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Project information
Digital Black Dance Ecologies (AH/Y002326/1, 2023-2025) is an interdisciplinary network led by Dr Tia-Monique Uzor that foregrounds African and African Diasporic dance across digital performance art. Its aim is two-fold: to centre the embodied epistemologies of digital Black dance across the intersections of social and environmental injustice using the themes of ‘Fugitivity’ and ‘Belonging’, and to catalyse digital Black dance research and practice by fostering creativity, community, and collaboration among artists and researchers within and beyond the field.
The network’s approach to fulfilling its aims involves addressing the underdevelopment of Black dance researchers in UK Higher Education and the scarcity of development opportunities for Black dance artists, which limits their participation in the field. Through its two exploratory laboratories, Digital Black Dance Ecologies strengthens Africanist dance research by focusing on digital practice and engaging Black researchers and artists with expertise in ancestral and contemporary Africanist dance, Digital Media, Cultural Geography, Screendance, and Immersive Technologies.
The partners and collaborating organisations for Digital Black Dance Ecologies include Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, The Royal Geographical Society, Birmingham Open Media and Barnard College, Columbia University.