Gigi Otalvaro

Gigi Otálvaro, Ph.D. is an educator, interdisciplinary performance artist-scholar, writer, and psychogeographer. As Associate Director of Stanford Living Education (formerly Health and Human Performance), she leads the LifeWorks program which offers courses and workshops that combine scholarship, creative expression, as well as creative and embodied practices to help students connect their academic work with their core values and goals. 

Her research and pedagogy engage Latina/x and women of color feminisms, queer of color critique, eroticism and performance, mindfulness-based art practice, as well as art and activism. Prior to her current position, she was a Teaching Fellow in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric, where she taught research-based writing courses exploring the connections between visual art, performance, embodiment, and mindfulness. 

She is also certified as a Laughter Yoga Leader and Yoqi® Qigong Associate Instructor. She integrates laughter yoga and qigong into many of the LifeWorks courses she designs and teaches in her areas of expertise, such as performance theory and practice, visual studies, and critical studies in race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.

https://www.gigiotalvaro.org/