Dr. Cheryl Pallant

Cheryl Pallant, Ph.D., has enjoyed dance since her undergraduate days when she studied with Steve Paxton, Kei Takei, Carmen Beuchat, and Nancy Stark Smith. Her specialties include contact improvisation, movement improvisation, Argentine tango, contemplative movement, somatics, meditation, Zouk, performance art, and poetry She authored more than a dozen books including Contact Improvisation: an Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form; Writing and the Body in Motion: Awakening Voice through Somatic Practice; and Ecosomatics: Embodiment Practices for a World in Search of Healing. Her journal articles are published in Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices; Dance, Movement and Spiritualities, and elsewhere. She was dance and performance critic for High Performance and Style Weekly and was advisor for the film, An Intimate Dance. She has published several poetry books and over 200 articles, stories, and poems in the U.S, England, and elsewhere. She performs solo and ensemble work with the dance theater group Song-ah. She received the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts, two NEH awards (in partnership with Richmond Arts Council) and was Finalist for the Bechtel Award. She has taught at University of Tulsa, Keimyung University (in Korea), Ottawa University, and Virginia Commonwealth University, and leads workshops worldwide. Her website is cherylpallant.com.