Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel

Dance Scholar | Educator | Author

About ME

With 20years experience in higher education, my career has transitioned from Graduate Teaching Assistant (2004) to Lecturer (2005), then Senior Lecturer (2014) and Head of Research (2017-2023) senior manager.

External Examiner roles: I have held External Examiner roles across all levels: for the University of Winchester’s BA Choreography and Dance (2015-2019), postgraduate (MA and PhD) at the University of Cape Town, University of Melbourne, Roehampton University and the University of Bolton; I am currently the External Examiner for the MA in Dance Research (Rambert School).

Service, Advocacy and Leadership: I am a former board member of the European Association of Dance Historians (2006-2012), the Society of Dance History Scholars (2012-2018), and the Society for Dance Research (2022-23)I have organized conferences in London, Paris and New York. For the Faculty of Education/RAD: London (2009), Sydney (2016), Brisbane (2018), and online virtual (2021). I curated the Guest Lecture Series (2017-2023) bringing together global voices on dance studies and dance education.

Research interests: transmoderism, dance and interdisciplinarity; defining contemporary ballet; pedagogical praxis in ballet teaching (focus on equity, diversity and inclusion); writing dance histories through performance.

Teaching/research supervision experience includes: performance analysis of ballet in the 20/21C, dance pedagogy, 20th dance histories, approaches to writing histories, understanding dance criticism and the New York School, methodologies for research in dance and musical theatre studies, research ethics and academic integrity. I am experienced in supervising doctoral research (University of Chichester). I have also guest lectured at Kingston University (UK), the University of Cape Town, Rhodes University (RSA) and the University of Malta, as well as conservatoire/Higher Education providers such as Rambert School.

Publications: My work is widely published, in book articles, peer-reviewed journal articles; edited journals; monographs and edited anthology. With Dr Jill Nunes Jensen, I co-edited Network of Pointes (2015), and The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet. I was editor of ‘Focus on Education’ between 2016 and 2023. Following the publication of my first two books (2020, 2021), I have edited The Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy (OUP, forthcoming)

booksign

Publications

Books

Chapters

Articles

‘She danced one evening in late spring…Longing (1978) as a choreographic swansong for Nathalie Poutiatine’, Treasures of Malta, Easter 2025 (forthcoming).

“I used to dance down by the blue gum trees: On historiography, balletic otherness and global trajectories in retracing Yvonne Mounsey’s influences”, South African Dance Journal – 2015.

Research and Knowledge Exchange

Research

* Poutitine Project (2014-2024)

* Contemporary Ballet Project (2016-2021)

Conference Keynotes

* Cecchetti Ballet Australia: Keynote March 2022, Keynote July 2024

* CORPS de BALLET 25th Annual Conference, Keynote with Dr Adesola Akinleye June 2023

* It’s About People (Dance) Conference 2022, Alma Mater Europea Dance Academy, Slovenia, March 2022

Guest Lecture Series ('In Conversation' Events)

* 2020-21: Sara Houston (University of Roehampton), Jo Butterworth (University of Malta), Mike Fleming (University of Durham), Thomas F. DeFrantz (Northwestern University)

* 2021-22: Gerard Samuel (University of Cape Town), Susan Koff (NYU Steinhardt), John Baldacchino (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Sherril Dodds (Temple University), Emily Wilcox (William & Mary), Lynn Garafola (Barnard College, Columbia University)

* 2022-23: Alfdaniels Mabingo (Makere University), Kristie Mortimer (University of Auckland), Melissa Blanco Borelli (Northwestern University), Rebecca Rossen (University of Texas, Austin), Norma Sue Fisher Stitt (York University, CA), Jessica Zeller (Texas Christian University)

Webinars

* Series1: Pioneers of the RAD (four-part series on the pedagogical legacies of five key teachers, 1930s – 1990s, broadcast between January and May 2020).

* Series II: Ballet in the 20C (four-part series on ballet as ‘art’, including Bronislava Nijinska and Jerome Robbins, broadcast between February 2021 and March 2022).

* Series III: Ballet in the 21C (five-part series on ballet as ‘contemporary art’, including the work of women choreographers, and the upcoming generation of dance makers), broadcast between July 2022 and March 2023.

Podcasts

* ResDance Series 3 Episode 7 (2023)

* Why Dance Matters (Series 4, Episode 6, 2022)

* Treasures from Malta (Series 1, Episode 5, 2021)

Reviews