The work of Claudia Howard Queen, assistant professor of music for dance, is making news in Taiwan. After teaching for the Taipei National University of the Arts — Taiwan’s premier arts school — on her second Fulbright grant to Taiwan in August, she was invited to collaborate with artistic director Ming-Shen Ku and her professional dance company for the concert Decode 2010. Queen improvised an evening-length live music score in performances with Ku & Dancers at the Taipei National Theatre and the Wei-Wu-Ying Center of the Arts in Kaohsiung.

The Taipei Times’ review notes that Queen “provided percussion, piano, flute, guitar, vocals and computerized sounds (dripping water, rain, crashing waves, the buzzing of night-time insects) — and at one point in the matinee she played the piano with her left hand while strumming a guitar with her right. It was amazing to watch her. ”

Queen, who has been invited to return to Taiwan, says she is using this collaborative experience in her teaching at UNT and hopes to bring Ku & Dancers to campus for a residency.