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Pedagogy
& Research

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Image courtesy of Leslie Parker

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Leslie Parker's experimental and intersectional work combines autoethnographic research, methodology, and dance.

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Parker draws on over 20 years of experience performing and training in dances derived of the Black and African Diaspora. Her work uses multi/trans-disciplinary approach, and draws from unique lived experiences of an individual by referring to the body as an embodied archive, a source for an amalgamation of collective and individual memories.

Research & Writing
 
View CV

Call to Remember  Essays & Statements on Collaboration, Improvisation, and Black Creative Research​. By Leslie Parker and Naimah Petigny, printed and distributed by Walker Art Center, in partnership with Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC).

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View Full PDF Here

2023

"Call to Remember Methodologies: Reflections."By Naimah Petigny and Leslie Parker, published by Walker Art Center

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View Full PDF Here

2023

Teaching experience

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Thresholds of Change, installation by Jordan Hamilton and Leslie Parker

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Photo by Pat Berrett
 

Guest Assistant Professor

Point Park University

Pittsburgh, PA

  • Master Dance Class,  Black Dance Improvisation (Undergraduate Level)

2024

Instructor

TU Dance Center

St. Paul, MN

  • Contemporary Experiment, Black Dance Improvisation (Open Company Class) March 11 & March 13

2024

Mini Residency

Temple University Dance Department

  • Improvisation (Graduate Level)

  • Neo Traditional African Dance (Graduate and Undergraduate)

  • Reflection/Response Artist Talk (Lecture)

2023

Lecturer (Full-Time Faculty)

University of Minnesota Theater Arts & Dance

  • Contemporary levels 5, 6, 7, 9

  • Composition I, II

  • African Diaspora levels 3, 4, 5

  • Rehearsal Director

  • ACDA Mentor

  • Faculty Choreographer-in-Residence for Student Dance Concert

2018-2020

Instructor (Contemporary Experiments Workshops)

TU Dance Center, St. Paul, MN

  • Pre-professional Contemporary Classes

  • Pre-professional Advanced Contemporary

  • Professional  Advanced TU Dance Company Members

2017-2019

Adjunct Faculty

University of Minnesota Theater Arts & Dance

  • Modern I

2017-2018

Instructor (Summer Low-Residency Graduate Dance Program)

Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

  • Contemporary Experiments - Mentored Studio Practice

  • Contemporary Experiments - Improvisation + Technique + Performance

2017-2018

Instructor

Zenon Dance Company and School, Minneapolis, MN

  • Contemporary Experiments - Processes Unfolding

2017-2018

Artist Lead (Lake Street Arts Program)

Pangea World Theatre, Minneapolis, MN

  • "Movement/Resistance" Improvisation & Memory workshop initiative created by Leslie Parker in partnership with Cowles Center for Dance and Performing Arts, Zenon Dance Company and School, and Pangea World Theare

2016-2017

Substitute Instructor

Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY)

  • Modern I

  • Choreography II

2016

Teaching Artist (Master Dance Class)

Esther Boyer College of Music & Dance

Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

  • African & Contemporary Technique Fusion

2015

Substitute Instructor

Sarah Lawrence College, Yonkers, NY

  • African Diasporic Dance

2015

Parker's autoethnographic research titled, Performing Identities in Real-time as Contemporary Practice in Dance, digs into place, lineage, and memory. She asserts that improvisation is also a critical form of expression for Black and Brown bodies in particular and while related to all improvisation models. 

Teaching Experience Continued

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Divination Tools: imagine home at Walker McGuire Theatre

Leslie Parker

Photo by Yasmine Yassin

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Guest Artist

Threads Dance Project, Minneapolis, MN

  • Company Master Dance Class - Contemporary Dance Practices

2015

Instructor

Gibney Dance Center, New York, NY​

2014-2015

Instructor

Satellite Academy High School, New York, NY

  • World Culture Day

  • Afro-Modern

2012-2015

Instructor

St. Ursula High School, Bronx, New York, NY

  • African American Culture and Dance History

  • Contemporary Dance Practices

2011-2012

Choreographer, Teacher

Co-Program Development (Artist Activist Program)

Penumbra Theatre Summer Institute, St. Paul, MN

  • African Diasporic

  • Contemporary Dance Practices

2008-2012

Teacher

The William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs

  • International Dance & Culture

  • Afro-Modern

2007-2010

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