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Contributors

Gary J. Larsen is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer specializing in "world" and percussive dance forms. He received a Master's degree in dance from UCLA and is currently working on a PhD dissertation in dance ethnography at the University of Limerick in Ireland. His performing experience has taken him to dozens of countries as both group member and soloist. He has taught and created choreography for groups and schools throughout the United States and in numerous other countries. His research interests are in the areas of percussive dance, historical and traditional movement practices, and issues of culture, authenticity, and identity. He is an assistant professor of dance at Brigham Young University-Idaho, where he teaches "world dance," clogging, tap and dance history, along with directing and creating choreography for the performing ensembles.

Frank J. Tortorello Jr. is employed by Professional Solutions LLC, as a researcher for the USMC (United States Marine Corps) Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning. He received his doctoral degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010. Dr. Tortorello's research focuses on the relationship between biology and culture, with an ethnographic focus on the generation of sociocultural values in the United States military, especially the Marine Corps. His field studies included participant observation with active-duty Marines in the Instructor-Trainer course of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) at Quantico, Virginia. Dr. Tortorello has collected over sixty formal and informal interviews with about 100 active-duty and retired military personnel from all service branches, with and without combat experience, ranging from World War II to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. His current research projects include identifying general cultural concepts for use in Marine Corps training in support of global deployments; studying the relationship between sociocultural values and combat and operational stress control; and assessing the impact of cultural training on Marine Corps operations. Dr. Tortorello obtained his Master's degree in American history from the University of Pennsylvania, with a focus on the American Civil War, and his Bachelor's degree in philosophy from Georgetown University, with a concentration in ethics. He also possesses an extensive professional background in leadership, having led multifunctional teams at a variety of business and higher-education institutions, ranging from Merrill Lynch to Georgetown University.

Drid Williams has conducted fieldwork in England, the U.S., Australia, and Kenya. She has taught anthropology of the dance and human-movement studies in all four countries. Dr. Williams holds a DPhil in social anthropology from St. Hugh's College, Oxford. Recent articles include "Visual Anthropology and Language," Visual Anthropology (2009), and the entry 'Dance' in The New Encyclopedia of Africa (eds. J. Middleton and J. C. Calder, 2007). A book etitled Teaching Dancing with Ideokinetic Principles is in press at University of Illinois Press. She is the founder and senior editor of JASHM.

 

 
 
 
 

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