Jenefer M. Davies Professor of Dance
109 S. Jefferson Street Dance Studio
540-458-8485
daviesj@wlu.edu
Curricular Head of Dance
Artistic Director of the W&L Repertory Dance Company
Chair, Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies
Davies’ choreography has been commissioned by dance, opera and theatre companies and has toured to Spain, Greece, Scotland, and throughout the United States. Her research is centered in modern dance including the use of technology in dance composition and in-depth research and experimentation exploring aerial dance forms, creating a technique for aerial rope & harness and integrating aerial into the university dance curriculum. Davies created one of the first academic programs in aerial dance in the country and her aerial students have performed at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre in Manhattan, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and from the rooftops of buildings on the Washington & Lee campus. She founded the contemporary modern dance companies, Progeny Dance and Davies & Dancers, which performed at Green Space and Dixon Place in New York, and biennially at The Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn and Ailey Citigroup Theatre in Manhattan. Her work has been supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts; Lenfest Grants, Johnson Fund, and Glenn Grants; the Treakle Foundation; Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Associated Colleges of the South Mellon grant; among others. Davies’ publications include the International Planetarian Magazine, World Congress on Dance, the Nu Delta Alpha Journal and the Athens, Greece Institute for Research in the Arts Consortium, among others. She has served on Reviewer’s Board of the Athens Journal of Humanities and Arts and reviewed dance proposals for Oxford University Press. Her book Aerial Dance: A Guide to Dance with Rope and Harness was published by Routledge Press in 2017 and she is currently writing a textbook on dance composition.
Education
M.F.A., Choreography/Dance, The George Washington University 1996
M.A.L.S., Performance, Hollins University 2004
B.A., Theatre Arts/Dance, Hollins College 1991
Research
Davies’ research interests live at the junction of teaching and scholarship. She explores modern dance composition including the use of technology in dance, new ways to use video, motion capture and non-linear video editing in composition and to create authentic movement, the exploration of the feminine aesthetic, and in-depth research and experimentation exploring aerial dance forms, creating a technique for aerial rope & harness and integrating aerial into the academic dance curriculum.
Teaching
THTR 109 University Theatre
DANC 110 W&L Repertory Dance Company
DANC 201 Artistic Identity in Contemporary European Dance
DANC 202 Dance Europe
DANC 220 Contemporary Modern Dance Composition
DANC 225 Intermediate Contemporary Modern Dance
DANC 230 Musical Theatre Dance
DANC 233 Movement for Actors
DANC 240 Contemporary Modern Dance History
DANC 250 Aerial Dance Techniques
DANC 260 Movement for Actors
DANC 330 Experiential Anatomy
DANC 340 Contemporary Dance Observation and Analysis
DANC 390 Arts Management
Selected Publications
Aerial Dance: A Guide to Dance with Rope & Harness," Routledge Press
"The Integration of Aerial Dance into an Academic Curriculum", NDA Journal
"Democracy and the Body: Aerial Dance in the University Classroom", ATINER, Athens, Greece
“The Feminine Aesthetic: Historical Truths and Contemporary Aspirations” ICHPER-SD World Congress on Dance, Cairo, Egypt
“Dance of Light and Shadow” ICHPER-SD World Congress on Dance, Seoul, Korea
"Dark and Light Matters: Dance and the Planetarium" International
Planetarian Magazine, California, September
“Soapbox Races”, Political Dance Video, Washington DC May
Selected Contemporary Modern Dance Compositions
Aerial Dance
Fight or Flight
La Fenêtre, evening length work
Progeny Dance, full evening concert, Johnson Theatre
M(other), evening length work
Bruised, W&L Alumni Dance
The 25th of March
Acquiescence, The Beauty Project
Notes from the Margins, The Beauty Project
Breathing Lessons
Tragedy of the Commons (collaboration with Antony Davies, Economist)
Leon (collaboration with Shane Lynch and the W&L Chamber Singers)
Shall Wii Dance
This Macaroni and Cheese Crayon Tastes Like Wax
Water Study (in collaboration with Kevin Remington)
The Long Morrow (in collaboration with Christa Bowden)
Anagrammed (collaboration with ShaLeigh Comerford)
Plastic Organics (collaboration with PlasticMusic)
Cruel Beauty (collaboration with Liza Deck)
Veil of ignorance (ACDFA gala)
Blame Game
Recent Musical/Play Choreography
Anybody
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (director/choreographer), Bentley Musical
1984
Romeo & Juliet
Sense & Sensibility
Legally Blonde, Bentley Musical
Good night Desdemona, Good morning Juliet
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Bye Bye Birdie (director/choreographer)
Assassins
Eurydice
Feeding on Mulberry Leaves
Chicago
The Secret Garden
Little Shop of Horrors
Kiss Me Kate
The Long Christmas Ride Home