UNT professor selected for Fulbright Specialists grant

From a UNT News Service press release

Claudia Howard Queen

Claudia Howard Queen, assistant professor of music for dance in UNT’s Department of Dance and Theatre, has been selected for a Fulbright Specialists grant at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan. This is Queen's second Fulbright award.

Queen will teach a two-week summer workshop Aug. 9 – 21 at the university's TAIPEIdea —Taipei International Dance Elite Academy. The course, called "Composing Music for Choreography," is designed to help students, professional composers and dance musicians learn to create music designed to fit the needs of movement. The workshop will include training in using software for composing and editing music, working with MIDI instruments and using multi-track recording.

"Each time I visit Taiwan, I learn so much about the culture and values of the Taiwanese dancers and musicians — information that I can then bring to my students at UNT," Queen says.

She visited Taiwan for six weeks in Spring 2007 on a Fulbright Specialists award, where she played original music for dance classes, trained dance musicians, taught workshops, presented lectures and played for dance class for Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, the internationally renowned dance company founded by artistic director Lin Hwai-min.

"Being one of the leading dance programs in Taiwan, the school is always looking for ways to improve," says Yunyu Wang, former acting dean of the TNUA College of Dance. "This workshop will help to promote and expose local musicians as well as music students from other institutions to the area of collaboration between music and dance."

Queen has numerous other honors, including the Grand Prize from the American Musical Theatre Festival, three National Endowment for the Arts New American Works Awards, and four Meet the Composer/Arts Midwest Awards. In addition, she has been invited to play regularly at the prestigious American Dance Festival.

Ellen Rossetti with UNT News Service can be reached at ellen.rossetti@unt.edu.

Read other stories in this issue:

• President's Note
• Moving Forward: Former Washington State president to head UNT for 2010-11 academic year
• New joint research center to focus on chip manufacturing
• UNT faculty earn Fulbright awards
• Student researchers earn prestigious scholarships
• Faculty Focus: D. Jack Davis
• UNT Traditions: International Week
• Featured Link: The North Texan
• UNT Alumni Association