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Pedagogy
& Research

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Image courtesy of Leslie Parker

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

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).

View Full PDF Here

2023

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

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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Thresholds of Change, installation by Jordan Hamilton and Leslie Parker

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

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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