Stories We Dance / Stories We Tell

Higher education continually mediates long standing traditions while seeking new ways of thinking. This navigation exists as a quiet tension, as institutions respond to shifting and multiple socio-cultural values in their local, national, and international communities. Dance in higher education is not immune from this pressure; programs need to consider intersecting obligations to build a more equitable curriculum, meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, and prepare students for a wider array of dance-based careers. Dance faculty are on the front lines of these recalibrations. Because of their critical role in stewarding the next generation of dance artists-educators-scholars-leaders and change in higher education, more attention must be given to learning from the experiences of those committed to dance in higher education.
This collection articulates and considers these lived experiences, revealing the inner workings of how dance exists in higher education. The autoethnographic essays within this text vary in style and scope, yet each distinctly illuminates the overt and unspoken pressures encountered across one’s career trajectories. By unearthing and contextualizing hidden challenges, expectations, and opportunities, the authors speak to possibilities for how proactive change for dance in higher education can occur.

Karen Schupp is a professor of dance at Arizona State University. Her research commitments include ethics and equity in dance education, postsecondary dance education, and dance competition culture. She is the recipient of the National Dance Education Organization’s Outstanding Dance Education Researcher Award, NDEO’s Ruth Lovell Murray Book Award, and the Susan W. Stinson Book Award for Dance Education. Sherrie Barr, professor of dance, taught in a range of dance programs in postsecondary institutions, including as a Fulbright Lecturer in Portugal, for over 40 years before retiring. Her scholarship examines the juncture of dance pedagogy, somatics, and critical pedagogies, an intersection that now leads her to research the shifting terrain of higher education dance programs in the U.S. She lives in Corvallis, Oregon.

Edited by Karen Schupp and Sherrie Barr
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9332-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5542-0
Imprint: McFarland