The Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund for International Scholarship on Dance honors the pioneering and seminal contributions of preeminent dance historian Selma Jeanne Cohen.

The Fulbright Association created the fund with a generous gift from Dr. Cohen in 2000 to recognize the importance of her Fulbright exchange experience in Russia and to perpetuate her interests in dance as an international enterprise. All Cohen Lectures are presented at the Fulbright Association Annual Conference.

2017: Rebecca Davis

Rebecca Davis is the founder of MindLeaps, an international organization working in post-conflict countries, and a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. A classically-trained ballet dancer and choreographer, she is a two-time Fulbright scholar and holds a Bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a Master’s degree from American Military University.

2016: Julia M. Ritter

Julia M. Ritter, choreographer, performer, and dance scholar, is the recipient of three Fulbright Scholar awards from the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (2002, 2005, 2008) for her creative research abroad. Julia received an MFA in dance from Temple University and her Ph.D. in dance studies from Texas Women’s University in 2016. Julia serves as chair and artistic director as well as an associate professor in the dance department at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

2015: Madeleine Hackney, “Dance for Parkinson’s Patients”

Madeleine Hackney holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a Ph.D. in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a Research Health Scientist at the Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation and an assistant professor of medicine in the division of general medicine and geriatrics at the Emory School of Medicine.

2014: Patrick Alcedo, “An Empire Stages Back: Nationalism, Post-Coloniality, and the Canadian Diaspora in Philippine Dance”

Patrick Alcedo is an associate professor in the department of dance at York University, Toronto, where he directs the MA and Ph.D. programs in dance studies.

2013: Alice Blumenfeld, “Beyond Stereotypes: Unraveling Flamenco Dance from its Historical and Cultural Threads”

Alice Blumenfeld is a flamenco dancer, choreographer, and instructor.

2012: Josephine Dorado, “Instant Online Collaboration: Just Add Dance!”

Josephine Dorado is a social entrepreneur, strategist, producer, and professor at Funk Soup.

2011: Donna Mejia, “Tribal Fusion”

Donna Mejia received her MFA from Smith College.

2010: Helena Hammond, “Spectacular Histories: The Ballet Russes, International Cultural Exchange and the Historical Imagination”

Helena Hammond is a lecturer on dance at the University of Surrey.

2009: Victoria Laurel Gray, “A Living Legacy: Uzbek Dance”

Victoria Gray is the artistic director of the Silk Road Dance Company.

2008: Alison M. Friedman, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Carving Out Space for Chinese Modern Dance in an Interconnected World”

Alison Friedman is the general manager of Parnassus Productions.

2007: Ron Jenkins, “Sacred Dance and Secular Law in Bali”

Ron Jenkins is a professor in the theater department at Wesleyan University.

2006: Barbara Browning, “Where My Dancing Had Saved Me From Disgrace”

Barbara Browning is an associate professor in the department of performance studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

2005: Richard Semmens, “Moving Inside and Outside the Box: Thoughts on the Graphic Notation of Baroque Dances for the Ballroom”

Richard Semmens is a dance historian and associate professor of music history in the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario.

2004: Millicent Hodson, “Reconstructing Jeux, Nijinsky’s Bloomsbury Ballet”

Millicent Hodson is a dance historian and choreographer with Ballets Old & New.

2003: Wayne B. Kraft, “Transylvanian Dancing in the Final Hour”

Wayne B. Kraft is a professor of German at Eastern Washington University.

2002: Gretchen Ward Warren, “Dancing with the Wheel of Ever Returning: A Theatrical Adventure with Australian Aborigines and Native Americans”

Gretchen Ward Warren is a professor in the School of Theater and Dance at the University of South Florida.