Amy Champ

About me:

Academic. Artist. Activist.

To see what I am up to today, check -- http://twitter.com/AMYCHAMP

I'm working on my Ph.D. in Performance Studies (with an emphasis on Feminist Theory and Research) at the University of California. I practice yoga, and I study women's issues. I am especially interested in women's equality and education in the Third World. I also write about the intersections of gender, ecology, and globalization, and how women use art and spirituality to overcome obstacles in their lives and dream new dreams for the future. I am currently writing a book about the history of women in the West practicing yoga, and the idealism of selfless service. I'm a yoga teacher, and have been studying yoga and meditation for 15 years. In 1994, I went on a six-month spiritual pilgrimage in Nepal and India, starting my exploration of this area.

I believe in working HARD and playing harder. I just DO what I do. You can put whatever label you want on it. Some days I'm in the garden in my overalls LISTENING to the weeds, and some days I'm wearing a suit TALKING to a hundred people. I also try to steal a couple QUIET hours every day to read, write, and meditate. If you choose to roll with me, you better put on your all-weather GEAR, and hang on pretty darn tight. If you try to put me in a box, I will probably set it on fire. Thank You.

I like to travel around the WORLD, learn about life from good PEOPLE, and make new friends. My favorite place so far is ZANZIBAR, and I hope to go back soon. I also like tending to my roots, staying close to FAMILY and lifelong FRIENDS. My most immediate goal is to get PUBLISHED, because -- well, because universities don't usually grant TENURE based on hairstyle.

I'm currently a teaching assistant in the Theatre and Dance & Religious Studies Departments, and I have been teaching politics and international relations part-time at the university level for the past five years. I have a B.A. in Anthropology & Literary Studies and an M.A. in Government & International Relations. I have always been something of an ethnographer. My first project was an immersive study of the underground rave scene in LA and SF in 1991-92. I got interested in exploring non-Western spirituality about the same time. Through my studies in anthropology, assisting Don Brenneis at American Ethnologist journal, I saw a book called Ayahuasca Visions. I decided I wanted to work for the publisher, and ended up for the next three summers under the tutelage of anthropologist and New Age publisher Richard Grossinger of North Atlantic Books in Berkeley, and assisting him with research in his revised version of the book Planet Medicine and also Paul Pitchford's Healing With Whole Foods...

My undergraduate thesis was an analysis of Chicano theatre tactics in California in the 1960s-90s. In 1993, I went to Zimbabwe to study music & dance for six months. In 1995-96 I returned as a Fulbright Scholar, working as a community organizer with a women's theatre group on issues such as domestic violence, AIDS awareness, and education for the girl child. I shot my first documentary film on a Hi-8 camera.

In the late 90's I lived in a loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and created a lot of inter-cultural, activist performance art through my Open Heart Studios, while also working for the Japanese government managing international collaborations between Japanese and American artists. My mentors from this period were and are - conceptual artist Richard Humann and the tenacious Yuko Nii, who deftly recruited me to scrub the grout between the tiles at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center when every corner of the building was a major code violation. I organized several performances, film screenings, and benefit concerts at W.A.H., most notably "Fashion Reactor" and "The Vivian Ritchie Story." My performing name at this time was "Vivian Ritchie," taken from Henry Darger's Vivian Girls, and the real surname of Sid Vicious. I worked with Marco Ursino and Susan Mackell to launch the Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival. I survived riding his Ducati on the B.Q.E., but had to shave my head on opening night due to a lost bet. I was a collaborator with Akim Funk Buddha, doing instrinsic movement 'on Sunday afternoons' for a couple of years with him & a tight group at his loft. I also did a lot of performances--spiritual and political--with the Tibetan community in New York City and World Artists for Tibet. I learned how to make movies at the Downtown Community Television Center in NY's lovely Chinatown.

In the early 2000's, I lived a simple, rural life for seven years in my hometown in the wine country of the Sierra Nevadas. It was during this time that I learned about living with the natural world, animals, growing things, and surviving in the woods. During the first part of that time, I also worked as a research analyst for the think tank The Center For Digital Government, conducting major research projects and writing daily news articles on technology-related legislation and programs for government and education in the 50 states and Congress. During the second part, I quit my job to become a yoga teacher and started my own business teaching and writing about yoga. I'm also proud to be a Peace Teacher affiliated with the Teach Peace Foundation in California.