Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy

The Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy offers a comprehensive exploration of contemporary perspectives on teaching and learning ballet, emphasizing the embodied nature of dance and its role in shaping both the student sense of expression and development as an artist. The book positions ballet pedagogy as a dynamic and cross-disciplinary field that transcends traditional separation between practice and theory. It offers a holistic approach that integrates the whole body, identity, and well-being into the learning process. Through five thematic sections-focusing on the whole-dancer, embodied pedagogy, diverse teaching sites, syllabus construction, and ballet as praxis. The volume engages with critical issues such as belonging, access, rigor, syllabus, and excellence within pedagogical practices in the ballet learning space that move beyond the limitations of constructs such as race, gender, and disability. The book challenges entrenched pedagogical hierarchies, offering a vision for the future of ballet education that is inclusive, transformative, and deeply connected to embodied knowledge. Contributors range from across the globe, including pedagogues, scholars, and artist practitioners, explore how ballet pedagogy intersects with contemporary concerns in education, culture, and social justice, highlighting the evolution of the practice in response to historical and social contexts. As a whole, the book demonstrates the rich exciting future of ballet and its embodied pedagogy. It is aimed at educators, practitioners, and scholars in ballet and dance education, providing a broad and inclusive framework for teaching ballet in the 21st century.

Adesola Akinleye (she/they) is an artist-scholar whose choreographic work bridges dance, art, technology, and social inquiry. With a background in ballet, Akinleye draws connections between movement, identity, and environment, viewing dance as a profound mode of engagement, storytelling, and social action. Co-artistic director of DancingStrongMovementLab and Associate Professor at Texas Woman's University, they are also a former Fellow at the Center for Art, Science, and Technology at MIT and Theatrum Mundi. Grounded in Afro-Indigenous perspectives, Akinleye explores dance as an embodied method for witnessing, remembering, and listening while fostering communal engagement through digital futures and embodied practice. Dr Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel is a dance scholar, educator and writer. With a background in dance teacher education and training, her books include Princess Poutiatine and the Art of Ballet in Malta (FPM, 2020), the first book on ballet and colonial histories about her native Malta, and The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet (2021). Her work published in the South African Dance Journal, Treasures of Malta, and she has contributed book chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance (2019), Contemporary Choreography (3rd edition) and Fifty Musical Theatre Choreographers (both forthcoming). For two decades, her leadership in research in dance teacher training included chairing conferences, symposia and leading 'in conversation' events with global representations of ballet pedagogy. She has written and presented webinar series on ballet, including pioneers in dance teaching in England, including Tamara Karsavina, Felix Demery, Ruth French and Phyllis Bedells. More recently her writing explores Justin Peck's Illinoise (2023).