EXPERIENCES AND DIALOGUES

CREATING CLASSES THAT MOVE

Teaching

Dr. J. Lorenzo Perillo’s critical pedagogy generates curious and active learners, connects the global within local environments, and cultivates a culture of belonging and innovation in the face of power differences in the performing arts. His experience as an interdisciplinary artist-scholar informs how he approaches performance not simply as creative expression, but also as social commentary, rhetorical strategy, and cultural survival for communities impacted by interlocking systems of oppression. In his curricular initiatives and advising, he invites his students to divest from colonial hierarchies of knowledge production and to embody, challenge, and remake abstract theories of social, economic, and historical forces.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON DANCE
This is an asynchronous online undergraduate survey of global perspectives on dance.  At the heart of this course is how dance embodies and is in dialogue with concepts of culture, myth, performance, and social bodies.  Modules featuring  media and text align with reading to provide a basic understanding of contemporary issues around movement practices and the global migration of dance genres.
DANCE AND PERFORMANCE THEORY: ASIA
This is a graduate seminar on dance and performance theory centered on Asia and Asian diasporas. The course is structured around two parts: 1) a mutually agreed upon survey of the most relevant Asian dance and performance sources 2) an introduction to the complex world of academic publishing and is designed to give writers in a variety of disciplines including Asian Dance and Performance Studies practical experience in getting a work related to Asian dance and performance published in peer-reviewed journals
ADVANCED HIP-HOP
This is an undergraduate course that explores Hip-hop dance with a special attention to comparing and contrasting Native Hawaiian and Asian and/or Pacific Islander indigenous identity, cultures, and histories.
DANCE RESEARCH METHODS
This course focuses on research methods that prepare graduate students for thesis research and scholarly publication. The curriculum is designed to identify and define historical, ethnographic, choreographic, and other approaches to academic research and writing, and develop awareness of differing modes of inquiry, metrics for impact, and contemporary trends within the field.
DANCE KINESIOLOGY
This course presents the basic anatomy and kinesiology of the key body joints of the spine, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, and foot. The fundamental bony structure, muscles, and ligaments of these joints are discussed as they relate to movement capacity, mechanics, and injury risk. This basic knowledge of these joints is combined with movement analysis to help you better understand alignment and selected dance vocabulary. The class facilitates practical information for dance students on anatomy and kinesiology for a common language, training, and injury prevention.
CRITICAL RACE AND INDIGENOUS APPROACHES TO DANCE
This graduate seminar surveys major theories and practices at the intersection of dance, critical race theory, indigeneity, and social change. Throughout the course students engage in interdisciplinary, intersectional activities centering the dancing body and its role in contemporary social justice and transformation.
GLOBAL HIP-HOP, INDIGENEITY, AND RACE
This intermediate-level course explores Hip-hop dance with a special attention to indigeneity, anti-indigeneity, race, and racism. This course provides students with several perspectives of theoretical approaches and disciplines and the first half of the course is organized around significant fields of Hip-hop knowledge and structured in weekly lessons including but not limited to dance, preservation, critical race studies, women of color feminism, queer studies, and competition.
CULTURE, COLONIALISM, AND EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
This faculty-supervised independent study explores through reading and research the contemporary field of Philippine and Filipino Studies in broader Southeast Asian and Asian Studies contexts. Attending to the various ways in which current research both in the country and in the diaspora imagine the Philippines, this course will examine the recent state of the field informed and influenced by the issues relating to globalization, migration, and empire.
ASIAN AMERICAN GENDER AND SEXUAL DIVERSITY
This course is a mixed-level cross-disciplinary examination of issues related to gender and sexuality among Asian Americans, with critical attention paid to diverse experiences across various social, economic, and political contexts, including a special attention to art, activism, digital media, and environmental justice.
INTRODUCTION TO FILIPINO AMERICAN STUDIES
This core undergraduate general education course explores the historical and contemporary experiences of Filipinos in the U.S. and beyond, focusing mainly on race, ethnicity, gender, class, culture, and globalization. Using a cultural studies approach we will discuss how Filipino American experiences are informed by a unique set of historical circumstances, dynamics, and frameworks: Western colonialism, nationalism, immigration, neoliberalism, cultural production, labor movements, political mobilization, and identity-making.
HIP-HOP DANCE AND ASIAN AMERICAN CULTURAL POLITICS
This introductory course surveys the particular topic — Hip-Hop — with a special attention to dance and practitioners of Asian descent. This course introduces critical thinking, critical viewing, and research writing as ways of knowing Hip-Hop dance through written texts, recorded music and dance performances of various settings in Asia and the Diaspora.
INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES
This course provides students with a survey of major concepts, methods, and debates in the study of Asian American studies. Asian America will be considered broadly in social, political, historical, technological, and theoretical terms. This is a core course of the Global Asian Studies program and introduces critical thinking, critical viewing, and analytical writing as “ways of knowing” Asian America.

Teaching Awards and Certificates

TRP AWARD
Tahiti Mana workshop
ANNO

  • Provost Strategic Investment Initiative for ‘Ahahui Noi‘i No‘eau ‘Ōiwi – Research Institute of Indigenous Performance (ANNO), with Dr. Hailiʻōpua Baker and Prof. Maile Speetjens (2022-24)

    This award was granted to establish the University of Hawaiʻi as a hub of Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance, stimulating scholarship in Hawai‘i and the global Indigenous community that highlights the artistic practices of aboriginal peoples. With local and national community partners, ANNO will produce curriculum, academic publications, and visual media to document and promote the field of Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance.

  • Certificate in Effective College Instruction (2022)

    This certificate is for demonstrated comprehensive knowledge and skills that constitute the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) Effective Practice Framework, The Association of College and University Educators and the American Council on Education

  • Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity (SEED) IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Success) Award (2022)

    This award was granted to establish a “Moananuiākea Artist-in-Residency" at the University of Hawaiʻi and provide space, time, and resources for experts, Tahiti Mana, to share their knowledge, skills, and networks with UH. In Spring 2022, Theatre and Dance hosted a two-week series of workshops and talkstory to address the educational diversity gap in providing embodied knowledge for the people of Moananuiakea.

  • The Edward A. “Skeep” Langhans Enhancement of the Student Experience Award, University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa (2021-22)

    This departmental award was for organizing a “Professional Development Workshop Series,” which included workshops on academic writing, publishing, teaching, and community service for graduate students of Theatre and Dance.

  • Teaching Recognition Program (TRP) Award (2018-19)

    The TRP is UIC’s only campus-wide, faculty-administered teaching award program. It recognizes the teaching excellence of faculty at any of UIC’s teaching sites by The Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois, Chicago.

  • HEROES Award, Filipinos in Alliance, FIA Modern, University of Illinois, Chicago (2018-19)

    This award was given by the student organization and its leaders for being "an integral part of FIA Modernʻs success at the University of Illinois".

  • HEROES Award, Theta Lambda Beta Fraternity, Incorporated, University of Illinois, Chicago (2018-19)

    This award was given by the student organization and its leaders for being "an integral part of Theta Lambda Beta Fraternity, Incorporatedʻs success at the University of Illinois".

  • Honoring Our Professors’ Excellence (HOPE) Award, Campus Housing, University of Illinois, Chicago (2016-17)

    This award, presented by Campus Housing, is given based off of student nominations “to recognize faculty who have made a lasting impact on the lives of Housing residents.”

All in all, Dr. Perillo is fully at ease while teaching and his students give the impression that they are very comfortable and at ease with each other and with Dr. Perillo. I strongly believe this sense of community I observe is a result of the welcoming and supportive classroom environment that Dr. Perillo has created since the beginning of this semester.
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Dr. Daniella Bottjer-WilsonCenter for Teaching Excellence, UHM
Through media such as historical narratives, documentary film, food culture, poetry, comedy, and others, Dr. Perillo provided us with multiple methods in understanding the complexities of Filipino American culture. He taught us about struggles of Filipinos in America and how race and racism affects our identity. Before this course, I had never reflected on my identity this deeply and never knew about the history of my people to this extent. Dr. Perillo's teachings in this specific class have been the motivation behind the work I continue to do in the community even after graduating.
Edward
EdwardGlobal Asian Studies minor, UIC graduate
Dr. Perillo turned an intimidating subject into something far more enjoyable and creative than I expected. I gained deeper understanding of my body as a dancer because I wasn't forced to focus all of my energy into rote memorization.
University of Hawaii at Manoa official seal
UHM Undergraduate Student in Dance Kinesiology
This was my favorite class this semester! The readings, screenings, and topics discussed in class were very interesting, current, and helped me to view life with a broader perspective.
University of Hawaii at Manoa official seal
UHM Graduate Student in Critical Race and Indigenous Approaches to Dance
Professor Perillo’s courses and pedagogical style have both breadth and depth, emphasizing engaged learning and the development of critical thinking skills, in addition to implementing creative pedagogical techniques.
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Dr. Anna GuevarraDirector, Global Asian Studies, UIC
Dr. Perillo has clearly established an atmosphere in the class where students feel free sharing differing views. The students obviously feel a sense of ownership of discussion, and Dr. Perillo also effectively guided/intervened to help the students focus on various theoretical and critical issues relevant to dance and cultural analysis.
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Prof. J. Ellen GainorCornell University