Nicole A. Cox is a doctoral candidate in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the perceptual and communicative elements of human movement and the intersection between art and politics. She has studied the classical Indian dance form Kathak since 2009 and continues to study dancing and its international reach. Cox is currently conducting her dissertation field research on participant experiences in India's international cultural relations programs.

Adrienne L. Kaeppler is curator of oceanic ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Her degrees in anthropology are from the University of Hawaiʻi. Her research focuses on social structure and the arts, including music, dance, poetry, and the visual arts of Oceania. She has published widely on these subjects; her books on dance include Hula Pahu Hawaiian Drum Dances, Sacred Movements (1992); Poetry in Motion: Studies of Tongan Dance (1993), and Lakalaka: A Tongan Masterpiece of Performing Arts (2012). Recent articles include "Two Tongan Dance Forms in Modern Contexts" in Dance, Senses, Urban Contexts (2017) and "Tongan Brass Bands: An Expanding Tradition" in a special issue on Pacific Brass Bands for the World of Music (in press).

Ben Krupp is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology, studying with Dr. Jessica Greenberg at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is interested in the politics of recreational sports in Russia and the United States. His dissertation project investigates Niké corporate tactics in Moscow and their relationship to state infrastructures of wellness and citizenship.