Eric Ramírez-Weaver

Medieval manuscripts are tympans for the mind, through which the reverberations of spoken words, logical arguments, crafted confessions and articulate identities can be accessed. As an art historian obsessed with pre-Copernican astronomical traditions, I am always seeking ways to connect with and resurrect the lost identities of courtly astrologers, stargazers, medieval university professors of the liberal art of astronomy, and to give language to the visualizations of science which populate their handmade books. This willingness to feel the pulse informs my other life as a tap dancer and thespian. Creating characters for the stage in dance or while acting requires a sensitivity to human nature, an ability to seek complex reasons for action, and a willingness to confront new, unanticipated, or even challenging motivations for behavior, emotion and desire. The ideological frameworks in which scores, choreographies, and plays arise also inform their apposite interpretation. At UVA in the classroom or on stages throughout our area, giving voice to lost identities, and unpacking their contributions to culture is what daily compels me to renew the work in the study or the studio.