Cheryl Pallant is a poet, author, dancer, performance artist, and professor who lives in Richmond, Virginia. She has published several books of innovative poetry, a nonfiction book, and has been featured in several anthologies. Her background as a writer and dancer has led to frequently merging these disciplines.

While a literature student at Long Island University

Long Island University

Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...

, she was introduced to the dance form, contact improvisation

Contact improvisation

Contact improvisation is a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation...

. This postmodern

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...

 improvisational dance has had a strong influence upon her poetics

Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory...

. Thematic frames and syntax shift rhythmically in her poetry, moving from one context to another, the language much like the moves of a dancer. Her books, such as Into Stillness and Uncommon Grammar Cloth, demonstrate a kinetic poetics guided by an internal momentum that expands upon the possibilities of language and challenges the usual logical mode of reading. Morphs, written in collaboration with Grant Jenkins, resulted from a furthering of her language play, a single poem morphed thirty-five times.

Her book on dance, Contact Improvisation: an Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form, is considered a primary book in its field. She was performance art critic for High Performance and dance critic for Style Weekly

Style Weekly

Style Weekly is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Richmond, Virginia, United States. The paper is distributed for free and covers a variety of topics on popular culture, entertainment, and the arts. It is owned by Landmark Media Enterprises, the same company that owns the...

, a newspaper in Virginia.

Pallant was a three-time recipient of an NEH Grant

National Endowment for the Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...

 (2000, 1999, and 1996) in partnership with the Richmond Arts Council. She was selected as Finalist for the Bechtel Prize (2007), among other awards. She was poetry editor for The New Southern Literary Messenger, successor to Southern Literary Messenger

Southern Literary Messenger

The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from 1834 until June 1864. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation and included poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and historical notes...

, edited by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

, and an editor for Contact Quarterly. She has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...

, University of Richmond

University of Richmond

The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...

, Keimyung University

Keimyung University

Keimyung University is a private university in South Korea. The university was founded in 1954 by the leaders of the Northern Presbyterian Church of the U.S. as a Christian university. Its motto is 'For the Kingdom of Truth, Justice and Love'. KMU is composed of three campuses in the city of...

 (in S. Korea), and University of Tulsa

University of Tulsa

The University of Tulsa is a private university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is currently ranked 75th among doctoral degree granting universities in the nation by US News and World Report and is listed as one of the "Best 366 Colleges" by...

.

Select Bibliography

Morphs. (written with Grant Jenkins), Chicago, IL: Cracked Slab Books, 2009.

Contact Improvisation: an Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form. NC McFarland & Co, 2006.

Declaration of Independence. Oyster Bay, NY, Feral Press, 2008.

Poetry By Chocolate. Oyster Bay, NY, Feral Press, 2008.

The Phrase. Oyster Bay, NY, Feral Press, 2006.

Into Stillness. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press, 2003.

Uncommon Grammar Cloth. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press, 2001.

Spontaneities. New York, NY, Belladonna Press, 2001.

External Links

Cheryl Pallant official website

poetry at HOW2

radio interview on KWGS

PennSound recording from Belladonna Reading Series

“A Touchy Situation,” fiction, at Café Irreal