British-Uzbek Society is delighted to hold the talk on ‘Women’s Dance Traditions of Uzbekistan: Legacy of the Silk Road’ by Dr Laurel Victoria Gray in collaboration with the SOAS Centre for Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus and Orzu Arts Theatre.
Date: 10th October 2024
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Venue: SOAS University, Russell Square: College Buildings, Room RB01
‘Women’s Dance Traditions of Uzbekistan: Legacy of the Silk Road’ has been heralded as “the first comprehensive work in English on the three major regional styles of Uzbek women’s dance – Ferghana, Khiva and Bukhara – and their broader Silk Road cultural connections, from folklore roots to contemporary stage dance. The book surveys the remarkable development from the earliest manifestations in ancient civilizations to a sequestered existence under Islam, from patronage under Soviet power to a place of pride for Uzbek nationhood.
About the speaker
Scholar and choreographer, Laurel Victoria Gray teaches Global Dance History at George Washington University. Recent publications include Women’s Dance Traditions of Uzbekistan: Legacy of the Silk Road (Bloomsbury 2024); “Silk Road: Commerce, Conquest, and College” in Milestones of Dance History (Routledge 2022); “Tamara Khanum and Mukarram Turgunbaeva: Pioneers of Uzbek Stage Dance” in the Anthology of Central Asian Women (forthcoming). Honors include Uzbekistan’s Xalqlar Do’stligi Medal (2021), Fulbright’s International Dance Scholar Lecture (2009), and the Kennedy Center’s Local Dance Commissioning Project award (2003).
In 1995, she founded the award-winning Silk Road Dance Company which has performed in Uzbekistan, Qatar, Singapore, London, and Toronto, and at the first White House Nowruz celebration. Gray studied history at Occidental College (B.A.), the University of Waterloo (M.A), and the University of Washington (Doctoral Candidate) and, in 2009, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Uzbekistan State Institute of Art and Culture.
For details and registration, please follow the link.