Casey Avaunt

Casey Avaunt is a dance artist-scholar whose research interests include contemporary dance technique, dance theory, dance history, Asian and Asian American dance, and the role of culture in the production of choreography.  She has previously taught at Elon University and Colgate University.

Distinctions

Awards

• Elon Innovates Grant, Elon University, 2021
• Andrew Mellon Pre-Conference Foundation Fellowship, 2019
• Arts Council Discretionary Grant, Colgate University, 2018
• Graduate Research Mentorship Award, The University of California, Riverside, 2016
• Princeton in Beijing Scholarship, Princeton University, 2015
• Maxwell H. Gluck Fellowship for the Arts, The University of California, Riverside, 2014
• Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellowship, University of California, Riverside, 2013
• National Merit Scholar, Taiwan Ministry of Education, 2009

Selected Publications

• Avaunt, Casey. "Bestowing Blessings and Cultivating Community: Lion Dancing in Boston's Chinatown", Dance in US Popular Culture, pp. 35-42. Routledge. 2023
• Avaunt, Casey. "Sisterhood in the City: Creating Community through Lion Dance", Dance Research Journal 54.3: 91-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0149767722000328. 2023
• Avaunt, Casey. “The Lion Dance in Boston’s Chinatown", The University of Alabama Press 29:1, 73-85, DOI: 10.1353/tsy.2022.0006. 2022
• Avaunt, Casey. "Impermeable Bodies: Women Who Lion Dance in Boston’s Chinatown", Theatre, Dance and Performance Training 12, no. 2:149-163. DOI: 10.1080/19443927.2021.1902381. 2021
• Avaunt, Casey and Wen Guo. “Dance and Community Engagement in the Private Sector: An Empirical Study on the Current Trends and Challenges of Dance-Based Community Engagement Practices", Journal of Dance Education, 1-12. DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2021.1989439.

Select Exhibitions

2024 Bodies in Blueprint, Tobacco Road Dance Productions, Raleigh, NC
2023 Linen Washed Dreams (dance film), Greensboro Cultural Center, Greensboro, NC
2022 Relentless, Dogtown Dance Theatre, Richmond, VA
2021 At the Other Side, "The Solo Series,” Lubbock, TX
2019 Outline, Dance Bridges Festival, The American Centre, Kolkata, India
2018 Red, Blue, Green, Sun-Shier Dance Theatre, Taipei, Taiwan

Appointed to the Faculty

2024

Educational Background

Ph.D., The University of California, Riverside
M.A., The University of California, Riverside
M.F.A., Taipei National University of the Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
B.A., Colorado College