Anthropology, Fractal Symmetry and the Dance
Ron Eglash, "The Fractals at the Heart of African Designs"
Susan Manning, "On Reggie Wilson and Mose(es)"
*Please note: Reggie Wilson has submitted three items for this seminar. The first is a video of a recent performance by Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel (28 mins); the second is a talk by mathematician Ron Eglash (17 mins); the third is a critical appreciation by dance scholar Susan Manning.
Reggie Wilson is the Brooklyn-based choreographer, performer, and artistic director of Fist & Heel Performance Group, which he founded in 1989. His movement style is self-described as “post-African/Neo-HooDoo Modern dances” and can be experienced and seen in his body of performance works which include the critically acclaimed Moses(es) and The Good Dance-dakar/brooklyn, which both premiered at BAM Next Wave Festival (2013 and 2009, respectively).
Mr. Wilson has lectured and conducted workshops and community projects throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean. He has traveled extensively: thru the Mississippi Delta to research secular and religious aspects of life there; to Trinidad and Tobago to research the Spiritual Baptists and the Shangoists; and also to Southern, Central, West and East of Africa to work with dance/performance groups as well as with various religious communities on specific projects.
He has served as visiting faculty at several universities including Yale, Princeton and Wesleyan. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2002), the Alpert Award in the Arts (2009), and a USA Fellowship (2009), among others. In 2012, he was named a Doris Duke Artist and received the Joyce Foundation Award, and in 2014 received the Black Theater Alliance Award for Best Choreography in a Dance Concert for his latest work, Moses(es). His work continues to be presented at a wide range of national and international festivals and venues and is a vital element of a diverse contemporary dance landscape.