March 3rd, 5pm
Yellowhammer Room, Gorgas Library

Although modern dancer Martha Graham claimed, “I am not political,” she and her company performed at the behest of the State Department on five continents during the administrations of eight U.S. presidents. From a White House performance for the Roosevelts in 1937, to a planned tour under George H.W. Bush to Eastern Europe in November 1989, noted scholar Dr. Victoria Phillips, Ph.D. connects readers to the depths to which Graham and her company infiltrated the American propaganda machine. Join Phillips in conversation with Nejla Yatkin as they discuss Phillips’ new Book – Martha Graham‘s Cold War: The Dance of American Diplomacy.

This will be followed by a round table discussion on how the studies of history and dance inform each other. Round participants include Dr. Victoria Phillips, Nejla Yatkin, Dr, Sharony Green from the Department of History, Dr. Fenella Kennedy from the Department of Theatre and Dance, and Dr. Margaret Peacock in the Department of History as moderator.

This event is co-hosted by the Department of History, Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Collaborative Arts Research Initiative.