Dr. Olu Taiwo

Dr. Olu Taiwo teaches in acting, immersive and digital performance as well as physical theatre at the University of Winchester. He has a background in Fine Art, Street Dance, African percussion, physical theatre, martial arts, T’ai Chi Ch’uan and Animal spirit movement. He’s performed in national and international contexts pioneering concepts surrounding practice as research. This includes how practice can explore the relationships between ‘effort’, ‘performance’ and ‘performative actions’. Consequently, his aim is to propagate issues concerning the interaction between the body, identity, audience, street and technology in the digital age. His interests include: Visual design, Movement, Theatre, Street Arts, New technology, Trans-cultural studies, Geometry, and Philosophy. He is currently finishing a Spoken word tour with double Grammy award winning percussionist Lekan Babalola and his Jazz ensemble. He is currently Director of Transcultural Studies as part of the newly created institute of the Making of the Actor based in Athens. His publications range from, ‘The Return Beat’ in Wood (Ed.): The Virtual Embodied. Routledge. ‘Music, Art and Movement among the Yoruba’ in Harvey (Ed.): Indigenous Religions Cassell (2000), to ‘Art as Eudaimonia: Embodied identities and the Return beat’ in Susan Broadhurst and Josephine Machon (ed.), Identity, performance and technology: practices of empowerment, embodiment and technicity. Palgrave Macmillan (2012)