Joanna Dee Das is an Associate Professor in the Performing Arts Department at Washington University in St. Louis and an affiliate of the Program in American Culture Studies, the African and African-American Studies Department, the History Department, and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity. She writes about dance, musical theater, variety entertainment, country music, and how those forms have played a role in several social and political movements, including the long Black Freedom Struggle, decolonization, modern conservatism, and the Religious Right.
Her forthcoming book, Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America (Chicago, 2025) examines the entertainment industry in the tourist destination of Branson, Missouri, and how it has developed over time into a lightning rod for the culture wars.
Her first book, Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora (Oxford, 2017) examined the life and work of choreographer, educator, and activist Katherine Dunham (1909-2006). It won the 2018 de la Torre Bueno Best First Book Award from the Dance Studies Association and an honorable mention Errol Hill Award for outstanding scholarship in African American theatre and performance from the American Society for Theatre Research.
She has also published articles in the Journal of Urban History, Dance Research Journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, Theatre History Studies, TDR, and ARTS, as well as authored or co-authored book chapters in The Futures of Dance Studies, The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary Musical, Dance in Musical Theatre: A History of the Body in Movement, The Possibility Machine: Music and Myth in America’s City of Second Chances, and A Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical, among others.
In addition to her scholarship, she is the Treasurer of the International Society for the Study of Musicals, a Certified Instructor of Dunham Technique and a choreographer. In December 2020, she co-directed a dance film with filmmaker Denise Ward-Brown called "Seeking Josephine Baker: Dancing on the Land". Building from this creative project, Das and Ward-Brown ran a Mellon-funded Research Working Group that explored Ms. Baker’s history in St. Louis. In 2023 they presented a short film, “When You See Josephine, You See Her Mother” at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and were invited to speak about that work at the Petit Palais Museum of Fine Arts in Paris, France.
Before receiving her MA in American Studies from NYU and her PhD in History from Columbia University, Das worked as a professional dancer and choreographer in New York, where she performed at Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), the Cunningham Studio, WAXWorks, and DanceNow/NYC. Her interests have also led to some fun side gigs, including serving as a historical consultant for The Rockettes.