Assoc Prof Gerard M Samuel
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town and former Director of their School of Dance ( since 2008). My PhD examined Contemporary Dance in South Africa and the nexus it offers for reimagining notions of Other and Body.
As a former professional Ballet dancer turned choreographer, producer-director turned academic and published author, I am interested in contemporary Dance, performance and pedagogy and the contested histories found in Dance archives that expose interstices of the Black experience. I have several publications that have explored South African Dance Histories, Ballet, Dance Education, and Disability Arts, through post-colonial and phenomenological lenses.
I am the Editor: South African Dance Journal, and Chair of Confluences a biennial, international dance conference hosted by UCT. My own productions include Prabhati, The Man I Love, Awaiting Islands, ( choreographed [ and awarded]for The Sound of Music) and received a Creative Arts Award which produced a short film, Place of Grace. I have worked in Denmark, Brazil and India researching interculturality, Dance and Difference. My ‘choreoactivism’ is also reflected in poetry books Blue Elephants and Dancing Alabaster. I am currently working on my first book/ monograph “Dancing Copper Bodies”. which examines brown dancing bodies in South Africa and their histories of Alterity.
Research Focus
Contemporary Dance in South Africa and the nexus it offers for reimagining of notions of Other and Body. I continue to investigate subfields of Dance discourse such as ballet, children’s dance theatre, dance as social healing, and performativity of the archive. Fields include:
- Dance in South Africa ( post-apartheid histories)
- Ballet and Contemporary Dance in South Africa
- Dance Pedagogy in South Africa: interculturality, embodiment, peace education
- Disability Arts in South Africa
Education
- PhD, University of Cape Town
- MA, University of Natal
- Diploma in Ballet, University of Cape Town
Selected publications
- Contributing author in the book The Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy. Chapter 21. Swans, Sugar Plums and Rain Queens: Ballet Pedagogy in South Africa. In 2025 ISBN 9780197777893
- Contributing author in the book The Intellect Handbook of Dance Education Research. Chapter 32. A snapshot of Dance Education Research in South Africa. Expected in September 2025. ISBN 9781835951347
- Contributing author in the book Dancing On! Dancing though Life in 2023. Chapter 2. 4 (K)not in dance: bodies and dancing as states of becoming. London: Routledge.
- Co author in the book Educating for Peace through Theatrical Arts with Charlotte Svendler Nieslen in 2022 . Chapter 9. Desiderata: Dancing social cohesion in Cape Town. New York and London: Routledge. 146 - 158.
- Co author in the book Doing Performative Social Science: creativity in doing research reaching communities. Ed. Kip Jones . The co author was Charlotte Svendler Nielsen. Chapter , Changing Life Perspectives. Conversations from a microtopia of integrated arts education in a South African Primary School. London: Routledge. 109- 122.
- Contributing author from South Africa of the 53-chapter book - The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet in 2021. Chapter 16. Huff! Puff! And blow the house down: Contemporary Ballet in South Africa.
- Contributing author of the book African Somaesthetics in 2021. Chapter 1. The Untouchable Body. Johannesburg: Brill Publishers. 1-22.
Courses Taught
- TDP1045S. South African Performance Genealogies
- TDP2010F. Global Performances: Mutations and Migrations
- TDP2011S. Special Topics: Dance Criticism and Modern Dance
- MUZ3821H. African Dance History
- TDP4000H. Research: Theatre and Dance
- TDP 3902W. Advanced Diploma Dance
- TDP 4017F and TDP 4024 S. Readings and Readings B (seminars in Performance Studies for Postgraduate students)
- TDP 4056 W Honours Dance (by Research/full dissertation)
- TDP 5001W Masters Theatre and Performance (Dance programme)
- TDP 6001W PhD (Dance) programme.