English Alumn Hilary Bergen publishes Dance Anima

Thu. Aug. 6, 2026

Dr. Hilary Bergen (UW BA Hon. 2013, PhD Concordia University) has published her first book with Oxford University Press, Dance Anima: Techniques of Vitality. This book is the product of many years of research and writing, both in Dr. Bergen’s PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities at Concordia and in her Post-Doctoral fellowship at The New School in New York (under the supervision of Deborah Levitt).

From the publisher’s website:

• Proposes a new history and theory of dance that de-hierarchizes the human as the primary agent in dance-making
• Foregrounds race as a primary concern in academic discourse about technologized dance
• Utilizes an interdisciplinary methodology that weaves together case studies from cinema, literature, animation, scientific motion studies, robotics and image-based social media