Tara Rodman Receives Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize

Fantasies of Ito Michio reexamines the legacy of Japanese dancer through the lens of performance, identity and survival

Tara Rodman, associate professor of doctoral studies in the Department of Drama at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, has been awarded the 2025 Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize for Dance Research by the Dance Studies Association. Her book, Fantasies of Ito Michio, published by University of Michigan Press, offers a nuanced study of Japanese dancer and choreographer Ito Michio (1893–1961), whose transnational career spanned Europe, the U.S., and Japan.

Blending historical analysis with performance studies, Rodman explores how Ito’s “fantasies” — unrealized projects, invented stories, and politically fraught affiliations — were not peripheral, but central to understanding his survival and creative strategies amid racialization, imperialism, war and internment. The book reframes these fabrications as vital artistic responses rather than dismissible falsehoods.

Rodman’s research focuses on the circulation of performers and performance forms among Japan, Europe, and the U.S. in the early 20th century. Her broader work examines how the performer’s body contributes to the construction of racial, ethnic, and national meanings — both onstage and offstage. In Fantasies of Ito Michio, she highlights Ito’s overlooked ties to Japanese modernist artists such as Yamada Kosaku and Ishii Baku, positioning “fantasy” as both a survival tactic and a scholarly tool for rethinking artistic legacy.

Her scholarship has appeared in Theatre Journal and Theatre Research International, with forthcoming work in Dancing East Asia and the Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance.

The Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize recognizes outstanding scholarship in dance studies. Rodman’s acclaimed book not only enriches historical understanding of Ito Michio but also offers a model for examining performance in times of disruption.

To learn more about Tara Rodman’s work, visit her Department of Drama bio page here.