DeFrantz maintains professional research affiliations that confirm his commitment to dance studies as an emerging discipline. He continues affiliations with the Dance Critics Association, the Society of Dance History Scholars, the Congress on Research in Dance, and the International Association of Blacks in Dance. He has also participated in the National Black Arts Festival, the American Studies Association, and the Corporeality working group of the International Federation for Theater Research. DeFrantz has organized the Black Performance Theory group for several years.