A two hour workshop, open to all PRW members. Dr. Mattingly will share her research into histories of dance criticism and then lead a workshop of three short readings. Participants will receive the readings after they register.

Register here: https://buffalo.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAudeyhqTksHtUz1YefWxFGjdY42fSuQVJ4

In this workshop we will discuss how dance critics have created the terms and frameworks that substantiate certain artists’ work while denying the values––if not presence––of other artists and processes. We will briefly survey a century of critics’ writing in the United States to interrogate how criticism has informed the writing of history textbooks, the teaching of dance history, and the design of curricula. We will then turn to how the 21st century introduces digital platforms that expand our definitions of what constitutes criticism and who shapes its priorities. These platforms challenge widespread assumptions about the disappearance of dance critics and open discourse to previously marginalized voices, as seen in the creation this summer of Black Dance Stories. While attending to the ways these platforms challenge systemic exclusions that have pervaded writing in the popular press, we will also examine the obstacles created by the merger of dance criticism and a digital sphere.

Kate Mattingly is an assistant professor at the University of Utah and teaches courses in dance histories, dance criticism, and dance studies. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Village Voice, Dance and Pointe magazines, and academic journals: Performance Research, Mapping Meaning, Dance Chronicle, Convergence, International Journal of Screendance, and Dance Research Journal. Her undergraduate degree is in Architecture: History and Theory, and from Princeton University, her MFA in Dance is from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and her doctoral degree is in Performance Studies with a Designated Emphasis in New Media, and from University of California, Berkeley. In 2019, she was awarded funding to organize Dancing Around Race: Whiteness in Higher Education, with colleagues Gerald Casel (UCSC), Rebecca Chaleff (UCSD), Kimani Fowlin (Drew University), and Tria Blu Wakpa (UCLA). In 2020, she collaborated with Brooke Horejsi and Liz Ivkovich of UtahPresents to create Artists Elevated: Discussing Equity and Creativity in the Mountain West.