Based at New York University, the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics is a rather unique consortium of various institutions, artists, scholars, and activists dedicated “to exploring the relationship between expressive behavior and social and political life in the Americas”. Equally interesting is the Institute’s desire to move beyond a number of traditional disciplinary boundaries, such as “dance” and “theater”. With funding from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Institute has created this very helpful site, which contains archived performances, and other materials, such as images, audio interviews, course syllabi, and bibliographies. The archived interviews and performances are quite worthwhile, and they include discussions on “What is performance studies?” with various NYU professors and short performances by Anna Deavere Smith. Finally, it should be noted that many of the materials on the site are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
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