2015 Social Dances: Jazz to Hip-Hop Program Director
See Current Faculty list of rotating Program
E. Moncell Durden is a dancer, ethnographer, choreographer, educator, documentarian, program developer, practitioner, author, and lecturer. Specializing in the pedagogical practices of African American social dance formations from the late 1800s to present day hip-hop, Durden is well respected nationally and internationally in both hip-hop and academic communities. Durden has danced, toured, and choreographed as a member of Mop Top Music & Movement, a pioneering hip-hop company based in Brooklyn, and Rennie Harris Puremovement, a hip-hop dance-theater company. Durden teaches at the Yale School of Drama, Wesleyan University, and Bennington College. An active member of National Dance Education Organization, Congress on Research in Dance, Society of Dance History Scholars, and International Dance Council CID, Durden has presented papers on the continuum of authentic jazz dance in hip-hop and is a contributing author to the newly published book Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches.