LMTA will host a visit and lecture from Dr. Omilade Davis-Smith

LMTA will host a visit from Dr. Omilade Davis-Smith, a lecturer, artist, and researcher from the United States, and the Artistic Director of École des Sables (School of Sand) in Senegal. She will present her recently published book “Putting Africa in Her Place: Germaine Acogny’s Modern African Dance Technique” to LMTA students and give a lecture on her latest research project, Awòdá.

The lecture will take place on June 25th at 5:00 PM in Room 201, Olandų St. 21A.

The book analyzes the first modern African dance technique developed by renowned choreographer Germaine Acogny. This technique is closely tied to the political, cultural, and ideological circumstances of post-colonial Francophone Africa. Dr. Davis-Smith explores how dance aesthetics were shaped by African traditional dance and ideas of national identity, and how this led to a paradigm shift in the understanding of contemporary Black dance.

Dr. Davis-Smith will also introduce her own theoretical framework, Awòdá—a new pan-African dance research approach based on indigenous African concepts of embodiment.

A new open-access digital storytelling and archival project titled Awòdá will launch in September 2025. The first part of the digital narratives will focus on two choreographers: Saky Tchebe Bertrand from Côte d’Ivoire/Senegal and Richard Adossou from Benin.

“My central research question is how these two artists celebrate and/or question the cultures, identities, and politics of their communities through dance. The project also aims to explore how their work resists colonialist, white supremacist notions of Africanness or Blackness within the European and American contemporary dance industries,” explains Dr. Omilade Davis-Smith about her new project.

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