Thomas F. DeFrantz
Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies
Perkins, Kathy A., et al. The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance. Routledge, 2020.
DeFrantz, Thomas F., and Anita Gonzalez, editors. Black Performance Theory. Duke University Press, 2014.
DeFrantz, T. F. Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture. 2011, pp. 1–320. Scopus, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195301717.001.0001. Full Text
Defrantz, Thomas F., editor. Dancing Many Drums. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2002.
DeFrantz, T. F., and P. Badejo. Forewords. 2018, pp. vii–xii. Scopus, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70314-5. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. F. “Them: Recombinant aesthetics of restaging experimental performance.” The Sentient Archive: Bodies, Performance, and Memory, 2018, pp. 268–92.
DeFrantz, T. F. “Donald byrd: Re/making “beauty”.” Dance Discourses: Keywords in Dance Research, 2016, pp. 221–35. Scopus, doi:10.4324/9781315539171-24. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. “Hip Hop in Hollywood: Encounter, Community, Resistance.” The Oxford Handbook of Dance and the Popular Screen, edited by Melissa Blanco Borelli, Oxford University Press, 2014.
DeFrantz, T. “Hip Hop Habitus v.2.0.” Black Performance Theory: An Anthology of Critical Readings, edited by Thomas F. DeFrantz and Anita Gonzalez, Duke University Press, 2014, pp. 223–42.
DeFrantz, T. “Unchecked Popularity: Neoliberal Circulations of Black Social Dance.” Neoliberalism and Global Theatres: Performance Permutations, edited by L. Nielson and P. Ybarra, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp. 128–40.
DeFrantz, T. “Unchecked Popularity: Neoliberal Circulations of Black Social Dance.” Neoliberalism and Global Theatres, edited by Lara D. Nielsen and Patricia Ybarra, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
DeFrantz, T. “'Popular Dances of the 1920s and early 30s: From Animal Dance Crazes to the Lindy Hop' and 'Popular African American Dance of the 1950s and 60s.'.” Ain’t Nothing LIke the Real Thing, edited by Richard Carlin and Kinshasha Conwill, Smithsonian Inst Press (Natl Museum of African American History and Culture), 2010, pp. 66–70.
DeFrantz, T. “Hip Hop Sexualities.” Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies, edited by Steven Seidman et al., Routledge, 2007.
DeFrantz, T. On the Presence of the Body: Essays on Dance and Performance Theory. Edited by A. Lepecki, Wesleyan University Press, 2004, pp. 64–81.
Pages
DeFrantz, T. F. “The talking.” Theater, vol. 50, no. 3, Nov. 2020, pp. 63–67. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-8651207. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. F. “Soundz at the back of my head.” Theater, vol. 50, no. 3, Nov. 2020, pp. 69–85. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-8651221. Full Text
Defrantz, T. F. “White privilege.” Theater, vol. 48, no. 3, Nov. 2018, pp. 23–37. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-7084669. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. F. “Identifying the endgame.” Theater, vol. 47, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 3–15. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-3710429. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. F. “I Am Black: (You have to be willing to not know).” Theater, vol. 47, no. 2, Jan. 2017, pp. 9–21. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-3785122. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. F., and T. A. Willis. “Introduction: Black moves: New research in black dance studies.” Black Scholar, vol. 46, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 1–3. Scopus, doi:10.1080/00064246.2016.1119632. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. “Theorizing Connectivity: African American Women in Concert Dance.” Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 4, Sept. 2011, pp. 56–74.
DeFrantz, T. F. “Performing the breaks: Notes on African American Aesthetic structures.” Theater, vol. 40, no. 1, Apr. 2010, pp. 31–37. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-2009-017. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. F. “Movement in the age of globalization: A Panel.” Theater, vol. 40, no. 1, Apr. 2010, pp. 39–45. Scopus, doi:10.1215/01610775-2009-019. Full Text
DeFrantz, T. E. “Composite Bodies of dance: The repertory of the Alvin Ailey American dance theater.” Theatre Journal, vol. 57, no. 4, Dec. 2005, pp. 659–78. Scopus, doi:10.1353/tj.2006.0012. Full Text
Pages
Defrantz, T. F. “Bone-breaking, black social dance, and queer corporeal orature.” Black Scholar, vol. 46, no. 1, 2016, pp. 66–74. Scopus, doi:10.1080/00064246.2015.1119624. Full Text
Pages
i don't trust you anymore. Choreographer, Dancer. (2017)
Solo dance for spring dance concert ChoreoLab 2017.
ZwischenRaum. Dramaturg. (2012)
Dresden Ballet, Dresden, Germany. Original 25 minute ballet.
Why Are We First?. Choreographer. (2012)
Structured improvisation duet made with Amanda Miller and a third performer, Jung-Eun Kim. Explored practice of creating work. 8-Minute piece included video and camera interface and live internet radio accompaniment, and improvised text.
Performing Black. Choreographer. (2012)
This thirty-minute duet work explored Africanist aesthetics and challenges of viewing and responding to work made by black artists in the context of a downtown, live art New York tradition. The work was reviewed by the New York Times.
Theory-Ography 4: we queer here. Choreographer. (2012)
This iteration of an ongoing research and performance project explored concepts of queer theory in relation to dance improvisation. The twenty-minute work was performed by seven dancers, including myself, as a keynote presentation for the CORD conference
you should've told me. Creator, Dancer. (2016)
Created and performed with Duke dancers Cindy Li and Dasha Chapman. Digital media interface by Libi Striegl.
CANE a responsive environment dance work. Creator. (2013)
Based on Images. Director, Dramaturg. (2012)
SLIPPAGE provided direction and conceptual Design for Based on Images created by Wideman-Davis Dance Company; included visual design and soundscore design. Forty-Five minute contemporary dance performance, run from November 27 to December 1, 2012.
ZwischenRaum. Dramaturg. (2012)
Dresden Ballet, Dresden, Germany. Original 25 minute ballet.
Why Are We First?. Choreographer. (2012)
Structured improvisation duet made with Amanda Miller and a third performer, Jung-Eun Kim. Explored practice of creating work. 8-Minute piece included video and camera interface and live internet radio accompaniment, and improvised text.
Performing Black. Choreographer. (2012)
This thirty-minute duet work explored Africanist aesthetics and challenges of viewing and responding to work made by black artists in the context of a downtown, live art New York tradition. The work was reviewed by the New York Times.
Theory-Ography 4: we queer here. Choreographer. (2012)
This iteration of an ongoing research and performance project explored concepts of queer theory in relation to dance improvisation. The twenty-minute work was performed by seven dancers, including myself, as a keynote presentation for the CORD conference
Dance: American Art, 1830–1960. Consultant, Performing artist. Dance and the Museum: Professor on New Hit Exhibit (2016)
Contributed a video installation of tap traditions and African-American dance forms for the exhibit "Dance: American Art, 1830–1960" on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts, March-June 2016.
where did i think i was going? [moving into signal]. Creator, Performing artist. (2014)
"where did i think i was going? [moving into signal]" engages five separate interface designs gathered to underscore the vagaries of contemporary life reflected through prisms of digital scale. Digital cameras, Kinect cameras, and wireless microphones will record gestures by the performers and process the images and sounds through MAX, Isadora, and Ableton Live software. The work wonders at the physical and emotional cost of incessant movement resulting from job changes, natural disasters, and shifts in available technology.
are you still busy being mad at me?. Choreographer, Designer. (2013)
Theatrical/dance performance using technology created by Cameron Britt, the EMVIBE, an acoustic vibraphone, with collaboration by Duke student dancers.