elliot Reza Emadian is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Their work occurs in the intersection of dance and choreography, video art and editing, sound and music, light and photography, and popular culture. Through a lifetime of dancing, they have accrued influences from tap and jazz styles, contemporary releasing forms, modern dance, ballet, popular music video dance, and experimental performance art. Elliot has performed and toured with Sara Hook Dances and David Parker, and presented solo choreography across the US. Most recently, Jack and Diane was presented at In the heartland (Links Hall, Chicago, IL). Choreography functions as a framework for re-chronicling the story of American culture through written, artistic, and educational interventions.
Respondent
Betsy Brandt is an interdisciplinary dance educator, dramaturg, writer, maker, and mover. She previously held faculty appointments at Webster and Lindenwood Universities, teaching courses in history, gender/sexuality studies, composition, and technique. A pioneer of the emergent role of dramaturgy in dance and film projects, Brandt defines the dramaturg’s role as part advocate, part curator, part skeptic, and part embodied witness. In this ever-evolving capacity, Brandt has collaborated with Sara Hook, Elizabeth Johnson, Kate Corby, Paul Matteson, Jennifer Monson, Joanna Dee Das, Elleanor Harrison, and Paul Moon, among others. She has presented her scholarship via multiple platforms, including the Special Topics conference for the Congress on Research in Dance, the Dance Writing Lab at NCCAkron, and the Lorado Taft Lectureship series. She earned her MFA in dance, with a research emphasis in art history, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her BA in dance and political history from Kenyon College.
About the McKenzie Salon Series
Organized and presented by the College of Liberal Arts, the McKenzie Salon Series is open to the public and brings together faculty, students, and staff to discuss research and current events. The presentations and comments are followed by discussion with the audience and an informal reception.
**Performance and Discussion will be followed by the opportunity to socialize.**
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
| Cost | FREE |
Interpreter Requested?
No