From Curiosity to Revision: Locating the Self Through Contemporary Ballet Course Development

Abstract:

What makes ballet contemporary, and why is ballet relevant? These two questions guide me as a choreographer, researcher and educator. In the spring of 2026, I will teach a semester-long Contemporary Ballet Lab for the first time. In the course, I hope to foster a spirit of inquiry as we situate contemporary ballet within its histories, embody phrase work, look at storytelling through contemporary ballet, as well as explore improvisational and compositional approaches so that students can employ the ballet language as a tool to investigate their own contemporaneity.

Being a professor for over a decade, I have been through the process of developing courses many times. It is always a journey into the unknown that begins with curiosity and questions, followed by research, planning, teaching and so much learning. The process culminates with a course revision for the next iteration. Not only do I walk away from the experience with a better sense of the material, but I also leave with more clarity around who I am as an artist and educator.

As I embark on this process again, I will dive into a rigorous practice of autoethnographic journaling. This presentation is as an opportunity to share the experiments, victories and misses of course development, while drawing parallels to the process of creating contemporary ballet choreography. What is revealed about the form, stories and pedagogy of contemporary ballet through an autoethnographic approach to its course development?

 

Bibliography:

  • Caldwell, Sophie. “Integration of Contemporary Dance Elements into Traditional Ballet Instruction.” European Journal of Education Science 1, no. 2 (2025): 52–61.
  • Ellis, Carolyn, Tony E. Adams, and Arthur P. Bochner. 2015. “Autoethnography: An Overview.” Astrolabio, no. 14 (June): 249-73.
  • Farrugia-Kriel, Kathrina, and Jill Nunes Jensen, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet. First edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
  • Kwan, SanSan. “When Is Contemporary Dance?” Dance Research Journal 49, no. 3 (2017): 38–52.
  • Marttinen, Fox. “A Perspective on Teaching Contemporary Ballet.” Nordic Journal of Dance 7, no. 1 (2016): 42–49.
  • Mizzi, Robert C, and Craig M McGill. “Writing Autoethnography with Purposeful Complexity.” New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development 37, no. 4 (2025): 285–90.
  • Starr, Lisa J. “The Use of Autoethnography in Educational Research: Locating Who We Are in What We Do.” Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education 3, no. 1 (2010).
  • Warburton, Edward. “Recentering Ballet for Twenty-First-Century Dance Education.” Dance Educators in Practice (2024).
  • Zeller, Jessica. Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies: Philosophies, Perspectives, and Praxis for Teaching Ballet. New York: Routledge, 2025.

 

Presented by Bruce McCormick, Associate Professor; University of Southern California

 

 

Biography:

Bruce McCormick is a choreographer, educator, performer and scholar. He earned his BFA from The Juilliard School and his MFA from the University of Washington, where he was also on faculty. He joined the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance in 2018 where he serves as Associate Professor of Practice.

Originally from New Jersey, he trained with the Vineland Regional Dance Company and the Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, spending summers at the School of American Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Ballet and as a private student of Maestro Héctor Zaraspe in Argentina and Ecuador. He performed in twelve countries on four continents as a member of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Bavarian State Ballet and the Bern Ballet, where he was a soloist and ballet master. He also served as Assistant Artistic Director of North Netherlands Dance and Guest Rehearsal Director with Ballet BC.

McCormick’s choreographic work has been presented throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. This includes operas for the Korea National Opera in Seoul, commissions for Pegasus Contemporary Ballet in Dallas and solos performed at the International Festival of Contemporary Dance of Mexico City and Seattle International Dance Festival. He has taught master classes for several companies including BalletX, Gibney Company, National Dance Company of Wales, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Whim W’Him. McCormick has presented for the National Dance Education Organization and CORPS de Ballet International, and his scholarship has been published by The International Journal of Arts Theory and History.