Real name:
Biography:
Ann Axtmann has extensive experience in body, movement, and dance studies. Her primary interest is in the potential of movement to express the personal, the social, and the political within and across cultures.
Axtmann holds a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University and is a Certified Movement Analysis. Former teaching positions include: the University of Puebla, Mexico, the Gallatin School, NYU, and LIMS, NYC. She has also performed with the Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and many other dance companies. As a choreographer, she created over 20 dance-theater works have been performed throughout Mexico and in the USA; these works deal with themes such as rape, homelessness, Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, and women’s independence.
Dr. Axtmann’s publications include numerous journal articles in English and Spanish as well as the recent book Indians and Wannabes. Native American Powwow Dancing in the Northeast and Beyond published in December 2013 with the University Press of Florida. She is currently working on a book about her life and work in Mexico.
Current research areas:
Areas of Research and Teaching: body studies in relation to cultural representation, the arts (including film and literature), and spirituality; creativity; non-verbal communication; everyday and theatrical transcultural performance; fieldwork and ethnographic practices; Native American studies; avant-garde movements of the 20th century; dance history, theory, education, and styles across cultures (world dance); Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals; studio – ballet, BF, choreography, improvisation, and movement for actors and “non-dancers”; modes of writing.
Recent publications:
Indians and Wannabes. Native American Powwow Dancing in the Northeast and Beyond.
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2013
Forthcoming research:
Axtmann is currently working on a book about crossing borders, love, and life based on her years living and working in Mexico during the 1970s and 1980s.