Anna Jayne Kimmel

Bio

Anna Jayne Kimmel is a performance studies scholar invested in the intersection of legal humanities and dance studies, with particular attention to francophone histories and moments of public assembly. As a dancer, she has performed the works of Ohad Naharin, Trisha Brown, John Jasperse, Francesca Harper, Olivier Tarpaga, and Susan Marshall, amongst others. In addition, Kimmel pursues community-engaged research in carceral studies, fostering collaboration with artists in confinement and serving as a restorative justice facilitator for alternative accountability programs in the DMV area.

Kimmel holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Stanford University and an A.B. from Princeton University. Her scholarship appears in Dance Research Journal, Performance Research, Lateral, The Drama Review (TDR), and The Brooklyn Rail, as well as various edited volumes. Her current book manuscripts, Performing Law (co-edited with Peter Goodrich and Bernadette Meyler) and Legal Moves, are forthcoming. She serves on the board of Performance Studies International and is an Associate Editor for Performance Research.

Publications

• Refereed Journal Articles
  • 2023 “Crowded Choreographies: From Assembly to Association and Back Again.” Dance Research Journal. “Assembly, Gathering, Being.” Vol. 55, No. 2
  • 2022 “A Moving Moment: A Critical Return to Choreographic Empathy.” Performance Research. “On Repair.” Vol. 26, No. 6
  • 2022 “Metered Togetherness: Affective Drifts and Temporal Proximities.” The Drama Review (TDR), “On Presence.” Vol. 66, No. 4 T156. Co-authored w/ Diana Damian Martin and Asher Warren
  • 2021 “On Remembering Le premier festival culturel panafricain d’Alger 1969: An Assembled Interview.” Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association. Vol. 10, No. 1
  • 2020 “Diffracted Readings of the Future: Doing and Being through Practices of Differentiation.” Performance Research ‘On Diffraction,’ Vol. 25, No. 5. Co-authored w/ Natalia Esling, Azadeh Sharifi, and Asher Warren
• Select Book Chapters
  • 2022 “Of the Spaces Between: Prepositional Events throughout the Festival de Marseille”, Embodying Peripheries. Global Urban Humanities. University of California Press; Firenze University Press.
  • “Principled Understudies: Counter-Technique to American Individualism.” The Oxford Handbook of Dance Praxis. ed. Anurima Banerji, Jasmine Johnson, and Royona Mitra. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming
  •  “Intersectionality and the Politics of Ballet.” The Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy. ed. Adesola Akinleye and Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming
  • Naked Athena and Classical Lines: Wayward Aesthetics of the Civil Body.” in Performing Law, co-ed. w/ Bernadette Meyler and Peter Goodrich. Forthcomming
• Public Scholarship and Commissioned Works
  • 2023 “Examining Diversity and Inclusion in the World of Dance.” Disrupted, an NPR/Connecticut Public Radio Podcast, featured guest
  • 2023 “Performing Colonial Toxicity.” if I can’t dance—I don’t want to be a part of your revolution. Samia Henni, w/ support from Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam. Select translations
  • 2022 “Reflections on Norming in the Neoliberal Global University: A Conversation with Rey Chow.” Arcade: Literature, Humanities, and the World. Interview w/ Rey Chow, by Kimmel and Victoria Zurita
  • 2022 “Sorry/Please/No: A Dance for Survivors, Citizens, and Queens.” The Brooklyn Rail. June
  • 2022 “A Love Letter to Zineb Sedira.” in Unruly Archives for Crossings: Itineraries of Encounter. Curated by Amin Alsaden. Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto; commissioned
• Editorial Work
  • 2022 “Arts + Justice: A Colloquy.” Arcade: Literature, Humanities, and the World

Classes

At George Washington University

• Trends in Performance Art
• Understanding Dance
• Dance Composition II
• Int./Adv. Modern Technique
• Senior Honors Thesis, Independent Studies and Internship Credit

Other University Settings

• Performing Justice or Just Performance?
• Dancing Theories of Race Studies
• Intersectionality and the Politics of Ballet
• Dance Histories
• Directed Reading: Edward Said, Culture, and Empire

Education

• Ph.D., Stanford University
• A.B., Princeton University

Expertise

• Performance and Dance Studies
• Law and Humanities
• Critical Carceral Studies
• Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity
• Francophone and Maghrebi socio-cultural histories
• Critical Theory
• Community Engaged Research and Scholarship

Service Engagement

• Associate Editor, Performance Research
• Board Member, Performance Studies international
• Restorative Justice Facilitator, Northern Virginia Mediation Services