About Janet…

Janet Schroeder, MFA, PhD, is a percussive dance artist, scholar, and teacher, with a particular interest in tap dance, Appalachian clogging, and body percussion. She maintains her physical practice of these rhythmic dance forms throughout the U.S. and Mexico, creating and presenting choreography as well as taking and teaching classes. Schroeder’s explorations of rhythm in dance have recently taken her to Mexico, Appalachia, Chicago, New York City, the Berkshires, Greece, and France.

Schroeder is currently teaching online classes in dance and performance studies for University of Maryland, College Park; University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and SUNY Brockport. She has previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at University of North Carolina, Charlotte and lecturer in dance studies at University at Buffalo and Syracuse University.

Schroeder completed a PhD in Dance Studies at The Ohio State University where she was awarded a Presidential Fellowship, an honor that recognizes outstanding scholarship and research ability, which provided Schroeder the opportunity to devote full time to her dissertation research during the final year of her program. Schroeder’s dissertation project is a comparative analysis of tap dance and Appalachian step dance, which specifically foregrounds the cultural values of “innovation” and “ongoingness” in presentations of the forms on the concert dance stage from the late 1970s to the present. Additionally, her analysis addresses these dance forms as ethno-racial projects and examines their roles in cultural representation to explore the stage as a site of ethnic and racial formation where different iterations of Americanness are on display.

In November 2020, Schroeder published her peer-reviewed article, “Choreographing Appalachia as America: The Hazards of Nostalgia on the Concert Stage” in Dance Chronicle. In December 2020, she co-authored the article “Activist Adjuncts: Reimagining Power and Privilege through Antiracist Pedagogy” with her colleagues Alexia Buono, Cas Burns, and Mariko Yamada.

Schroeder has given public lectures at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival as scholar in residence, and she has shared her research at conferences including those sponsored by Dance Studies Association, Congress on Research in Dance, Society of Dance History Scholars, World Dance Alliance, and National Popular Culture Association/American Popular Culture Association. In 2015, Schroeder was awarded first place in the Arts area at the Hayes Graduate Research Forum at OSU for her presentation “Tap Dance, Notation, and The Archive: The Possibilities are Plural.”

In addition to written scholarship, Schroeder has an active performance and choreographic practice. She is currently assistant artistic director of the Columbus, OH based tap dance company, Movement Afoot, with whom she also performs. As a freelance Appalachian step dancer, Schroeder has appeared at venues in Rochester, NY and Columbus, OH, as well as, very briefly, on the Great Wall of China. Schroeder is an in-demand choreographer for tap dance and body percussion pieces and has created works for professional companies and college students. These choreographies have appeared on stages in Brazil, Mexico, and China, in Rochester, NY, and at University of Georgia and Ohio Northern University.

As an educator, Schroeder enjoys engaging with students in the studio as well as in seminars, working always to translate the social and communal values of percussive dance practices into the classroom. Schroeder has taught semester-long courses including Contemporary History of Black Performance (co-designed and co-taught with collaborator Ama Law), Dance in the Global Context, Dance in Popular Culture, and Introduction to Dance, as well as studio-based courses in tap dance and contemporary dance technique. These engagements took place at OSU, The College at Brockport (SUNY), University of Maryland College Park, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and University of Dayton. As a guest artist, Schroeder has shared workshops in body percussion, tap dance history and aesthetics, and composition at UMD-College Park, Universidad de Las Américas, Puebla, Hathaway Brown School, Cranbrook Educational Community, and the Kristi Faulkner Dance Intensive.

Additionally, Schroder is interested in engaging communities and audiences outside of academic institutions, and has enjoyed experiences as an advisor on an exhibit about dance at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, consulting with the USPS on a stamp honoring tap dance, sharing body percussion with the group “In Motion,” an organization dedicated to bringing movement classes to adults over age 50, and teaching the basics of Appalachian flatfooting at small folk music festivals.

From 2005-2010 Schroeder toured with music and dance company Rhythm in Shoes, and she continues to engage in percussive dance residencies in communities and universities across the country. She holds a BFA in musical theatre from Ohio Northern University and an MFA in dance from The College at Brockport, SUNY.

Curriculum Vitae (Excerpts)

Click here to download a complete CV.

EDUCATION

PhD, Dance Studies, Dec. 2018
The Ohio State University
Presidential Fellow
University Fellow

MFA, Dance, Choreography and Performance concentrations, 2013
The College at Brockport, SUNY
Graduate Teaching Assistant

BFA, Communication Arts, Musical Theatre/Theatre concentrations, 2000
Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio

UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Maryland, College Park, 2020-2021
Adjunct Lecturer

The College at Brockport, SUNY, 2019-2021
Lecturer

Syracuse University, Autumn 2020
Adjunct Lecturer

University at Buffalo, Autumn 2020
Adjunct Lecturer

University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Spring 2019, Spring 2021
Visiting Assistant Professor

The Ohio State University, 2014-2017
Graduate Teaching Associate
Dance Department Lead TA, 2016-2017

University of Maryland, College Park, 2017
Guest Lecturer

University of Georgia, 2017
Guest Artist

The College at Brockport, SUNY, 2010-2013
Instructor
Guest Lecturer and Graduate Teaching Assistant

University of Dayton, 2009-2010
Adjunct Professor, Tap Dance

Ohio Northern University, 2001-2014
Guest Choreographer, Lecturer, Rehearsal Director

INTERNATIONAL TEACHING AND PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE

Buckeye Roots Strings and Steps, CHINA tour, 2015
Artistic Director and Performer

Performatíca, Cholula, MEXICO, 2014
Teacher and Performer

Estudio Palpando Danza, Santurce, Puerto Rico, 2013
Teaching Artist, Body Percussion

Universidad de Las Américas, Puebla, MEXICO, 2012
Guest Lecturer

Casa de Cultura, San Pedro, Cholula, MEXICO, 2012
Cultural Exchange Contributor, Percussive Dance from the US

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND OTHER TEACHING EXPERIENCE

BalletMet Dance Academy, Columbus, Ohio, 2016-2018
Tap instructor

Ohio Dance Festival, Columbus, Ohio, 2015, 2016, 2017
Teaching Artist, Body Percussion

Ohio Folk Festival, Galloway, Ohio, 2016
Workshop Presenter, Appalachian clogging

In Motion: Movement Classes for Adults over 50, Columbus, Ohio, 2016
Teaching Artist, Body Percussion

Buckeye Roots Strings and Steps, China tour, 2015
Artistic Director and Performer

Performatíca, Cholula, MEXICO, 2014
Teacher and Performer

Cranbrook Educational Community, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 2014
Guest Artist, Body Percussion

Estudio Palpando Danza, Santurce, Puerto Rico, 2013
Teaching Artist, Body Percussion

Casa de Cultura, San Pedro, Cholula, MEXICO, 2012
Cultural Exchange Contributor, Tap Dance

Shoe2, Rhythm in Shoes’ Junior Company, 2008-2010
Director

Ottawa-Glandorf High School, Ottawa, Ohio, 2001-2006
Musical Director, Drama Club Advisor

AWARDS, GRANTS, AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Presidential Fellowship, The Ohio State University, 2018
Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship, OSU, 2017
Critical Difference for Women Grant, OSU, 2017
Research Fellowship, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 2012, 2014, 2016
Arts and Humanities Graduate Research Small Grant, OSU, 2015
First Place in Arts Area, Hayes Graduate Research Forum, juried, OSU, 2015
Ray Travel Award based on Service to University, Council of Graduate Students, OSU, 2014
Career Development Grant, Council of Graduate Students, OSU, 2014
University Fellowship, The Ohio State University, 2013-2014
Distinguished Professors Endowed Scholarship for Graduate Education, The College at Brockport, 2013
Promoting Excellence in Diversity Grant, The College at Brockport, 2011-2012

RESEARCH

PUBLICATIONS

“Shuffling with my dancestors: Embodying and transmitting cultural memory through tap dance,” Forthcoming.
Collection on popular dance and cultural memory, edited by Clare Parfitt and published by Palgrave in 2021.

“Staging Appalachia as America: The Hazards of Nostalgia on the Concert Stage,” Dance Chronicle, November 30, 2020.

“Tap Dance for the 21st Century: Michelle Dorrance Brings Artistry, Collaboration, and Innovation to Texas,” Arts and Culture Texas Magazine, December 2018/January 2019 edition.
Accessible online here.

INVITED LECTURES

Scholar-in-Residence. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 2019.
Program essays, pre-performance lectures contextualizing mainstage performances, post-performance discussions with Boston Ballet.

Scholar-in-Residence. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 2018.
Program essays, pre-performance lectures contextualizing mainstage performances, post-performance discussions with artists: Dorrance Dance. Compañía Sharon Fridman.

Scholar-in-Residence. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 2017.
Program essays, pre-performance lectures contextualizing mainstage performances, post-performance discussions with artists: Tireless: A Tap Dance Experience Curated by Michelle Dorrance. Moderator for public conversation “Tap Today” with Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS, selected

“The Potentiality (and Potential Pitfalls) of a Percussive Dance Commons,” 8/2019
Dance Studies Association Conference, Evanston, Illinois

“And Still You Must Swing: Tap Dance and the ‘Swing Aesthetic’ as Affirmations of Black Joy,” 2/2018
Collegium of African Diaspora Dance (CADD), Durham, North Carolina

“Shuffles of my Dancestors: Tracing Legacy and Lineage through Percussive Step Dance Practice,” 10/2017
Dance Studies Association Conference, Columbus, Ohio

“Appalachian Step Dancing: Negotiating the Nuances of Performance through Embodiment,” 03/2016
Hayes Graduate Research Forum, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

“‘Cut and Paste’ Methodologies of Popular Dance,” 06/2015
Congress on Research in Dance / Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, Athens, GREECE

“Tap Dance, Notation, and the Archive: The Possibilities are Plural,” 11/2014
Congress on Research in Dance / Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, Iowa City, Iowa

“Complicating Identity: Traditional Dance Practices in Contemporary Settings,” 7/2014
World Dance Alliance, Global Summit, Angers, FRANCE

“Colin Dunne’s Out of Time: Dancing Identity and Proposing an Alternative Irish Dance,” 4/2014
National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, Chicago, IL

“Percussive Step Dance Performance as Postmodern Dance,” 2/2014
American College Dance Festival, Northeast Region, Brockport, New York

“North American Folk Dance: Connecting Across Borders,” 10/2013
Midwest Popular Culture / American Culture Association Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO

“Suiting Up: It’s Bigger than the Body in Corporate Culture,” 4/2013
Dance Under Construction/Congress on Research in Dance: Special Topics, University of California, Los Angeles, California

“Hybrid or Happenstance?: Vernacular Dance Traditions in Mexico and Appalachia,” 10/2012
Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association Annual Conference, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York

“African Hand Drum Patterns in Percussive Dance,” 4/2012
Master’s Level Research Conference, The College at Brockport, Brockport, New York

“Laughter from the Lawn: Demystifying Humor and Laughter in Dance,” 4/2011
Scholar’s Day, The College at Brockport, Brockport, New York

PROFESSIONAL DANCE EXPERIENCE

Movement Afoot, 2014-present
Assistant Director, Dancer, Choreographer

Freelance Appalachian Step Dancer, 2011-present

Brouhaha, 2012-2014
Founder and Artistic Director
Choreographer, Dancer

Bill Evans Dance Company, 2011, 2013
Dancer

Rhythm in Shoes, 2005-2010
Dancer, Education Director, Assistant Tour Manager, Wardrobe Assistant

ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEADERSHIP POSITIONS, selected

Ohio State University Senate, 2016-2017
Graduate Student Senator, representing the Arts

Council of Graduate Students, 2013-2017
Delegate, Department of Dance, 2013-2016
Chair, Arts and Culture Committee, 2016-2017
OSU Delegate to National Association of Graduate and Professional Students Day on the Hill, 2017

Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, 2016
Dance! Exhibit advisor

American College Dance Festival, Northeast Region, 2/2014, 3/2016
Theatre Technical Director, Hartwell Hall

Red Dirt Dance, 2012-2015
Company Manager

Undergraduate Studies Committee, Department of Dance, OSU, 2013-2014
Student Representative

Special Events and Recreation Center Grand Opening, The College at Brockport, 2012
Entertainment Coordinator

Department of Dance, The College at Brockport, 2011-2012
Guest Artist Residency Coordinator

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 2011
Artist and Event Services Summer Intern

Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble, 2010-2013
Tour Manager