CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
27th Annual CORPS de Ballet International Inc. Conference
Choreographing Community: Innovations & Collaborations in Ballet Education
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 18-20, 2025
*All times listed in Mountain time zone*
WEDNESDAY JUNE 18, 2025
8:15 AM
Welcome
Melonie Murray, CORPS President
8:35-8:55
Not Flyover Country: How Midwestern Ballet Companies are Shaping the Communities They Serve
Jennifer Weber; Associate Professor, Utah Tech University
Kristin Marrs; Associate Professor, University of Iowa
8:55-9:15
Character Dance as a Bridge Between Ballet and a Global Dance Community
Justine Sheedy-Kramer; Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Utah
9:15-9:35
What the *%@# is community? Ballet binaries and the pseudo-liminoidal in a social media world
Julia Gleich; independent scholar
Molly Faulkner; Professor, Palomar College
9:35-9:55
Q&A for Webber and Marrs; Sheedy-Kramer; Gleich and Faulkner
10:10-10:55
Ballet Across Communities: Socio-Cultural Comparisons and Institutional Practices in Higher Education (Panel)
Colleen Barnes; Assistant Professor, University of Akron
Ilana Goldman; Associate Professor, Florida State University
Jamie Johnson; Associate Professor, Utah Valley University
Christa St. John; Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University
11:10-12:00 PM
Guest Artist Conversation with Salt Lake Ballet Cooperative
Michaela Gerard, Sierra Govett, Molly Korzep, Carly Schaub, Ashley Jian Thomson
Facilitated by Thea Patterson and Tyler Schnese
1:00-1:45
Guest Performance
Salt Lake Ballet Cooperative
2:00-3:15
Membership Meeting #1
All conference participants are invited to attend! Learn more and get involved with the organization.
3:30-4:30
In conversation with Lifetime Achievement Awardee Brenda Dixon Gottschild
6:00-8:00
Annual CORPS Awards Reception
All conference participants are invited to attend a cocktail reception honoring our Lifetime Achievement Awardee Brenda Dixon Gottschild. The event includes a light buffet and cash bar with conference registrants receiving one free drink ticket.
THURSDAY JUNE 19, 2025
8:15-8:45 AM
Beyond Muscle Memory: Fascia, Embodied Knowledge, and Cultivating Care in Ballet Communities (Workshop)
Ashley Parov; Assistant Professor, Brigham Young University
Brenda Critchfield; Director of Dance Medicine, Brigham Young University
9:00-10:15
Open Ballet Technique Class
All conference participants are welcome to take a ballet technique class.
9:00-11:00
Utah Ballet Summer Intensive Class Observations
All are welcome to observe Utah Ballet Summer Intensive ballet technique class instructed by Christina Johnson.
11:15-11:45
Consent in Ballet: are educators prepared to hear “no”? (Workshop)
Beth Twigs; Lecturer, University of Wyoming
1:00-2:15 PM
Guest Artist Conversation with
Adam Sklute; Artistic Director, Ballet West
Kevin Thomas; Artistic Director, Collage Dance Collective
Facilitated by Caroline Rocher Barnes and Nancy Dobbs Owen
2:30-2:50
Integrating Afrocentric Principles and Gaga Methodologies in Ballet Education
Rebekah Joann Guerra; Adjunct Professor, Weber State University
2:50-3:10
Breaking Pointe: 2020 Cultural Disorientation and the Relevé of the Ballet-Activist
Jodie Nunn; Lecturer, Royal Academy of Dance
3:10-3:30
The Construction of Credibility and Expertise: Black Teachers of Classical Ballet
Monica Stephenson; Director of Preparatory Dance, North Carolina School of the Arts
3:30-3:50
Q&A for Parov and Critchfield; Twigs; Guerra; Nunn; Stephenson
4:00-5:00
Keep Ballet Alive | Adult Ballet Opportunities Beyond the Studio with
Allison DeBona and Rex Tilton; Artistic Directors, artÉmotion
Facilitated by Deborah Knight and Christine McMillan
5:30-6:30
CORPS social & networking hour
FRIDAY JUNE 20, 2025
8:15-8:45 AM
Dragons and Superheroes in Ballet: Visceral Imagery for 21st Century Dancers (Workshop)
Madeline Jazz Harvey; Associate Professor, Colorado State University
Julia Cooper; Instructor, Colorado State University
9:00-10:00
Guest Artist Conversation with
Elizabeth Yntema; President & Founder, Dance Data Project
Facilitated by Anjali Austin
10:15-11:15
Allegro Presentations
The Non-Major Matter: Building Adult Ballet Communities Beyond the Performance Track
Thea van Warmerdam Patterson; Lecturer, University of California Berkeley
The Creative Mother Paradox: Exploring the intersections between Motherhood and Balletic Practices
Hilary Wolfley; Assistant Teaching Professor, Brigham Young University
Traditional steps, places, and people – Ballet as Folk Dance
Deborah Ward; PhD Student, Royal Conservatory of Scotland
Subverting the Ballet Hierarchy Through Online Communities
Tanya Berg; Faculty, York University
Q&A for Allegro Presentations
11:30-12:00 PM
Q&A for Petite Allegro (Poster) Presentations
12:00-2:00
Lunch & Membership Meeting #2
Lunch will be provided. All conference attendees are invited to attend.
2:15-2:35
Erasing Excellence: Resituating Catherine Littlefield’s archival absence to reveal feminism in the formation of American Ballet Modernism Catherine Greyjoy; PhD Student, University of California Santa Barbara
2:35-2:55
Dancing with the Archives: Embodied Explorations of Early 20th Century Mail Order Ballet
Chelsea Hilding; Lecturer, University of North Carolina Greensboro
2:55-3:10
Q&A for Allen, Bott, Dillon, and Johnson; Greyjoy; Hilding
3:20-4:20
Choreographic Sharings
¿eso querías? / is that what you wanted?
Rebekah JoAnn Guerra
Daughter
Hilary Wolfley
This is the Reactability of the Appetizer
Beth Twigs
Rewritten Positions
Lani Johnson
Convergence
Caroline Rocher Barnes
4:20
Closing Remarks
Melonie Murray, CORPS President
5:00-6:00
CORPS social & networking hour
Petite Allegro (Poster) Presentations
Poster presentations will be on display all day Friday.
Gyrokinesis® in Ballet: the Art of Breathing
Caroline Rocher Barnes; Assistant Professor, Towson University
How Does the Age Dancers Began Pointe Affect Bone Density?
Abigail Wardle; Undergraduate Student, Brigham Young University
Collaborate or Get Cut: How Sharing Resources Can Save a Dance Program
Colleen Barnes; Area Chair of Dance, University of Akron
Classical Ballet Forms: A Course Redesign with Active Learning Pedagogical Innovations
Lisa Fusillo; Professor, University of Georgia
Vantage Pointe: An Examination of Evolving Pointe Techniques and Technologies
Emma Capen; Graduate Student, University of Utah