Addressing the intersection of art and community

Dancer, choreographer and creative/performance artist Liz Lerman, together with Washington University faculty, will participate in a panel discussion on the intersection of art and community.

The Assembly Series program “Still Crossing: Expressing Identities, Building Communities” begins at 4 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

Panelists are Sunita Parikh, Ph.D., associate professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, and Robert Hansman, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

The event is part of a larger project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts for WUSTL’s Performing Arts Department and is the brainchild of David Marchant, senior lecturer in dance in Arts & Sciences. Marchant chose Lerman and her acclaimed piece “Still Crossing” to demonstrate the power of art to enhance social capital and civic dialogue.

Lerman created the dance “Still Crossing” in 1986 to address issues of immigration, transition and the meaning of “home” and “community.” Lerman will be in residence at WUSTL to restage this now-classic dance for the annual Washington University Dance Theatre concert in December as the end piece of this project.

Lerman is a major figure in dance and has been recognized with a host of distinctions, including the MacArthur “genius” grant, the American Choreographer Award and, most recently, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Achievement Award.

Her work has been commissioned for national centers of art and culture, including the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

In 1976, she founded the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, known for its multigenerational ensemble. Considered an expert dance educator, she has authored many books and articles on the subject.

The program is free and open to the public.

For more information about the Assembly Series, visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 935-4620.