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Faculty

At the start of 2007, James Frazier became the Chairperson of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Department of Dance and Choreography. His earned degrees include the Doctorate of Education in Dance from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA), the Master of Fine Arts in Dance and the Bachelor of Science in Marketing, both from Florida State University (FSU, Tallahassee, FL). Frazier joined the faculty of VCU in 2001, after having been a Visiting Professor of Dance History for two years at FSU and having served as adjunct faculty at Montgomery College (Rockville, MD), Temple University, FSU and Florida A& M University (Tallahassee, FL). He is a former Associate Director of the Dance Institute of Washington (DC), Publicity Coordinator for the Urban Bush Women/FSU Summer Dance Institute, and the FSU Department of Dance. In 2006 he was honored by the Council of Dance Administrators (CODA) with the Alma Hawkins Award for Excellence in Dance Education, in recognition of emerging leadership in the field.

In his on-going performing life, Frazier was a member of Kokuma Dance Theatre Company (Birmingham, England), Dallas Black Dance Theatre (TX), and was a founding member of Edgeworks Dance Theater (Washington, DC). In addition, he performed in productions by, and/or as a guest with, choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (of Urban Bush Women), Artifacts Productions (Philadelphia, PA), Skeletons Dance Projects (New York City), Mason/Rhynes Productions (Washington, DC), and Richmond VA's Starr Foster Dance Project, Ground Zero Dance, Chris Burnside and Dancers and the Richmond Ballet, where he is also on the part-time faculty.

A 2003 recipient of the Virginia Commission for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship, Frazier has created dance works for a range of companies and groups, from youth companies to college students and pre-professionals, to professional dancers. His choreography has been presented in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Louisiana, including some noted venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and DC's Carter Barron Amphitheatre. In 2006 his dance Suspect Seven was chosen as an alternate for the national gala performance of the American College Dance Festival, representing the southeast region of the United States.

Some of Dr. Frazier's past and present professional affiliations include: the Council of Dance Administrators, the National Association of Schools of Dance, the Black College Dance Exchange, the Congress on Research in Dance, and the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Virginia Commonwealth University
School of the Arts
Department of Dance and Choreography
dance@vcu.edu
Date Last Modified: 11/23/2009