Wisdom Workshop

What does it mean to be wise? How does our personal wisdom impact our art? This four-part virtual workshop invites attendees to join in a discussion about the pursuit of wisdom in relation to artists, their art-making processes, and their training.

Speakers

Victor Fung author/music educator
Loren Davidson choreographer/dancer
Daniel Smith composer/pianist

Bios

Victor Fung is Professor of Music Education and Director of Center for Music Education Research at the University of South Florida. He has studied extensively in parts of Asia and was a Fulbright researcher in Japan (2018). He has given over a hundred presentations at professional conferences and offered open lectures and seminars at over thirty institutions across five continents. His books A Way of Music Education: Classic Chinese Wisdoms (2018) and Music for Life: Music Participation and Quality of Life of Senior Citizens (co-authored with Lisa Lehmberg, 2016) are published by Oxford University Press. His recent projects include Asian philosophies as applied to music education and contributions of senior citizens’ music participation to their quality of life. He is particularly interested in the wisdoms found in the Book of Changes (Yijing or I Ching), dated back to about 2900 BCE, and the philosophical schools of Confucianism and Daoism, established and solidified in the mid-3rd to mid-6th century BCE.

Loren Davidson is currently performing with Adele Myers and Dancers and Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, both based in Miami, FL. She is also a Pilates instructor and mentor at Polestar Pilates (Miami, FL) where she continues to develop creative healing rituals and movement curricula within a variety of modalities using the wisdom of each individual body and the stories it carries to create an invigorating movement experience. She has most recently taught Contemporary Dance and Cross-Training for Dancers at Florida State University and NOVA Southeastern University. She has taught for summer programs at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp, and The American Dance Festival. While in NYC, Loren performed with Ellis Wood Dance from 2003–2009. Loren received her MFA from Florida State University and her BFA from New World School of the Arts.

Daniel Smith, the Director of AST, is an acclaimed pianist and composer best known for his work with leading dance institutions, including Martha Graham Dance Company and Suzanne Farrell Ballet. He is a faculty member at Florida State University where he teaches cross-disciplinary courses that merge philosophy, science, and the arts.

Schedule

10:00–11:15 Eastern Philosophies of Wisdom, ft. Victor Fung
1:00–2:15 Western Philosophies of Wisdom
4:00–5:15 Artistic Sharing
7:00–8:15 Developing Our Wisdom, ft. Loren Davidson