Liz Lerman, founding artistic director of the Dance Exchange and recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant,” will be in Iowa City as part of the Ida Cordelia Beam Visiting Professorships Program in September. The University of Iowa’s Division of Performing Arts and Hancher are collaborating for her visit.

Lerman will give an Ida Beam public lecture entitled "Creative Research: How Artists Work and its Impact on Knowledge-Building," on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Theatre B at the Theatre Building on the UI campus. The event is free and will include a reception with Lerman following her interactive presentation.

She will also spend time with students in the division, working with dance classes on choreography and improvisation techniques, teaching a critical response process workshop, and working with graduate students on collaboration across disciplines.

Lerman is known for her multi-generational work during her time at the Dance Exchange. Her process is highly focused on research, intensive collaboration with dancers, and utilizing ideas from a variety of disciplines. Several of her most recent works focus specifically on scientific themes including The Matter of Origins, inspired by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and Ferocious Beauty: Genome, based on genetic research. Her work has been commissioned by Lincoln Center, the American Dance Festival, BalletMet, the Kennedy Center, and Harvard Law School, among others.

She is the author of several books including Hiking the Horizontal and co-author of Critical Response Process: A Method for Getting Useful Feedback on Anything you Make, from Dance to Dessert.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to attend this lecture, contact Becca Tritten in advance at 319-335-2700 or at rebecca-tritten@uiowa.edu.