Selma Odom
The 2015 Selma Odom Lecture, co-hosted by the Department of Dance at York University and Dance Collection Danse (DCD), features three graduates of York’s Department of Dance, discussing their research exploring the negotiation of oral histories, paths of memory, embodiment and shared experience in dance.
The lecture will take place March 24, from 3 to 5pm, at Dance Collection Danse, 149 Church St., Suite 301, Toronto.
Amy Bowring (BA ’94), presents “The Richness of Voices in Capturing Dance Legacy.” Bowring is a dance historian, researcher and writer, and the founder of the Society for Canadian Dance Studies. As director of research at Dance Collection Danse, she has worked closely with Selma Odom, particularly in the publication of Canadian Dance: Visions and Stories (DCD Press/Presses 2004). Bowring will discuss the history, legacy and preservation of the oral history collection at DCD.
In her presentation titled, “Oral History, Conflict, Self: Re-thinking the dance history interview,” Seika Boye (BFA ’99, MA ’06), a doctoral candidate at University of Toronto, will frame her research on race and gender in Canadian dance histories. Boye has worked as a freelance writer, editor, marketing/communications consultant and dance artist. She is a former department editor with The Dance Current magazine and holds an MA in dance from York University.
Anna Blewchamp (MFA ’92) will speak on “The Weave of Memory: The Relationships of self, others and embodiment to narratives of the past.” Blewchamp is an artist, writer and professor emerita of dance at York University. Blewchamp has worked extensively as a choreographer, performer and teacher in Canada, England and the United States. She is the recipient of numerous choreographic awards from the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council. Other honours include a Judy Jarvis Dance Foundation Award and a Chalmers Award for Choreography. Blewchamp will speak about her research on Graham technique.
This is event is free.
The Selma Odom Lecture was established in 2010 to honour renowned dance scholar and educator, York University Dance Professor Emerita Selma Odom, a leading light of Canadian dance studies and of York’s Department of Dance for almost four decades. She has retired from full-time teaching to devote herself to her research and writing projects.