Assistant Professor, Dance/UTeach Dance
Bio
Sinclair Ogaga Emoghene is an Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. His research and creative practice investigate how African and African diaspora dances are archived, visualized and contextualized across history, geography and technology.
His current project, Global Movement Research (2022–present), advances his Atomic Confluences Framework (ACF) and a nine-step process of Dance Replication (DR) to analyze how embodied knowledge is transmitted, transformed and dispersed across discrete geographical locations. Integrating motion capture with emerging AI tools, his work activates a dual commitment: building a motion archive that preserves embodied practices and a thinking archive that reimagines how dance knowledge can be interpreted, visualized, and shared. This research also foregrounds the ethical responsibilities of archiving and contextualizing African and diaspora dances, engaging archival materials at the U.S. Library of Congress and the Association for Cultural Equity.
He is also producing The Ten Poem Project, a multimedia installation integrating film, poetry and performance, and serves on the editorial team for the forthcoming volume Shaping Southern Shifts: Provocations in/through Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies (ESI Press, 2026). He is co-author of Dancing in the World: Revealing Cultural Confluences (Routledge, 2023), which proposes new frameworks for understanding how dance circulates and transforms across borders. He serves as a curator on the international dance film platform DanceFilmmaking.com
As a choreographer and performer, his works have been presented internationally, including at the Kennedy Center, the Clarice Performing Arts Center, the Anderson Gallery and for Nollywood audiences in Nigeria. His portfolio spans live performance, film, installation and digital performance, reflecting a commitment to both artistic experimentation and cultural storytelling.
Before joining The University of Texas at Austin, he taught at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park. His teaching and mentorship emphasize embodied research, cultural histories and innovative methodologies that connect students to global dance practices.
Areas of Expertise
African Dance and Contemporary African Dance (Nigeria); Dance Replication and methodologies of embodied knowledge transmission; Technology and Archiving of dance;
Dance Film curation, criticism, and creative ideation; Dance History with an emphasis on Global Dances; Social and popular dancing across Africa and the Americas
Classes
Choreography and Composition, Dance History & Global Dance Studies, West African Dance and Social Dance (Latin, Ballroom, Country).
Publications
Emoghene, Sinclair and Spanos, Kathleen Ph.D. - Dancing in the World: Revealing Cultural Confluences (Routledge - Taylor and Francis, 2023)
Editorial Team. Shaping Southern Shifts: Provocations in/through Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies. (ESI Press, South Africa, 2026)
Recent Work
Ongoing Research and Creative Projects
Global Movement Research (2022–present): Explores how dance circulates across human societies through processes of replication, dispersal, and cultural pollination.
The Ten Poem Project (2024–present): A multimedia dance installation that integrates film, poetry, and performance to explore migration, identity, and embodied memory.
Performances
I’ll Take My Chances - The Royal Arts Academy, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria (2011)
Nyam Chiem (Nightmare) - The Clarice Performing Arts Center, Maryland (2015)
Rooted on a Moving Spot (ROAMS) - The Arts and Sociology Metal Shop, University of Maryland, College Park (2016)
Kaleidoscope of Tuts - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. (2020)
Therapy - Short Film, Online Premiere (2021)
Facets of Esoteric: Part 1 - The REACH, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. (2019). Part 2 - The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, Virginia (2021)
Sinclair Ogaga Emoghene is an Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. His research and creative practice investigate how African and African diaspora dances are archived, visualized and contextualized across history, geography and technology.
His current project, Global Movement Research (2022–present), advances his Atomic Confluences Framework (ACF) and a nine-step process of Dance Replication (DR) to analyze how embodied knowledge is transmitted, transformed and dispersed across discrete geographical locations. Integrating motion capture with emerging AI tools, his work activates a dual commitment: building a motion archive that preserves embodied practices and a thinking archive that reimagines how dance knowledge can be interpreted, visualized, and shared. This research also foregrounds the ethical responsibilities of archiving and contextualizing African and diaspora dances, engaging archival materials at the U.S. Library of Congress and the Association for Cultural Equity.
He is also producing The Ten Poem Project, a multimedia installation integrating film, poetry and performance, and serves on the editorial team for the forthcoming volume Shaping Southern Shifts: Provocations in/through Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies (ESI Press, 2026). He is co-author of Dancing in the World: Revealing Cultural Confluences (Routledge, 2023), which proposes new frameworks for understanding how dance circulates and transforms across borders. He serves as a curator on the international dance film platform DanceFilmmaking.com
As a choreographer and performer, his works have been presented internationally, including at the Kennedy Center, the Clarice Performing Arts Center, the Anderson Gallery and for Nollywood audiences in Nigeria. His portfolio spans live performance, film, installation and digital performance, reflecting a commitment to both artistic experimentation and cultural storytelling.
Before joining The University of Texas at Austin, he taught at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park. His teaching and mentorship emphasize embodied research, cultural histories and innovative methodologies that connect students to global dance practices.
African Dance and Contemporary African Dance (Nigeria); Dance Replication and methodologies of embodied knowledge transmission; Technology and Archiving of dance;
Dance Film curation, criticism, and creative ideation; Dance History with an emphasis on Global Dances; Social and popular dancing across Africa and the Americas
Choreography and Composition, Dance History & Global Dance Studies, West African Dance and Social Dance (Latin, Ballroom, Country).
Emoghene, Sinclair and Spanos, Kathleen Ph.D. - Dancing in the World: Revealing Cultural Confluences (Routledge - Taylor and Francis, 2023)
Editorial Team. Shaping Southern Shifts: Provocations in/through Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies. (ESI Press, South Africa, 2026)
Ongoing Research and Creative Projects
Global Movement Research (2022–present): Explores how dance circulates across human societies through processes of replication, dispersal, and cultural pollination.
The Ten Poem Project (2024–present): A multimedia dance installation that integrates film, poetry, and performance to explore migration, identity, and embodied memory.
Performances
I’ll Take My Chances - The Royal Arts Academy, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria (2011)
Nyam Chiem (Nightmare) - The Clarice Performing Arts Center, Maryland (2015)
Rooted on a Moving Spot (ROAMS) - The Arts and Sociology Metal Shop, University of Maryland, College Park (2016)
Kaleidoscope of Tuts - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. (2020)
Therapy - Short Film, Online Premiere (2021)
Facets of Esoteric: Part 1 - The REACH, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. (2019). Part 2 - The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, Virginia (2021)