Menu Close
Senior Lecturer in Dance, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Jill Vasbinder Morrison is a dancer, scholar, and community activist teaching dance studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has centered her research on the decolonization of Dance History, Dance Appreciation and Dance Writing courses, working to develop embodied learning in the practice of traditional lecture format coursework. Her most recent research examines the intersections of dance, open licensing, and copyright; questioning how historical practices of exclusion have brought us to this ambiguous place.

She has presented at the Inclusion Imperative Symposium “Uncomfortable Conversations: Race, the Humanities, and Inclusion in Higher Education” presented by Howard University and the Drescher Center for Humanities, UMBC; the Maryland Dance Education Association Annual Conference; and the Dance Studies Association “Galvanizing Dance/Studies: Building Antiracist Praxis, Transformative Connections, and Movement(s) of Radical Care.”

Jill's community organizing centers around equity in public K-12 education funding and policy, pandemic relief and food access. She works to identify and engage leaders in her community including in its youngest elementary students.

Experience

  • 2016–present
    Instructor of Dance, Peabody Preparatory
  • 2009–present
    Senior Lecturer in Dance, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • 2011–2014
    Artistic Director, Common Ground Dance Company
  • 2010–2013
    Adjunct Lecturer of Dance, Community College of Baltimore County
  • 2010–2011
    Adjunct Lecturer of Dance, Coppin State University

Education

  • 2009 
    Purchase College, State University of the Arts, MFA Dance: Composition
  • 1998 
    Barnard College, Columbia University, BA Anthropology/Dance

Professional Memberships

  • Dance Studies Association
  • National Dance Education Organization