online reception

Final Organizer Roundtable Discussion

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This roundtable by Ohio State University Professors Harmony Bench (Associate Professor, Department of Dance), Yana Hashamova (Professor and Chair of the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures), Hannah Kosstrin (Associate Professor, Department of Dance), and Danielle Schoon (Senior Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures), comes at the conclusion of their 2020-21 project Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID, funded by a Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme Special Grants Initiative.

Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID examines the impact of COVID-19 and quarantine experiences on artistic and cultural production by examining historical precedents, considering audiences in their social contexts, and imagining possible futures based on how audiences are currently forming. This project asks: How does COVID-19 impact cultural production, reception, and circulation? How are artists and scholars evolving their creative practices and research methods in response to quarantine experiences? What engagement strategies are cultural institutions pursuing to develop new audiences as their venues shutter? How are online and offline audiences responding to changes wrought by COVID-19? In what ways do audiences participate in creating meaning and social narratives, particularly during unstable political climates past and present?

Event Announcement // Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC) Lecture-Discussion and Master Class

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Institute for Dunham Technique Certification // Lecture-Discussion and Master Class

“Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID” is delighted to host the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC) for a two-part series on Tuesday, October 20th and Thursday, October 22nd from 5:20-6:35 p.m. (ET) via Zoom.

Tuesday, October 20th // Lecture-Discussion with Penny Godboldo

Join Penny Godboldo for the presentation “Survival/Resilience in Challenging Times Through the Wisdom of the Katherine Dunham Technique: A Way of Life.” This presentation will view our response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Black Lives Matter Movement, this divisive Election Season and the sense of isolation that permeates life in the U.S.A. today. Through the Dunham Technique, a comprehensive experience we can understand the wisdom of viewing life through the Mind/Body/Spirit experience and most importantly through the lens of Movement—the ultimate Black Experience.

Thursday, October 22nd // Dunham Technique Master Class with Rachel Tavernier

Master Teacher Rachel Tavernier will lead a Dunham Technique master class on Thursday, October 22nd. Dunham Technique is a vibrant African American dance form that engages the body, mind and spirit! Created by dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, the technique is informed by the traditional dances of the African Diaspora, as well as by modern and ballet. Dunham Technique creates strong, dynamic dancers who embody rhythm and grace. Classes in DT offer a variety of experiences, including breathing, isolations, floor work, barre work and progressions across the floor. In this class, dancers will learn the foundational movement of the Dunham Technique and will explore the intersection of Dunham technique and high-spirited, folkloric-inspired movement.

Event Information

Tuesday, October 20th // 5:20-6:35 p.m. (ET)

Lecture Registration—Open to the general public

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, October 20th at 12 p.m. (ET)

 

Thursday, October 22nd // 5:20-6:35 p.m. (ET)

Master Class Registration—Open to Ohio State Department of Dance students, faculty, and invited guests

Registration Deadline: Thursday, October 22nd at 12 p.m. (ET)

Learn more about the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification, Penny Godboldo, and Rachel Tavernier by visiting the “Presenters” page.

Photography credits (right-to-left): Bree Gant; courtesy of Rachel Tavernier.

Reception of Misinformation and Audience Responses

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What Russia Really Thinks about Chernobyl?

Photo: <https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1145211/Chernobyl-what-does-Russia-really-think-about-Chernobyl-putin-state-media-propaganda>

 

Experiencing the spread of COVID-19, the growth of the pandemic, and witnessing the various international governments’ responses to the public health crisis reminded our graduate student, Maryam Bainazar, and me about the Chernobyl disaster and the Soviet government’s response to it. While she knows about Chernobyl only through the experience of her parents who left the Soviet Union in 1991, as well as media and scientific sources, I vividly remember the official government silence and slow response. Although I lived in Bulgaria, our government followed closely the USSR’s announcements and replicated them. The immediate few days after the accident and the release of radioactivity into the environment, all students in my city were practicing the opening of a local Spartakiad (sports competition) on the stadium. Nobody warned us or stopped the practice to minimize our exposure. According to scientists, approximately 25,000 square kilometers were contaminated, and my city is about 1,000 kilometers away from Chernobyl. With such memories resurrected, Maryam and I  decided to evaluate the Soviet government censored media coverage and general response to the public health crisis which occurred following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and to compare it to the current Russia’s government agents’ false COVID-19 narratives, circulating online. In addition to analyzing available public information disseminated in the 2-3 weeks after Chernobyl’s explosion, we will examine the reception of this information by collecting the oral history of participants who were affected by the disaster. Additionally, we are interested in the reception and circulation on social media platforms of COVID-19 false narratives.

Audience behavior and reception of film and media has shaped my research and teaching in the last several years. My last book, Screening Trafficking: Prudent and Perilous, analyzes the local and varied reception of internationally distributed anti-trafficking films. As part of this more general research in audience responses, my colleague Dr. Alisa Lin and I will host a conversation with the American-Latvian film creator Michael Idov on November 18 (4:00-5:00) and we’ll discuss his work on the creation of Russian films (Summer, 2018) and TV series (Optimists and Londongrad, both available on Amazon Prime Video), their reception, and any impact of COVID-19 on his work.