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Dr. Layla Zami said that her book, Contemporary PerforMemory, is about the role that dance can play in embodying the transforming narratives about the past. The book’s cover features Oxana Chi in “Through Gardens.” Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Nadine George-Graves

The Department of Dance will host a webinar series this week to celebrate the release of a book from Layla Zami of the Pratt Institute, which analyzes the role dance plays in memorializing identity and trauma throughout history.

Zami’s book, “Contemporary PerforMemory: Dancing Through Spacetime, Historical Trauma, and Diaspora in the 21st Century,” will be celebrated Tuesday through the Department of Dance’s “Community Conversations” webinar series with an artist Q&A and a short film viewing. The event will be moderated by Nadine George-Graves, chair of the Department of Dance and professor in the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts, and will feature special guest artists Oxana Chi and Wan-Chao Chang.

“A book launch, seminar or gathering around important intellectual and artistic ideas is always important,” George-Graves said. “I’m hoping that this is a moment where people show up and we gather and learn together.”

George-Graves said “Community Conversations” is a new platform created by the department to have important conversations and build community during the pandemic. 

“It’s not a coincidence that some of those conversations are around race, social justice and equity because those are some of the important conversations that we’re having across the world,” George-Graves said. 

According to the department’s website, “Community Conversations” connects “a network of artists, scholars, practitioners and activists to propagate small-scale creative solutions to impact our communal environment.”

George-Graves said Zoom has given them the ability to have guest speakers and artists from around the world join the meetings virtually rather than flying them in.

Zami is a visiting assistant professor of humanities and media studies at the Pratt Institute in New York. Before teaching at Pratt, Zami said she taught at Humboldt University in Germany, where she began working on her book “Contemporary PerforMemory” as a doctoral researcher in 2013. 

Zami said “Contemporary PerforMemory” is about the role that dance can play in embodying the transforming narratives about the past, and the word “PerforMemory” is a word she coined, meaning “performance memory.” 

“In the book, I discuss it in relation to notions of identity belonging, historical trauma and spacetime,” Zami said. “So spatiality and temporality –– all of this is discussed within and outside of Western conventions.”

During the moderated discussion portion, George-Graves said she hopes to steer the conversations toward the ways in which the guest artists are working with concepts such as time and space, storytelling and history. 

In addition to a panel discussion, Zami said she would be reading an excerpt from her book and showing her short film, “Memory2Go.”

“What we’ll be showing is actually a trailer,” Zami said. “It kind of stands as a film in itself, but it’s a trailer for a longer film that’s basically a documentary that I’ve been producing alongside the research.”

Zami said she filmed and directed the documentary, even recording some of her own music for the soundtrack. She said it’s a great complement to her book and is in post-production with a release date to be decided.

Because the “Community Conversations” webinar is a partnership between Ohio State and the Pratt Institute, George-Graves and Zami said the audience will consist of both Ohio State and Pratt students along with some international viewers. 

“That will be interesting to think about how conversations are happening, both internally in the departments on campus, but also connected to another university,” George-Graves said. “It’s probably the kind of thing we would not have done before the pandemic.”

“Community Conversations” webinars are free and open to anyone who registers. The Tuesday webinar will stream on Zoom from 2:15-3:15 p.m. Registration and more information on Tuesday’s webinar can be found on the Department of Dance events page.