FACULTY UPDATES
FAREWELL DOUG CORBIN
WELCOME IRVIN GONZALEZ The School of Dance welcomes to the Faculty, Dr. Irvin Gonzalez. We are so excited to have Irvin join us and we look forward to the richness of knowledge he will add to the course offerings. Irvin Manuel Gonzalez, Ph.D. (he/him/his) is a recent graduate of the University of California, Riverside in the Critical Dance Studies Program. His research analyzes quebradita, a Mexican/Mexican American social dance form. Gonzalez considers how immigrant, queer, and working-class quebradita dancers construct mexicanidades to navigate trans/national politics. He examines how affective affiliations between quebradores/as/ xs, on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, are embodied to forge belonging as strategy. In doing so, Gonzalez theorizes the body as an archive of movement that brown dancers use to resist xenophobia/homophobia and the instability of neoliberal economies. He is a founding member of Primera Generación Dance Collective (PGDC) and a board member for Show Box Los Angeles (SBLA) and the Dance Studies Association (DSA). As a dance artist, he revels in the potentials of collaborations. Gonzalez emphasizes how people connect to produce new aesthetics and affectivities, often looking to dismantle notions of the “solo artist” by highlighting how bodies are always already ancestrally-connected and linked to one another through emotions and experiences. Focusing on the investigation of ‘mexicanidades’ as a communal formation, his collective, PGDC, fuses their various trainings and dance knowledges (modern, postmodern, jazz, cumbia, quebradita, salsa, and contact improvisation) to develop ways of moving that speak to the concept/ualization of mestizaje. As such, PGDC highlights the plural desires that stem from different notions of brownness and brown belonging. 16 | F SU SCHOOL OF DANCE
Congratulations to Associate Professor Douglas Corbin on his retirement from the FSU School of Dance. Doug joined the SoD family in 1996 and has contributed in amazing ways not only as a musical accompanist to the ballet and contemporary classes but through an extensive list of course offerings helping our students understand the importance of musical theory and dance. Doug’s work with students on thesis concerts, capstone projects, special showings, and other creative works will surely be missed. Corbin is a dance musician specializing in music for training, acclaimed for his work with numerous teachers, companies and schools, including the Ailey School, David Howard, Steps, Twyla Tharpe, Merce Cunningham Company, American Ballet Theatre and the American Dance Festival. He has made dozens of recordings for technique class, and led workshops on music for dance throughout Europe, Asia and South America. He holds BA and MA degrees from Hunter College, City University of New York. Doug was offered and accepted a position in Oldenberg, Germany at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater with Ballettcompagnie Oldenburg. We wish you all the best in this next phase of your life. Continue to “Do it with Love.”
