Assoc Prof Lisa Wilson

Head of Section, Dance

PhD candidate, MA Creative Arts in Education, University of Exeter, UK; BCA Dance, Wesley Institute, Australia; BSc Management and Economics, University of the West Indies, Jamaica. 

Lisa Wilson is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. Her pedagogical expertise is in the areas of dance education, applied pedagogy and performance and critical dance studies. Working at the intersection of critical dance pedagogy, decolonial African feminism and performance studies, her scholarly work and creative practice utilise embodied pedagogies and dance performance practices to explore students’ and women’s modes of empowerment (particularly women of colour), agency, activism, lived experiences, liberation and self-actualisation.  

Her research has been published in accredited peer-reviewed journals such as Research in Dance Education, Journal of Dance Education and International Journal of Education and the Arts, and seminal books such as Dance Current Research and Dancing Across Borders: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change. Her creative dance works have been presented on local and international dance platforms, at festivals and conferences throughout the Caribbean, South Africa, North America, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. As an activist educator, alongside her students, she has actively been involved in socially engaged dance research projects on the African continent and beyond around climate change, cultural heritage, racism and women’s healing through international collaborations with dance and the Child International (daCi), International Christian Dance Fellowship (ICDF), Berlin-based Swiss artist Dunja Herzog, Wildflower Africa Dance Project, and Sharing our Legacy Dance Theatre (USA). She is the co-founder of the UCT Youth Dance Program, which she started in 2014 in collaboration with Cape Town-based professional dance company, New World Dance Theatre. 

 

Selected Publications

  • Wilson, Lisa. (2025). Dancing Back to the Motherland. Dance Chronicle, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01472526.2024.2443709 
  • Wilson, L. (2022). Dancing under the weight of racism. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 22(SI 1.4). Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea23si1.4 
  • Wilson, L., Vedel, K.A., Samuel, G.M. & Svendler Nielsen, C. (2021). Example of Best Practice: Getting to the core of Red Apples-Green Apples: A dance and visual arts learning project between South Africa and Denmark. Intercultural Education. 32(6):682-690. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2021.1987689
  • Svendler Nielsen, C., Samuel, G.M., Wilson, L., & Vedel, K.A. (2020). ‘Seeing’ and ‘being seen’: An embodied and culturally sensitive arts-integrated pedagogy creating enriched conditions for learning in multi-cultural schools. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 21(2). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea21n2.
  • Young Overby, L., Wilson, L., and Ruberto, D. (2020). Women of Consequence: A cross-border arts-based research project between South Africa and USA. In C. Svendler Nielsen & S. Burridge (Eds.), Dancing Across Borders: Perspectives on Dance Education, Young people and Change. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. 87-96.
  • Wilson, L. (2018). Weaving Rastafari principles in the contemporary dance course: A culturally responsive pedagogy. In L. Overby & B. Lepczyk (Eds.) Dance: Current Selected Research Volume 9. Delaware: University of Delaware Library Open Access Publishing.  ISBN: 0-404-63850-3.  https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/28724.
  • Wilson, L.  & Moffett, A.T. (2017).  Building Bridges for dance through arts-based research. Research in Dance education. 18(2): 135-149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2017.1330328
  • Wilson, L. (2017).  Extending the reach of the Caribbean Bele: Connecting African dance students with African Diaspora dance culture.  Jonkonnu Academic Arts Journal. 3(1): 65-76.
  • Wilson, L. (2016).  Dance Pedagogy: Back up plan or branch into the future? Journal of Dance Education.  16(1): 20-26. DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2015.1045513
  • Wilson, L. and K. Kernochan (2015). Mining the body’s wisdom: Somatic practice in the training of South African student dancers. South African Dance Journal 3 (1): 43-64.
  • Wilson, L. (2014). Balancing the tide of globalisation: Maintaining Afro-Caribbean cultural power and indigenous identity in the dance studio.  Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) Conference Proceedings. Volume 2014/Fall 2014. 163-170. Dance Studies: Moving in New Global Orders dance.  14-17 November. Riverside, California. ISSN 2049-1255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cor.2014.23.
  • Wilson, L. (2013). Fostering students’ embodiment of diverse forms and techniques in higher education.  South African Dance Journal. 2(1): 20-35.
  • Wilson, L. (2012).  Through the window or the doorway: Challenges faced by student teachers in developing pupils’ creativity in dance in Jamaica. Caribbean Journal of Education, 33(2): 259-275.

 

Selected Creative Work

  • 2021 35th miner. L. Wilson & Maxwell Xolani Rani. Choreographers. Mhlanguli George. Director. Theatre in the Backyard. Gugulethu: Cape Town.  4-6 June.
  • 2019 Chronicles L. Wilson. Choreographer. Stephen Scott. Poet and musician.   International Christian Dance Fellowship Dance and Culture Study Tour. YMCA: Kanyakamuri, India. 5-12 May.
  • 2019 Chronicles.  L. Wilson. Choreographer. Director. Performer. Producer. Theatre Arts Admin Collective: Cape Town.  6-7 December.
  • 2018 Sharing our Legacy: Women of Consequence L. Wilson, Co-Choreographer. Lynnette Young-Overby. Artistic Director. World Dance Alliance/Dance and the Child International Conference in collaboration with Adelaide Dance Festival, Adelaide: Australia. 8-13 July.
  • 2018 Bearing Witness to the Struggle. L. Wilson.  Choreographer. Robben Island Night Vigil celebrating the centennial anniversary of Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu. Robben Island: Cape Town. 5-6 December.  
  • 2017 Spirit of Fire. Same Story Different Countries Production. L. Wilson. Collaborator. Lynnette Young-Overby. Artistic Director. Oprah Winfrey        Leadership Academy for Girls, Johannesburg; Holy Cross Anglican Church, Soweto; Baxter Theatre. Cape Town. 22 January- February 3.
  • 2016 Spirit of Fire. Same Story Different Countries Production. L. Wilson. Collaborator.  Lynnette Young-Overby. Artistic Director.  Grand Opera House, Wilmington, Delaware; Schwartz Centre for the Arts, Dover, Delaware; Mitchell Hall Theatre, Newark, Delaware. 4-13 March.
  • 2016 Thula Du. L. Wilson. Performer. Maxwell Xolani Rani. Choreographer. 9th International Christian Dance Fellowship Conference. University of Ghana: Accra. 11-17 July.
  • 2016 Hair Revealed. L. Wilson. Choreographer & Performer.  Fragile Spaces Production: Baxter Concert Hall. 14 September.
  • 2015 Dolls of Hope. L. Wilson. Choreographer. Born Frees Production. New World Dance Theatre. Artscape Theatre: Cape Town. 
  • 2014 UPRISING. L. Wilson and J. Booysens. Choreographers. Baxter Dance Festival Main Programme. Baxter Theatre: Cape Town. 9-18 October.
  • 2012 Ancestral Whisperings. L. Wilson. Choreographer. William Constable. Performer. Jomba Fringe! 14TH Contemporary Dance Experience. Durban:  Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre: Durban. 3 September.