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Assistant Professor of Performance Studies
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
University of Washington Bothell, September 2015 – Present
University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow
Co-Mentors: Fred Moten, Jacqueline Shea Murphy
Department of English
UC Riverside, July 2015 – Present
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PhD University of California, Berkeley. Performance Studies.
Dissertation: Black Power of Hip Hop Dance: On Kinesthetic Politics
Committee: Brandi Wilkins Catanese (chair), SanSan Kwan, Juana Rodríguez, Darieck Scott
Exam Fields: Critique of Dance Studies, Black Performance Theory, Queer of Color Critique
Graduate Certificates: Women, Gender, and Sexuality; New Media
MA University of California, Berkeley. Department of Anthropology. Folklore.
BA Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. Dance Choreography and Performance.
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R EFEREED A RTICLES
2014 Shot and Captured: Turf Dance, YAK Films, and the Oakland, California, R.I.P. Project. TDR:
The Journal of Performance Studies 58.2: 99 – 114.
Techniques of Black Male Re/Dress: Corporeal Drag and Kinesthetic Politics in the Rebirth of Waacking/Punkin.’ Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. Special issue: All Hail the Queenz: A Queer Feminist Recalibration of Hip Hop Scholarship. Eds. Jessica Pabón and
Shanté Paradigm Smalls, 24.1: 61 – 78.
B OOK C HAPTERS
2015 From Oakland Turfs to Harlem’s Shake: Viral Hood Dance and Screening Antiblackness. In
The Oxford Handbook of Screen Dance Studies . Ed. Douglas Rosenberg. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. [forthcoming]

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Dance, Performance Theory, Race and Sexuality, Performance Ethnography, Community-Based
Research, Black Popular Culture, New Media
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2015 University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship
C3 Postdoctoral Fellowship (declined)
UC Berkeley Arts Research Center Fellowship
Berkeley Center for New Media Training and Technology Services Fellowship
Outstanding Dance Publication, Congress on Research in Dance
Gerald Kahan Scholar’s Prize, American Society for Theatre Research
Cambridge University Press Prize, American Society for Theatre Research
Selma Jeanne Cohen Award, Society of Dance History Scholars
2014 Berkeley Center for New Media Summer Research Fellowship
Thomas Marshall Graduate Student Award, American Society for Theatre Research
Hickman Graduate Essay Award, UC Berkeley Department of Performance Studies
2013 UC Berkeley Dean’s Doctoral Completion Fellowship
UC Berkeley Mentored Research Fellowship
Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship – Alternate
UC Berkeley Graduate Division Summer Grant
UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender Graduate Grant
UC Berkeley Department of Gender and Women’s Studies Research Award
TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies Student Essay Award
2012- UC Berkeley Department of Performance Studies Hickman Research and Conference Awards
2015
2010 Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship
Ancker Fellowship, UC Berkeley Department of Performance Studies
Power Top Off Award, UC Berkeley Department of Performance Studies
2008 Graduate Block Fellowship, UC Berkeley Department of Anthropology
D ANCE C HOREOGRAPHY G RANTS , A WARDS AND H ONORS
2008 Ford Foundation Future Aesthetics Artist Award, New York City Hip-Hop Theater Festival
2007 Isadora Duncan Dance Award Nominee for Best Choreography, San Francisco, CA
2006 East Bay Community Foundation Grant for DREAM Dance Company, Oakland, CA
2005 Creative Work Fund Award for DREAM Dance Company, San Francisco, CA
East Bay Fund For Artists Grant for DREAM Dance Company, Oakland, CA
2003 Zellerbach Foundation Grant for DREAM Dance Company, San Francisco, CA
2002 People United for Better Life in Oakland, Youth-to-Youth Grant, DREAM Dance Company
2001 California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence

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2015 Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
American Studies Survey: Drama in American Cultures: Performance in América
Professor Angela Marino
Guest Lecturer, Department of Music, UC Berkeley
“Professional and Amateur: Doing Community Based Research”
Seminar: Art and Activism , Professors Cecilia Lucas and Tamara Roberts
Guest Lecturer, Department of Dance, UC Berkeley
“Cypher Theory”
Advanced Modern Dance Technique, Professor Amara Tabor-Smith
2014 Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
Intermediate Dance Technique and Theory: Explorations in Hip Hop Dance
Guest Lecturer, Department of Dance, UC Berkeley
“Cypher Theory”
Advanced Modern Dance Technique, Professor Amara Tabor-Smith
Guest Lecturer, Department of Dance, UC Riverside
“Black Thought of Hip Hop: Proper Genres/Improper Genders”
Seminar: Dance, Race, Property , Professor Cristina Rosa
Guest Lecturer, World Arts and Cultures, UCLA
“Black Thought of Hip Hop: Proper Genres/Improper Genders”
Dance Studies: Hip Hop Dance History , Professor Rennie Harris
Guest Artist, World Arts and Cultures, UCLA
“Latin Roots of House Dance”
Advanced Dance Technique: Funkamentals , Professor Sabela Grimes
2013 Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
Beginning Dance Technique and Theory: Explorations in Hip Hop Dance
Advanced Dance Technique: Practice of an Africanist Aesthetic in Modern Dance
2012 Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
Reading and Composition: Black Masculinities in Popular Culture
Online Guest Lecturer, Department of Dance, UC Riverside
“Hip Hop and Waacking”
Dance Studies: Dance Cultures and Contexts , Professor Jacqueline Shea Murphy
2012- Guest Teacher, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
2011 Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Modern Dance Technique
Professors Lisa Wymore and Amara Tabor-Smith

2011 Director of Choreography, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
Play Study and Production: Black Theater Workshop: At Buffalo
Professor Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin
2010 Graduate Student Instructor, Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Anthropology Survey: Forms of Folklore
Professor JoAnn Conrad
Choreographer, Department of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
Lab Run: An Evening of Experimental Performance
2009 Graduate Student Reader, Department of American Studies, UC Berkeley
American Studies Survey: The Age of Monopoly: American Culture 1865-1929
Professor Michael Cohen
2009 Graduate Student Researcher , TransAtlantic Influences in Berlin Urban Popular Culture.
UC Berkeley African American Studies and Performance Studies, University of Heidelberg,
Germany. Conducted in-person interviews for ethnography of hip hop culture in Berlin,
Germany, in collaboration with Harvard University Hip-Hop Archive.
Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Shannon Steen (Performance Studies, UC Berkeley) and Dr.
Heike Raphael-Hernandez (English, University of Maryland European Division)
2005 Independent Study , Kularts Tribal Arts Tour, Mindanao and Kalinga, Philippines.
Community engagement and tribal sustainability project.
2003 Independent Study , Illadelph Legends Dance Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1999 International festival of hip-hop dance pioneers organized by Rennie Harris PureMovement.
1998
1998 Independent Study , Bahia Folclorica, Bahia, Brazil.
1997 Artist exchange organized by Caribbean Music & Dance Programs, Oakland, California.
1996 Independent Study , Rumba and Folklore in Matanzas, University of Matanzas, Cuba.
Artist exchange organized by Caribbean Music & Dance Programs, Oakland, California.
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RESENTATIONS
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ORKSHOPS AND
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EMINARS
Guest Artist-Scholar. National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Conference: Art and Science,
Engineering, and Medicine Frontier Collaborations: Ideation, Translation and Realization. Arnold and
Mabel Beckman Center, Irvine, CA, November 12-14, 2015.
Guest Lecturer. Movement from the Underground: Kinesthetic Politics in the Rebirth of Waacking/
Punkin. Dance Department, University of California, Riverside, September 30, 2015.

Performing Artist. The Participatory Sound of Movement. Berkeley Center for New Media Mobile
Collaboration Con, Foreign Cinema, San Francisco, CA, April 3, 2015.
Guest Speaker. Movement from the Underground: Kinesthetic Politics in the Rebirth of Waacking/
Punkin. State University of New York at Buffalo, February 16, 2015.
Guest Speaker. #BlackThoughtMatters: The Kinesthetic Politics of Hip Hop Dance. University of
Washington, Bothell, January 12, 2015.
Moderator for Opening Convocation. Girl I’ll House You: Women and the Development of House Dance, Local and International Perspectives . Chicago House Dance Weekend, Department of Africana Studies, Brown
University, Providence, RI, December 4, 2014.
Presenter. Performing Ethnography: Kinesthetic Politics of Waacking/Punking. Queer Rhythms: Makings of Race & Rehearsal , Center for Race & Gender, UC Berkeley, September 11, 2014.
Performing Artist. The Participatory Sound of Movement. Berkeley Center for New Media Salon , Meyer
Sound Laboratories, Berkeley, CA, September 11, 2014.
Participant/Presenter. Performing Ethnography: Kinesthetic Politics of Waacking/Punking. Creative
Ethnography Institute , Center for Global Culture, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, July 7-11, 2014.
Participant. Center for Study of Sexual Culture/Center for Race & Gender Dissertation Workshop Retreat .
Westerbeke Ranch, Sonoma, CA, May 7-9, 2014.
Roundtable Keynote. Black Power of Hip Hop Dance: On Kinesthetic Politics. Hip-Hop As Social and
Political Empowerment Symposium , VW Foundation, Herrenhausen Castle, Hannover, Germany,
September 11-14, 2013.
Participant/Presenter. Black Power of Hip Hop Dance: Kinesthetic Politics and Black Performance.
Mellon Dance Studies Summer Seminar , Brown University, Providence, RI, June 17-21, 2013.
C ONFERENCE P RESENTATIONS
Paper Presentation. Global Street Dance and Libidinal Economy. Annual Conference of Society of
Dance History Scholars/Congress on Research in Dance, Athens, Greece, June 4-7, 2015.
Roundtable Commentator/Performing Artist. Show & Prove: A Multimedia Examination of the Role of the Black Body in Street Dance Culture. Black Portraiture{s} II: Imaging the Black Body and Restaging
Histories, New York University at Villa La Pietra, Florence, Italy, May 31, 2015.
Plenary Presenter. Funky Robots on the Soul Train Line: Black Power Technology and Anti-Human
Movements. “What Performs?” Annual Conference of ASTR: American Society for Theatre Research,
Baltimore, MD, November 21, 2014.
Co-Convenor. Making Dark Matter: Black Thought, Africanist Aesthetics, and Funkamental
Movemeant. Collaborative workshop/presentation with Dr. Imani Kai Johnson and D. Sabela
Grimes. Dancing the African Diaspora: Theories of Black Performance, Collegium for African
Diaspora Dance, Duke University, Durham, NC, February 8, 2014.

Roundtable Speaker. Social Justice in Dance Studies Roundtable. Congress on Research in
Dance/Society of Dance History Scholars Joint Conference, University of California, Riverside,
November 16, 2013.
Co-Convenor. Decolonial Aesthetics and the Political Possibilities of Hip Hop Dance. Collaborative presentation with Dr. Imani Kai Johnson and D. Sabela Grimes, with respondent Dr. Fred Moten. 2 nd
Annual Critical Ethnic Studies Conference, University of Illinois, Chicago, September 20, 2013.
Paper Presentation. (Re)Presenting the Passed: Turf Dance, YAK Films and the Oakland R.I.P.
Project. Performance Studies International #19, “Now Then: Performance & Temporality,” Stanford
University, Palo Alto, CA, June 27, 2013.
Paper Presentation. Shot and Captured: Turf Dance, YAK Films, and the Oakland, California, R.I.P.
Project. Society of Dance History Scholars, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, June 16, 2012.
Roundtable Keynote. (Re)Presenting the Passed: Turf Dance, YAK Films and the Oakland R.I.P.
Project. Northern California Performance Studies Platform: Performance Presents, Stanford
University, Palo Alto, CA, May 11, 2012.
Paper Presentation. Techniques of Black Male Redress: Rerouting the Rebirth of Waacking/Punkin’.
Show and Prove: Tensions, Contradictions and Possibilities of Hip-Hop Scholarship in Practice, New
York University Department of Performance Studies, New York, NY, March 31, 2012.
Roundtable Presentation. Techniques of Black Male Redress. Center for Race and Gender Thursday
Forum Series, University of California, Berkeley, January 26, 2012.
Paper Presentation. Techniques of Black Male Redress. Fashion: UCLA Queer Studies Conference,
University of California, Los Angeles, October 13, 2011.
Paper Presentation. Popping and Other Dis/Appearing Acts. Show and Prove: Tensions,
Contradictions and Possibilities of Hip-Hop Scholarship in Practice, New York University
Department of Performance Studies, New York, NY, September 13, 2010.
Roundtable Presentation. Popping and Other Dis/Appearing Acts. 18 th Annual St. Clair Drake
Research Symposium, UC Berkeley Department of African American Studies, May 12, 2010.
Co-Convenor. PreForming Tradition: Complex Assemblies in the Shape of Culture. Western
States Folklore Society, Willamette University, Eugene, OR, April 2010.
Paper Presentation. Epistemology of the Pop. Writing & Representin’ Hip-Hop Culture in Academe,
Department of Music, UC Berkeley, April 18, 2009.
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2015 Assistant Organizer, Undisciplined Encounters Series featuring Aisha Beliso DeJesús, author of Electric Santería: Racial and Sexual Assemblages of Transnational Religion
Department of English, UC Riverside

Aisha Beliso DeJesús (Harvard Divinity School), Ashon Crawley (Ethnic Studies, UCR),
Amalia Cabezas (Ethnic Studies, UCR)
2013 Discussant , An Academic Mixtape: Kheshti & Nyong’o on Performance
6 th Annual Performance Studies Speaker Series, Durham Studio Theater, UC Berkeley
Roshanak Kheshti (Ethnic Studies, UCSD) and Tavia Nyong’o (Performance Studies, NYU)
Volunteer , Learning Mode: Critical Issues in Online Education
Berkeley Center for New Media, Banatao Institute at CITRIS, UC Berkeley
2012 Lead Organizer , Break/ing Ground: Critical Dialogues in Sound and Motion
5 th Annual Performance Studies Speaker Series, Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley
Thomas DeFrantz (Dance & Black Studies, Duke) and Fred Moten (English, Duke).
Volunteer , Digital Inquiry Symposium , Berkeley Center for New Media, UC Berkeley
2012- Co-Convener , Dance Studies Working Group, Dept. of Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
2010
2009 Lead Organizer , Writing and Representin’ Hip-Hop Culture in Academe
Hip-Hop Studies Working Group Conference, Department of Music, UC Berkeley
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2002-2008 Founding Artistic Director , DREAM Dance Company, Oakland, California
2005 Choreographer, “Living Young, Growing Old in Oakland,” Metro Theater, Oakland,
California.
Director: Ellen Sebastian Chang.
2002 Assistant Director, “Thieves In The Temple,” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San
Francisco, CA) and New York City Hip-Hop Theater Festival (New York, NY). Written and performed by Aya de Léon; directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang.
1999-2002 Co-Artistic Director , Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company, Oakland, California
Worked collaboratively with high school youth to devise, produce, and tour evening length dance-theater works addressing race, gender, sexuality, and social justice issues.
2000-2001 Performing Arts Director, Life Learning Academy, Treasure Island, California
Directed hip hop dance program at school for probationary and transitional youth.
1999-2000 Director of Dance, Robeson Rivera Academy, San Francisco, California
Directed program integrating dance and academics at pilot school for probationary youth.
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2014
2012
Artist-In-Residence, KunstFestSpiele 2014, VW Foundation, Hannover, Germany
Producer, Soul Train Ball & Battle: A Tribute to Don Cornelius, Oakland, California

1998-2008 Dance Artist/Educator, Destiny Arts Center (Oakland, CA), Youth Uprising (Oakland,
CA), Performing Arts Workshop (San Francisco, CA), Youth In Arts (San Rafael, CA),
East Bay Center for Performing Arts (Richmond, CA)
2008 Guest Dancer, Aida , 34 th Miss Gay America Contest
Performed in dance ensemble of Miss Gay America finalist Anthony Brewer, featured in award-winning documentary film Pageant .
2007 Guest Dancer with Umoja Clique, People Like Me , San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
2000-2004 Cultural Worker-Activist, Underground Railroad Artist Collective, Oakland, California
Organized cultural events and educational workshops, addressing prisons, racism and social justice movement building for youth of color.
2003 Guest Artist , Bay Area Hip Hop Theater Festival, San Francisco, California
2001-2003 Producer/DJ, Free Style Fridays, Mandela Arts Center, Oakland, California
Organized free weekly street dance sessions as California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence.
2001
2000
Producer, Movement From The Underground, Mandela Arts Center, Oakland, CA
Producer, Congregation, Black Dot Artists Community Center, Oakland, California
Monthly community dance party.
1999-2000 Street Protest Artist, Emma Said Dance Collective/Art & Revolution, San Francisco, CA
Performed for WTO Protests and Michael Franti’s Stay Human Tour.
1999 Events Producer, Capoeira Arts Café, Berkeley, California
Produced showcases of local hip hop artists.
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2010-2014 Grant Writer, The Mentoring Center, Oakland, California
Write and research grants for community-based organization, providing mentoring and case management to incarcerated, re-entry, and commercially sexually exploited (CSE) youth.
2007-2008 Grant Writer and Development Coordinator, Destiny Arts Center, Oakland, California
Worked with Executive Director of mid-size non-profit organization, to research and write
2006 grants, maintain donor database, plan and produce annual donor events.
Arts Panelist, City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, Oakland, California
1998-1999 Development Coordinator/Event Producer, United Capoeira Association, Berkeley, CA
1996-1998 Operations Manager, Caribbean Music and Dance Programs, Oakland, California
Held central administrative position in small company, conducting artist exchanges in
Cuba, Brazil and the United States.