Roble Rewind: A Look Back at Dance and Theater at Stanford

RSVP requested

5:30PM Panel | 7PM Performance

With the re-opening of Roble Gym this Fall, the Department of Theater & Performance Studiesreflects on the rich history of theater, dance, and performance at Stanford. In a conversation with TAPS Chair Branislav Jakovljevic, Professor Janice Ross and Professor Emeritus Bill Eddelman will trace the evolution of the performing arts in the heart of Silicon Valley. The evening will conclude with a Chocolate Heads Movement Bandperformance choreographed by Dance faculty member Aleta Hayes entitled Ghost Architecture of Roble.  

Janice Ross is a Professor in the Department of Theater & Performance Studies, where she teaches classes in dance studies and dance history. She is the author of four books, including Like a Bomb Going Off: Leonid Yakobson and Ballet as Resistance in Soviet Russia (Yale University Press, 2015) and San Francisco Ballet at 75 (Chronicle Books, 2007), and her articles on dance have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. She is past President of the International Society of Dance History Scholars, past President of the Dance Critics Association, and a former delegate to the American Council of Learned Societies.  

Bill Eddelman is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theater & Performance Studies and a set and costume designer and theater historian for more than forty years. During his teaching career at Stanford, Professor Eddelman taught classes in theater history, art history, musical theater, cultural history, theater aesthetics, costume and scenic design, dramatic literature, theater and politics, and the psychology of clothes. A specialist in international theatrical design, Professor Eddelman established the Theatrical Design Collection at the Museum of Performance and Design (MPD) in San Francisco. 

Branislav Jakovljevic is the Chair of the Department of Theater & Performance Studies. He publishes scholarly articles on a broad variety of topics, including the avant-garde (across disciplines—theater, literature, visual arts, music—and periods—European avant-gardes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, post-World War II avant-garde in Europe and America), theater history, dramaturgy, performance theory, and performance and law. He has been at Stanford since 2006.  

Aleta Hayes is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, performer, and teacher. In 2009, she founded the Chocolate Heads Movement Band at Stanford, which she still leads today. Prior to her teaching career, she lived and worked in NYC for fifteen years, choreographing solo and group dance works. Hayes holds an MFA in Dance and Choreography from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a BA in Drama, Dance and the Visual Arts from Stanford. 

This program is jointly presented by Stanford Historical Society and the Department of Theater & Performance Studies (TAPS) at Stanford University.