Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies
It’s Publication Day! 🎉
This post marks the official release of my second book, Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies: Philosophies, Perspectives, and Praxis for Teaching Ballet (Routledge, 2025). Neither pedagogy nor research (nor writing, arguably) happen in isolation, so I’m using this space to celebrate the many contributions to this book; from those who supported me throughout the process, to those whose scholarship and thinking inspire my own in its pages. For them—the artists, scholars, pedagogues, students, friends, and family—I am thankful beyond measure.
I first include an expanded Table of Contents for context, followed by two sections from the front and back matter:
A Selected Bibliography, which features an excerpt of the works cited in the book. It’s a collection of scholars, educators, and practitioners whose work I admire for its wisdom and seek to be in conversation with. I recommend these sources for those teaching or researching in ballet, pedagogies, and ballet pedagogies.
The book’s Acknowledgments section, affectionately subtitled A Révérence. This was my favorite bit to write, not just because it meant the rest of the book was finished, but because it gave me a moment to appreciate the thoughtful and generous people who inspire and support me and my work—to marinate in their efforts. There are not enough curtain calls for you, dear ones. ❤️
On a more pragmatic note, the discount code at the bottom of this page is valid to use here through March 31, 2025. If you’re interested in writing a review of this book or assigning it for a class, use this link to request an inspection copy and/or read the book’s Introductory chapter in its entirety. If you’d like to blurb the book, I’ll send it to the publisher for them to post on their website, and I’ll post it on the research page of this site.
What’s next? I’m scheduling readings, faculty-student workshops, classroom visits, and conversations around the subjects in this book for 2025 and beyond. Please connect with me to coordinate. In the meantime, thank you for reading.
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Table of Contents (expanded)
Introduction (available to read at the Preview link here)
Humanizing Pedagogies
Background and Context
About This Book
Part One: Philosophies
Chapter 1: Ideal-driven Pedagogies
Evolving Ideals: Definitions and Contexts
Ideals of Execution and Performance
Ideal Ways of Being
Ideal Bodies
Ideal-Driven Pedagogies: Enactment and Effects
Blame and Accountability
Chapter 2: Student-driven Pedagogies
Foundations and Definitions
Ballet Pedagogies beyond Ideals
Embodied Philosophies
Teaching beyond the Body
Teaching Ballet Pedagogies: Critical Futures
Toward Equitable Ballet Pedagogies
Subjectivities and Trust
From Homogenized to Differentiated
From Deficit to Abundance
From Philosophy to Praxis
Part Two: Perspectives
Chapter 3: Teacher Presence and Behavior
Teacher Presence: Ways of Being
The Teacher Persona
Teacher Behavior: Foundations
Seeing
Listening
Embodying
Beneath Presence and Behavior
Power and Bias
Problematic Assumptions about Students
Institutional Contexts
Relishing Complexity
Chapter 4: Student Voices
Interpreting Ballet Pedagogies
Envisioning Ballet Pedagogies
The Teacher-Student Relationship
Community in the Ballet Class
Autonomy and Agency
Class Material
Communication
Attending to Individuals
The Teacher’s Qualities
Compassion
Part Three: Praxis
Chapter 5: Student Agency and Autonomy
Agency and Autonomy Defined
Yielding: A Methodology
Yielding: In Practice
Inquiry and Observation
Proposals, Rationales, and Experimentation
The Language of Feedback
Bodily Autonomy
A Challenge to Yielding: Perceptions of Rigor
Chapter 6: Evaluation and (Un)Grading
Evaluation in Ballet
Ballet in Higher Education
Grades and Grading
Grades and Grading in the Higher Ed Ballet Class
Ungrading: Policies and Practices for Equitable Evaluation
Ungrading in the Ballet Class: One Approach
Student Perspectives
Teaching beyond Grades
Challenges and Further Considerations
Chapter 7: Reflective Practices
Definitions and Contexts
Reflective Practices for Teachers
Before Class
During Class
After Class
Persistent Reflective Practice
Reflective Practices for Students
Workshopping
Semester-long Reflective Practice
Student-Driven Reflective Practice
Conclusion: Reflections on Becoming
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Selected Bibliography (excerpted)
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Morris, Merry Lynn. “Re‑thinking Ballet Pedagogy: Approaching a Historiography of Fifth Position.” Research in Dance Education 16, no.3 (2015): 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2015.1036019.
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Acknowledgments: A Révérence
This book owes its existence to scores of remarkably intelligent, thoughtful, generous people. To the editorial staff at Routledge—Claire Margerison, Lucia Accorsi, Steph Hines, and Ben Piggott—thank you for your thoughtful guidance and support of this project. To Kate Mattingly, Courtney Harris, Steven Ha, Lauren Huynh, and Fen Kennedy, who shared considerable insight into this manuscript in its preliminary stages, I am appreciative beyond measure—your keen and compassionate perspectives have elevated this book. My deep acknowledgment as well to those who generously offered their thoughts on the journal articles that became this manuscript: editors Sanja Andus L’Hotellier and Doug Risner, as well as Betsy Miller, Jenai Cutcher, Ashley Thorndike‑Youssef, and Brian Devine. To Brock Kingsley, thank you for challenging my thinking and writing about pedagogy for 20 years; you encouraged me to “just fucking write it” when I needed to hear that most. I’m lucky to have your singular perspective behind this work. And to those who took the time to respond to a public survey: your perspectives matter. Thank you for sharing them. I hope I’ve done you justice.
Despite my efforts, it’s quite impossible to acknowledge all that my ballet teachers have contributed to my pedagogical thinking, so I offer my heart‑forward thanks for these bits of their wisdom and so much more: To Sondra Forsyth, who knew how to communicate with children and insisted that dancers were smart when that was not the prevailing attitude. To Jan Hanniford Goetz, who saw something in me and nurtured it, and whose luminous movement sensibilities have been a constant inspiration. To Maggie Black, who understood simplicity and took young people seriously. To Rochelle Zide‑Booth, whose pragmatism makes everything possible, somehow, and who made me feel legitimate when I was at my most insecure. To Karen Eliot, who mentored my research with incisive generosity and who, between Maggie impressions, gently reminded me that I had rotators and hamstrings when I thought they were lost forever.
There are others, too, whose perspectives stayed with me: Helen Scott, beyond the ballet studio, helped me believe that I could. Michelle Jarvis, Cynthia Pratt, Marek Cholewa, Rosanna Ruffo, and Stephan Laurent taught me to show up ready and read the room. Melanie Bales and Susan Dromisky both managed that magic pedagogical trick of making me laugh, hard, while I was sweating out their beautiful classes. There are too many more to mention here, and a few—thankfully just—who I’ve omitted. I am, reluctantly in these latter cases, grateful to all of them.
I am filled with appreciation for the robust communities of students who have indelibly shaped the perspectives in this book. It is only a mild exaggeration to suggest that every student I have ever worked with has contributed in some way to my ongoing education as a ballet educator, so I extend my heartfelt appreciation to every one of them. They’ve taught me the value of being in daily dialogue, and they give meaningful purpose to every ballet class.
To my TCU colleagues over the past several years, I am grateful every day for your collaborative and deeply thoughtful efforts. A big purple thank you to Keith Saunders, Kellye Saunders, Laura Barbee, Adam McKinney, Nina Martin, Suki John, Sarah Newton, Brad Garner, Annika Sheaff, Will Labossiere, Chad Jung, Susan Douglas Roberts, Larisa Cherkasov, Carrie Hickman, Angelique Hall, Heather McCreless, Lindsay Puente, Deborah Vogel, Najwa Seyedmorteza, Laura West Strawser, Roma Flowers, John Hopkins, Susan Austin, and Lori Schneider. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Elizabeth Gillaspy, in particular, who supported me at a foundational level by making programmatic space for me to develop this work in practice and research. Thank you, Elizabeth, for your advocacy and for more than a decade of office doorway ballet pedagogy chats. Many thanks as well to Dean Amy Tully and the staff inthe TCU College of Fine Arts for your consistent support of faculty. This book was supported by TCU’s merited leave policy and research funding, which thankfully still exist for some of us, but which should be made available to all of us. I especially wish to thank my contingent faculty colleagues, whose institutionally undervalued work props up the system that enabled this book. The academy would be a far richer place if your expertise, dedication, and care were appropriately compensated.
I am fortunate beyond measure to have a personal support system of people who have always believed in me and taken my interests seriously at every turn. Mom, you’re a wonder and a most extraordinary role model—thank you for being my champion and making me feel like I can do anything. Josh, you are an inspiration. Gabriel, after enduring the plight of the ballet sibling, shuttling back and forth to classes and sitting through umpteen‑thousand Nutcrackers, you’ll still go to the ballet with me. I’m so lucky I get to be your sister. To my dearest framily, Monserrat, Rachel, Cory, and Courtney, thank you for keeping me grounded and connected. And to my beloved late grandparents, I carry you with me—your strong beliefs in the arts and education are the ground beneath this book.
To my Brandon, your partnership throughout this process has been profound. With great care and good cheer, you’ve supported my unending and only occasionally successful search for balance while writing. You’ve made me feel completely rational and reasonable—sage, even—as I’ve prattled on for three years about all manner of book‑related minutiae. Frankly, love, I’m not sure which of us that says more about, but I adore you for it.
Lastly, to Sam, my goofy and charming elder pup, for your big heart, your loving eyes, and your leadership on walks. Thank you for teaching me about humanity. May the treats always be plenty.
My priority is for this book to be accessible to those interested in reading it. Please connect with me directly if costs are prohibitive.