Professor creates new work at national choreography center

A small group of dance artists from Mexico, Germany, and the U.S. will gather at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography in Florida, known as MANCC, starting Oct. 12. Their goal is to create a new work in just ten days, and Juan Manuel Aldape Muñoz, assistant professor of performing and media arts in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), will be in the midst of the action.

NAKA Dance Theater invited Aldape Muñoz, a choreographer and performer, to help design a new performance specifically for Tallahassee, where the work will debut at the end of the residency.

But the international dance company is also counting on Aldape Muñoz to document the process as an embedded writer - a MANCC program supported by the Mellon Foundation. Even as he's helping to choreograph and rehearse, he'll also be taking notes, filming, and thinking about a possible journal article.

"I have the double role of being a collaborator and also an embedded writer," said Aldape Muñoz, who has written extensively about NAKA Dance Theater and features the group in his current book project. "It's a challenge but also a testament to the artists' trust of me - being able to participate and also write about it."

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.