James Moreno is a choreographer and dance studies scholar who uses performance as a way to investigate the ways people use their bodies to create meaning, develop communities, and respond to social systems.

Moreno’s current project, The Pocho Project explores how immigration, assimilation, and cultural “gatekeeping” are embedded in the ways we move, talk, and write. (“Pocho” is a term that has traditionally been used to refer to someone as a “cultural traitor,” often an assimilated Mexican-American.)

His previous choreographic project human, next, a collaboration with video artist Benjamin Rosenthal, was shown in New York City in 2014 and Chicago in 2016. The video adaptation of human, next has been presented in video/film festivals in Athens, Greece, Weimar, Germany, Holon, Israel, New York City, and Venice, Italy.

His manuscript, The Dances of José Limon and Erick Hawkins is under contract with Routledge. Moreno holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Kansas.

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