Artist Bio
Azaria Hogans is a dancer, choreographer, artist scholar, and educator. She holds a M.F.A. in dance from Texas Woman’s University where she expanded her research of dance as a means of social change with an emphasis on black modern dance. Azaria received her B.A. in Spanish with minors in both dance and creative arts therapy (dance) at Georgia College. As the dance Artist-In-Resident at Missouri State University, Azaria teaches contemporary, jazz, contact improvisation, alternative formats, dance history, composition, dance appreciation, and West African dance forms. She has presented and performed works both nationally and internationally including Symposium on Performance of the African Diaspora as Social Change Conference, American College Dance Association (South-Central, South-East, and Central) conferences, World Dance Alliance Puebla, Mexico, Women in Dance Leadership Conference, UNT’s Gospel Meets Jazz, Sant’Agata Central Plaza, Sant’Agata, Italy, to name a few. In her passion for education, she has brought the art of dance to local schools including Putnam High school in Putnam, Georgia and Lee Elementary School in Denton, Texas through community outreach programs and residencies. In 2019, Azaria published two articles, one in the Dance Education in Practice (DEip) journal and the other in the Journal of Dance Education (JODE).
Curriculum Vitae
Choreography, Performance, Scholarship, Education
August 2018 - Current
Artist in Residence
As the Artist-In-Residence at Missouri State University, I teach jazz, all levels of contemporary, West African dance forms, dance history, dance appreciation, contact improvisation, composition, alternative formats, and mentorship of student projects.
June 2012 - Current
Dance Instructor/Camp Faculty
Durning the summers I can usually be found teaching camps. 2019- Missouri Fine Arts Academy, 2018- Greater Denton Arts Council Summer Camp, 2015-2016 Briar Patch Summer Camp Broadway, etc.
June 2019 - Current
Publications
My article "Tips for Success in Navigating a Master's Degree in Dance" was published in the Dance Education in Practice Journal. My latest co-written article "Teaching Communal Dance Forms: Expanding Student Perspective and Assisting Dance Educators in the 21st Century" was published the Journal of Dance Education in Practice in September 2019.
August 2015 - Current
Presentations
I have presented at the TWU Creative Arts and Research Symposium, TWU Learn by Doing Showcase, World Dance Alliance-Americas Conference, Symposium on Performance of the African Diaspora as Social Change Conference, Georgia College, Women's Symposium, and the Conference on the Americas.
June 2012 - May 2014
Choreography
"Sensorship"-(Hogans/Nygaard) DanceMakers, Women in Dance Conference
"Piel de la Naturaleza"- (Dance Film) TWU Creative Arts and Research, Mobi Mini Fest- 92Y Harkness Dance Center
"Greenhouse"- Brave Arts Dance Festival, Denton Black Film Festival, Dance Upclose Concert, Sightlines Dance Concert
"More than Time Stolen"- African Diaspora as Social Change Symposium, ADCA 2016, Denton Black Film Festival, DanceMarkers Concerting, Dancedor's Lose Yourself to Dance Video Contest Top Ten Finalist
August 2008 - Current
Performance
"Sensorship"- (Hogans/Nygaard)DanceMakers, Women in Dance Conference 2019
"Society"-(Jessica Murphy) Brave Arts Dance Festival, Dance Upclose Concert, ACDA 2017, DanceMakers
"Departure"- (Yeajean Choi) Collin College Dance Fusion
"Infinite X"- (George Staib) Sant'Agata Central Plaza Italy
For more information about this artist’s professional experience and full CV, click Get in Touch.
Artist Statement
As a choreographer focused in social awareness, I work to reach beyond the dance stage and also into communities and systems of learning. Dance is a vital art form that births meaningful discussion and later ignites social, political, and economic change. I create works that embody and express pressing issues such as gender and racial equity through modern contemporary, post modern, and African diasporic modern styles.
Publications
Research & Writing
Journal of Dance Education in Practice
Tips for Success in Navigating a Master's Degree in Dance
In this article, I offer fourteen navigation tips on how to prepare for, traverse, and be successful in a master's program in dance. These navigation tips range from the social (getting outside of the dance department) to the practical (avoiding procrastination). I address the whole student including personal life, academic life, and professional life in seeking to ease the transition into graduate dance studies and navigate the next two to three years of school. The fourteen tips emerged from my personal experience and frequently asked questions.
Journal of Dance Education
Teaching Communal Dance Forms
This study aims to provide practical methods for teaching “world/urban” dance courses in higher education in the 21st century. We discuss problematic terminology in our courses and suggest a new term to better reference these dance forms. Eight methods are discussed for assisting teachers and expanding student perspectives in “world/urban” dance classrooms. The authors, Chang, MFA and Hogans, MFA, analyzed their experience teaching Hip Hop dance and West African dance forms at TWU to identify similarities between the forms in both content and pedagogy, as well as the ways in which the two differ from teaching traditional concert forms such as ballet and modern. Through this investigation, we seek to contribute to current dance conversations in higher education such as shifting perspectives on “world/urban” dance terminology, connecting Nyama McCarthy-Brown’s “Cross Cultural Classroom,” and applying the National Dance Education Organization’s “Dance 2050: The Vision of Dance in Higher Education.”