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A Case Study of University Dance Programs Offering Ballet-Focused Degrees

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A Case Study of University Dance Programs Offering Ballet-Focused Degrees THE SWAN IN THE IVORY TOWER: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY DANCE PROGRAMS OFFERING BALLET-FOCUSED DEGREES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF DANCE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY MELONIE BUCHANAN MURRAY, BFA, MFA DENTON, TEXAS MAY 2018 Copyright© 2018 by Melonie Buchanan Murray DEDICATION For my husband, Steve Murray, without your unyielding belief in me and your boundless encouragement, I might never have pursued doctoral work. Thank you for your endless patience, continued support, and love. For the pioneers of dance and ballet in American higher education, thank you for paving the way. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the many individuals and organizations who have contributed to this dissertation. I am particularly appreciative of my dissertation advisor, Dr. Linda Caldwell, whose patience, guidance, and good humor have been indispensable throughout my doctoral work and the dissertation process. I am privileged to be one of Dr. Caldwell’s last dissertation advisees in the year of her retirement. I am also indebted to Dr. Rosemary Candelario and Mary Williford-Shade, MFA whose keen intellect and constructive comments provided direction to this line of inquiry. Additionally, I am appreciative to the College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah for supporting this research through grant funding that supported my travel; and my colleagues at the University of Utah, whose encouragement in this endeavor was unfailing, deserve acknowledgment, as well. Special thanks to Molly Powers for her help in designing the figures included in Chapter 5. For their comraderie and support, I am eternally grateful to my doctoral cohort: A’Keitha Carey, Ali Duffy, Merry Lynn Morris, Anisha Rajesh, and Emily Wright. It was an honor to share this intellectual journey with you. This project would not have been possible without the generosity of the leadership in the dance programs that facilitated my campus visits: Larry Attaway at Butler University, Stan Rogers at Friends University, Tauna Hunter at Mercyhurst University, Elizabeth Gillaspy at Texas Christian University, Mary Margaret Holt and Clara Cravey Stanley at the University of Oklahoma, and Brent Schneider at the University of Utah. iii Additionally, I am sincerely grateful to each and every one of the individual faculty members that took the time to speak with me about their careers and experiences with ballet in higher education, and also about their philosophies, hopes, and concerns for the future. Their thoughtful sharing contributed to my understanding of ballet in higher education and opened my eyes to a variety of perspectives. Lastly, I am thankful for the generosity of those friends and family members who offered words of encouragement, sympathetic ears, and valuable discussion throughout this journey. To my husband, Steve Murray, thank you for believing in me. iv ABSTRACT MELONIE BUCHANAN MURRAY THE SWAN IN THE IVORY TOWER: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY DANCE PROGRAMS OFFERING BALLET-FOCUSED DEGREES MAY 2018 Across the United States, hundreds of universities house dance programs, and the vast majority of degrees offered through these programs focus on modern dance. Despite the mainstream popularity and cultural esteem of the dance genre of ballet, fewer than fifteen university programs offer ballet-focused degrees. From this relatively small number of ballet-focused programs, this study identifies six that do not self-identify as conservatories. The six academic units included in this study attempt to balance academic rigor with studio practice, rather than focusing exclusively on studio and performance coursework. This qualitative, multi-site case study utilizes methodological practices including observation and interviews. Two-day site visits were completed at each institution, and twenty-eight fulltime faculty members were interviewed. This dissertation begins with a brief history of dance in American higher education, including discussion of the peculiar absence of ballet within this history, before introducing the six programs. The programs are discussed in terms of their unique histories, missions, and philosophies before curricular comparison and analysis is presented. Two major themes that emerged from interviews with faculty members are presented: 1) the ever-present negotiation of v balancing the artistic elements of pre-professional ballet training with the academic requirements of institutions of higher education and 2) how the programs strive for connection with the professional realm of ballet in a variety of ways. Each of these themes is multi-faceted, and the complexities are considered and analyzed. This line of inquiry provides information about how ballet exists as a focus of study within the realm of higher education and how ballet and other, even more marginalized, dance forms might be welcomed into the curricula and conversations concerning dance in American higher education. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ............................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 About the Researcher .......................................................................................... 5 Overview of the Study ........................................................................................ 8 II. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 12 Methodological Theory .................................................................................... 12 An Emergent Approach to Inquiry ............................................................. 14 Reflexivity on the Part of the Researcher .................................................. 15 Intentional Inclusion of Participant Voices ................................................ 17 The Final Product as Description and Interpretation ................................. 18 Case Study .................................................................................................... 19 Ethnographic and Historiographic Influences ........................................... 20 Choosing the University Programs ................................................................. 23 Data Collection ................................................................................................ 24 Initial Steps in Data Collection ................................................................... 24 The IRB Process .......................................................................................... 25 Site Visits ..................................................................................................... 26 Observations ................................................................................................ 28 Interviews ..................................................................................................... 29 Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 34 The Practice of Memoing ............................................................................ 34 The Coding Process ..................................................................................... 35 Ethical Concerns ............................................................................................... 36 III. THE UNEASY, UNEXPLORED, AND UNDER-EXAMINED vii EXISTENCE OF BALLET IN AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION ....... 40 The Peculiar Absence of Ballet ........................................................................ 41 An Overview of the History of Dance in American Higher Education ....... 50 NASD – The Accrediting Agency .................................................................... 57 CORPS de Ballet International ........................................................................ 63 Have the Pioneers Become the Conservatives? .............................................. 66 IV. INTRODUCING THE PROGRAMS ............................................................. 68 Butler University .............................................................................................. 69 Friends University ............................................................................................. 74 Mercyhurst University ...................................................................................... 78 Texas Christian University ................................................................................ 81 University of Oklahoma .................................................................................. 85 University of Utah ............................................................................................. 89 Chapter Conclusion .......................................................................................... 92 V. THE CURRICULUM: A COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS....................... 94 Performance .....................................................................................................
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