Harvard seminar puts spotlight on Texas State’s Christa Oliver and dance as form of activism
Julie Cooper | July 28, 2022
In June 2021 Texas State University dance professor Christa Oliver virtually attended the Mellon School of Theatre and Performance Research seminar at Harvard University. This year, she was invited back and got to lead a workshop about dance as a form of activism.
Oliver is an assistant professor of practice and co-director of the Merge Dance Company for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Scholars, practitioners and teachers from all over the world learned the choreography from “If We All Rise Up,” which was created by Oliver.
An excerpt from IF WE ALL RISE UP
“I applied for this year's session because it was the 12th and final year of the program. This year's program gave the participants an opportunity to discuss how our work has evolved both individually and collectively. On the last day of the program, I presented my current work and led a workshop on dance as a form of activism. Scholars, practitioners and teachers from all over the world who took part in the program learned choreography from my dance activism piece,” Oliver said.
The Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research was founded at Harvard University in 2010 to create a forum in which scholars in and around theater studies can gather to exchange ideas and research. The tuition-free program offers faculty and advanced graduate students who study theater and performance the opportunity to learn from leading scholars in the field in an intensive two-week summer seminar.
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