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 ballet technique classes offered as part of UBSI. Instructors include Megan Fairchild, Christina Johnson, Anthony Krutzcamp, Kevin Thomas, and Rex Tilton.
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
Guest Artist Conversation 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
11:30-1:00 PM
Lunch & Membership Meeting #2
Lunch will be provided. Petite Allegro (poster) presentations will be on display throughout the space. All conference attendees are invited to attend.
1:15-2:00
Shear Wave Tensiometry in Ballet Dancers: Creating Care-Based Practices and Pedagogies Through Innovations and Collaborations in Ballet Education (Panel)
Steven Allen; Assistant Research Professor, Brigham Young University
Shayla Bott; Professor, Brigham Young University
Christopher Dillon; Assistant Professor, Brigham Young University
Wayne Johnson; Professor, Brigham Young University
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