Richmond, VA — VCUarts Dance + Choreography is excited to announce that Associate Professor Judith Steel has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for the 2024-2025 academic year. Professor Steel will be traveling to Latvia to work on her teaching project “Embodied Artistic Practice: enhancing expressive capacity while improving performance.” She will be working at the Conservatory in Riga, Latvia – JVLMA – which is an arts academy training program for dancers and musicians at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her courses will include modern/contemporary dance, dance composition, and somatic studies for both dancers and musicians.
At VCU Professor Steel teaches courses in contemporary dance, improvisation, choreography, anatomy for the dancer, and dance science. Prior to coming to VCU she held positions in the Dance departments at Ohio State University and SUNY Brockport. Professionally she has performed with companies in New York City and Pennsylvania, including the contemporary repertory company Pittsburgh Dance Alloy. She is a practicing Certified Movement Analyst (C.M.A.) through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City. She had a two year appointment at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, and had co-taught Laban Movement Analysis in Russia for dance and psychotherapy students. She finds herself “inspired by and currently [engaging] with investigations into somatic-based approaches to training dancers and artists in multiple disciplines.”
Fulbright U.S. scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators, artists, and professionals that are teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad in more than 160 countries. The program allows for 800 U.S. scholars annually to go abroad and provides the opportunity to study, teach, conduct research, and make meaningful contributions to communities abroad. Scholars expand their professional networks, often continuing collaborations started during the program, and lay the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Since 1946 the Fulbright Program has provided over 400 000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, and teachers. More information on the program can be found at the Fulbright Scholars website.
Professor Steel will be on research leave during Fall 2024 and will return for the Spring 2025 semester.