Dance scholar and artist “moving minds, moving bodies and moving souls” to advance transformational social change and policies.
Mark Broomfield (PhD, MFA), Associate Professor of English and Founding Director of Performance as Social Change at SUNY Geneseo, is an award-winning scholar and artist with numerous publications in the areas of race, gender, sexuality, dance performance and ethnography. Broomfield has performed nationally and internationally, and danced with the repertory company Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, performing in leading works by some of the most diverse and recognized African American choreographers in the American modern dance tradition. An innovative educator and facilitator, Broomfield has lectured, choreographed, and directed widely across the U.S.
His scholarship focuses on reimagining masculinity and embodied gender performance for transformational social change in the 21st century. His first book, Black Queer Dance: Gay Men and the Politics of Passing for Almost Straight, is forthcoming by Routledge; it examines the key role of black queer male dancers to understanding strategic gender performances on and offstage.
A groundbreaking exploration of black masculinity and sexual passing in dance, the book explores the political dimensions of “coming out” versus “doing out” in American culture of the 20th and 21st century. The book features the acclaimed dancer-choreographers Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden Co-Artistic Directors of Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Ronald K. Brown, Artistic Director of Evidence. Broomfield demonstrate how black queer, gender nonconforming and nonbinary men expose the illusions of gender performance.
His upcoming documentary Danced Out tells the story about professional black male ballet and contemporary dancers, in New York City, who are gay. The dancers reveal the unique function of gay men in society and their surprising insights on masculinity in our culture.
Among Broomfield’s awards and recognitions are the Institute for Citizens and Scholars Career Enhancement Fellowship (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation), the SUNY Faculty Diversity Award, the Ford Foundation Fellowship and is featured in the 2001 Emmy Award winning Ailey Camp "Chowdah" Production.
Check out the promotional video for my Performance as Social Change course. We are also on Instagram.
Classes
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ENGL 329: Lit: Black Masculinities
A critical study of a theme, movement, or special subject matter of some consequence in the cultural tradition of the United States. Representative offerings might include The Environmental Spirit, Women Writers and Social Reform, Film Heroes, The Puritan Legacy, and The Graphic Novel.
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PASC 105: Perform Social Change I - Lab
Performance as Social Change is a course designed to expose underrepresented students and those that have unequal access and opportunity to performance-based knowledge, skills, critical pedagogies, and mentoring. The course will produce an experimental performance. Centering embodiment, the goal of this authentic task will be to increase awareness and enhancement of multicultural competency for audiences and community members through the communicative powers of the performing arts. Throughout the course, students will be required to engage in academic study, research, movement and reflective practices. Central to this work will be a focus on the critical factors that can help facilitate social change through the voices of underrepresented and marginalized groups in our society. (Guest artist collaborations)
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PASC 105: Perform Social Change I - Lec
Performance as Social Change is a course designed to expose underrepresented students and those that have unequal access and opportunity to performance-based knowledge, skills, critical pedagogies, and mentoring. The course will produce an experimental performance. Centering embodiment, the goal of this authentic task will be to increase awareness and enhancement of multicultural competency for audiences and community members through the communicative powers of the performing arts. Throughout the course, students will be required to engage in academic study, research, movement and reflective practices. Central to this work will be a focus on the critical factors that can help facilitate social change through the voices of underrepresented and marginalized groups in our society. (Guest artist collaborations)
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PASC 106: Perform as Social Change I
A continuation of PASC 105, leading to a performance of a culminating project each spring semesters.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies, University of California, Riverside
M.F.A. in Dance, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Publications
“Danced Out: When Passing for Almost Straight Is Not Enough.” The International Journal of Screendance. Eds. Melissa Blanco Borelli and Rachel Monroe. 9 (June): 172-181, 2018.
“Branding Ailey: The Embodied Resistance of the Queer Black Male Dancing Body,” Oxford Handbooks Online. Music and Dance (Aug): 1-25, 2017.
“Passing Out.” Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies: Talking Black Dance Inside Out/Outside In. Society of Dance History Scholars. Eds. Thomas DeFrantz and Takiyah Nur Amin. Vol. 36 (Dec): 32-33, 2016.
Broomfield, Mark (2011): Policing Masculinity and Dance Reality Television: What Gender Nonconformity Can Teach Us in the Classroom, Journal of Dance Education, 11:4, 124-128.