Temple University's Institute of Dance Scholarship hosts a week-long Scholar-in-Residence Program three times a year. This funded residency provides opportunity for visiting scholars to present and gather feedback on their own research, and to provide mentoring for doctoral faculty and graduate students from the Temple University Dance Department.

Scholar in Residence: Jessica Zeller

November 11 – 15, 2019 

Jessica Zeller (MFA, PhD, The Ohio State University) is an Associate Professor of Dance in the TCU School for Classical & Contemporary Dance. Her first book, "Shapes of American Ballet: Teachers and Training before Balanchine" (Oxford University Press, 2016), unearths the work of several European and Russian ballet pedagogues during the first few decades of the twentieth century in the United States. Her current research brings ballet into dialogue with progressive pedagogy, and it aligns with her teaching in ballet technique, repertoire, and coursework in Dance Studies. Zeller serves on the Dance Chronicle advisory board, the Journal of Dance Education review board, and the board of CORPS de Ballet, International. While at Temple Zeller will work with Assistant Professor Laura Katz-Rizzo. 

Zeller will speak at Dance Studies Colloquium on November 12th. Her topic will be: In the Liminal Space: Pedagogy at the Intersection of our Ideals and our Humanity. 

Scholar in Residence: Katrina McPherson

March 15 – 20, 2020 

Katrina McPherson is a director and screendance artist whose creative, scholarly and educational work is at the forefront of the international field. Over the past 30 years, her forward-looking, body-based screen practice has resulted in many films, installations and on-line works. These have been written about extensively, won awards and presented at numerous venues and festivals worldwide. Katrina’s most recent collaborative works explore perceptions of memory and archival practices, whilst posing questions of gaze, agency and the presence of screens in our daily lives. Katrina is the author of "Making Video Dance," a step-by-step guide to creating dance for the screen, first published by Routledge in 2006, with a new edition released in 2018. McPherson is a much sought after teacher and leads workshops worldwide. She is Visiting Lecturer in Screendance at Bath Spa University, England; the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland; and the School of Dance at the University of Utah, USA. While at Temple, McPherson will work with Associate Professor Jillian Harris. 

McPherson will speak at Dance Studies Colloquium on March 17, 2020. Her topic will be: Tilting the Balance: Agency, equality and experimentation in screendance practice.