Art Song has been the most interesting classical format of singing for me since I arrived at UMich, and I’ve always wanted to make lesser known works more accessible. So with my CWPS Undergraduate funding, I worked with Professor Louise Toppin in a variety of ways surrounding African American and African Diasporic music.

In 2021, Center for World Performance Studies offered summer research grants to individual undergraduate students and teams, to pursue Performance Studies research projects that could be carried out “in place,” virtually or in-person, within guidelines of University travel restrictions. We invited proposals that included participation in community internships, lessons with community practitioners, travel for research… Continue reading UG Student Research Update: Samuel Dunlap

Interviewed by Hohner Porter // Dr. Reginald Jackson is an Associate Professor of Pre-modern Japanese Literature at the University of Michigan, where he also serves on faculty for the Center for World Performance Studies. As a researcher, Dr. Jackson’s work focuses on the relationship between embodiment and legibility, primarily through the pre-modern Japanese culture. As… Continue reading Faculty Spotlight: Excerpts from an interview with Dr. Reggie Jackson

In this virtual series, Center for World Performance Studies invites performers and scholars from diverse disciplines to reflect on how performance is being used to respond to the political, social, health and environmental crises that we face at this moment. In March 2021, Larry La Fountain-Stokes, U-M Professor of American Culture, Romance Languages and Literatures,… Continue reading ASYNCH \\ Performing the Moment, Performing the Movement: Larry La Fountain-Stokes in conversation with Awilda Rodríguez Lora

Behind the Scenes: Kalā Sāgara By Akshay Gopinathan When I left home to come to the University of Michigan, I knew I wanted to join a community that was as dedicated and passionate about the Indian Classical Arts as I was. While walking around Festifall, I saw a booth for an organization called Michigan Sahānā.… Continue reading STUDENT ORG SPOTLIGHT: Michigan Sahānā

“The practice of teaching, of actually having to get out of my chair and move my body along with the students, use my body to show them what to do, and then use my body to realize how things flow from one thing into another, all that really brought everything together for me in a… Continue reading FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Excerpts from an Interview with Dr. Amy K. Stillman

We have expanded the “Performing the Moment, Performing the Movement” series to include asynchronous content! In this session, CWPS faculty advisory member and Daring Dances curator Clare Croft interviews Gabby McLeod, Queen of Detroit jit. An acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Queen Gabby is an ambassador and tradition-bearer for her hometown dance style. She teaches, performs… Continue reading ASYNCH \\ Performing the Moment, Performing the Movement: Gabby McLeod

On Thursday, January 28 we hosted a conversation with Chicago-based visual artist, educator, vocalist/musician Damon Locks, moderated by CWPS alumna Traci Lombre. Locks started the session with a short solo performance, demonstrating his use of sound collage and speech sampling, and then discussed his personal journey in arts and activism.

Professor Michael Gould, Director of the Center for World Performance Studies and Professor of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation (SMTD) and Music (Residential College) discusses his recent work, creating music for the art installation of Oliver Raszewski. // I was approached by Nadja Raszewski at the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020 to create… Continue reading New Works: Sonifying Oliver Razsewski’s TRANSIT Viruses, Space and Time In an Age of a Raging Pandemic

Interview by Rebecca Hixon // Ashley Lucas is an Associate Professor of Theatre & Drama, the Residential College, the Penny Stamps School of Art & Design, and English Language & Literature at UM. She served as the Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) for six years and has received numerous fellowships, most recently… Continue reading FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Ashley Lucas

Welcome to the CWPS | BLOG — a virtual space that is intended to build and sustain our community of performers and scholars, at a time when it is difficult to be together in physical space. Here, we hope to share work, ideas, projects, research and dialogue by and for students, faculty, staff, alumni and… Continue reading CWPS | BLOG: Sustaining community in a virtual space