Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor Harmony Bench received her PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA, and she also holds degrees in Performance Studies (MA) from NYU and in Ballet (BFA ) and Women’s Studies (BA) from the University of Utah. She has organized and presented at conferences nationally and internationally, including Dance Under Construction, Society of Dance History Scholars, Congress on Research in Dance, and Performance Studies International. Her publications appear in Forum Modernes Theater, The International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, and Extensions: The Online Journal for Embodiment and Technology. She is currently on the editorial board of the newly created Screendance Journal, which aims to foster sustained intellectual discourse around issues of dance created for screen media. Harmony’s research interests include histories and theories of corporeality, digital media and its consequences for bodily experiences in general and dance practices in particular, and critical theories of dance and performance. Her current research projects include mobile and social media as sites for choreographic inquiry and analysis, including the impact of communications technologies on movement patterns and gestures, and the possibilities for site-specific performance in everyday technologized spaces.