Alexandra Kolb joined the School of Media and Performing Arts in 2012. Before coming to Middlesex, she was Senior Lecturer and Chair of Dance Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Previously she worked in academic publishing and as coordinator of academic studies at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. Alexandra trained professionally in dance in Dusseldorf and at John Neumeier's Academy of the Hamburg Ballet, and is still actively involved in a range of dance styles, including ballet, contemporary dance, and a number of social dance forms.

MA (first class), University of Cologne, 1999.

M Phil (distinction), St John's College, University of Cambridge, 2000.

Ph.D., St John's College, University of Cambridge, 2004.

Alexandra Kolb's research interests are in connections between dance, politics and gender in modern and contemporary works. Her research is interdisciplinary and often considers the intersection between dance and other art forms, such as literature and theatre. She is the author of Performing Femininity: Dance and Literature in German Modernism (2009) and the editor of Dance and Politics (2011).

Selected publications

Books

Kolb, A. (ed.) 2011. Dance and Politics. Oxford: Peter Lang.

See further information at http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=50568&cid=448

Kolb, A. 2009. Performing Femininity. Dance and Literature in German Modernism. Oxford: Peter Lang.

See further information at http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?vID=11351&vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=2&vUUR=3

Journal Special Issue

Kolb, A. (editor) 2011. Brolga: An Australian Journal about Dance. Special issue on dance and interdisciplinarity 35/2, December.

Journal Articles

Kolb, A. 2013. The Migration and Globalisation of Schuhplattler Dance: A Sociological Analysis. Cultural Sociology 7/1, pp. 39-55.

Kolb, A. & Kalogeropoulou, S. 2012. In Defence of Ballet: Women, Agency and the Philosophy of Pleasure. Dance Research 30/2, pp. 107-125.

Briggs, H., & Kolb, A. & Miyahara, M. 2012. Able as Anything. Integrated Dance Performance in New Zealand. Brolga: An Australian Journal about Dance 37, available online at http://ausdance.org.au/publications/details/brolga-37

Kolb, A. 2012. Overt and Covert Politics in Contemporary Choreography. Jahrbuch Tanzforschung 22, pp. 34-44.

Kolb, A. 2011. On the Politics of Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Brolga: An Australian Journal about Dance 35/2, pp. 27-36.

Kolb, A. 2010. Dying for the Cause. Choreographing the Myths of Ulrike Meinhof and Wolfgang Grams. The International Journal of the Arts in Society 5/3, pp. 275-284.

Kolb, A. 2009. Theatricalising Terrorism. Johann Kresnik’s Ulrike Meinhof and the Red Army Faction. About Performance 9, pp. 127-148.

Kolb, A. 2009. Mata Hari's Dance in the Context of Femininity and Exoticism (in English and Portuguese). Mandrágora 15, pp. 58-67 (English text), pp. 68-79 (Portuguese translation).

Kolb, A. 2009. Nijinsky's Images of Homosexuality: Three Case Studies. Journal of European Studies 39/2, pp. 147-171.

Kolb, A. 2008. "The never-ending trembling and vomiting of the soul". Carl Sternheim's Critique of the Modern Dance Movement, Discourses in Dance 4/2, pp. 59-71.

Kolb, A. 2007: "So watt war noch nie da!!!" Valeska Gert's Performances in the Context of Weimar Culture, The European Legacy 12/3, pp. 293-309.

Kolb, A. 2006: Dance and Political Conflict: Three Comparative Case Studies, The International Journal of the Arts in Society 1/2, pp. 17-21.

Kolb, A. 2002. Tanzkultur paradox. Carl Sternheim's 'Die Schule von Uznach' (1926) im Kontext des zeitgenössischen Tanzdiskurses (The Paradox of Modern Dance Culture. Carl Sternheim's 'Die Schule von Uznach', 1926), Jahrbuch Tanzforschung 12 (Annals of Dance Research), pp. 203-215.

Book Chapters

Kolb, A. 2011. Terror Without End? Choreographing the Red Army Faction and Weather Underground. In: A. Kolb (ed.) Dance and Politics. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 89-115.

Kolb, A. 2011. Cross-Currents of Dance and Politics: An Introduction. In: A. Kolb (ed.) Dance and Politics. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 1-35.

Kresnik, J. and A. Kolb 2011. “Theatre has to become political again….”: Interview with Johann Kresnik. In: Dance and Politics. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 67-87.

Kolb, A. 2008. Goodbye GDR! German Reunification in Johann Kresnik's Wendewut. In: D. Varney (ed.) Theatre in the Berlin Republic. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 267-285.

Subject entries in reference works

Kolb, A. (forthcoming 2014). "Ausdruckstanz", "Hexentanz", "Mary Wigman" and "Schuhplattler". In: A. Hartmann & M. Woitas (eds.) Tanzlexikon. Laaber-Verlag.

Kolb, A. (forthcoming). "Grete Wiesenthal". In: S. Manning (dance editor) / Stephen Ross (general editor) Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism.

Conference Proceedings

Kolb, A. 2011. Contemporary Dance and the Politics of Form. Proceedings of the SDHS conference 2011, pp. 85-92.

Kolb, A. 2009. Spatial Interaction – Italian Futurism and Bauhaus. Dancing across the Divides of Art and Technology. Proceedings of the SEAM Symposium 2009 Spatial Phrases, pp. 111-121.

Kolb, A. 2009. Mata Hari’s Images of Femininity. Proceedings of the CORD Conference on Global Feminisms, 2008.

Kolb, A. 2008. The Globalisation of Schuhplattler. CORD Conference Proceedings 2007, pp. 137-143.

Creative Works and Miscellaneous Commissioned Articles

One Day in ’44, ch: Alexandra Kolb. October 8 & 9. Allen Hall Theatre, Dunedin, 2010.

Balanchinade, ch: Alexandra Kolb. October 8 & 9. Allen Hall Theatre, Dunedin, 2010.

Kolb, A. 2010. Double dance mania at the University of Otago: Symposium on Dancing Across the Disciplines, 28-30 June 2010 & National Tertiary Dance Festival, 30 June-3 July 2010. Danz Quarterly 21, pp. 14-15.

Kolb, A. 2009. On the Death of Pina Bausch. Danz Quarterly 17, p. 28.