Ilana Morgan, Ph.D.

Contact

imorgan@twu.edu
940-898-2003
205C

Website

Biography

Dr. Ilana Morgan, Associate Professor of Dance, centers her research on dance education as a transformative tool for social justice, with a particular focus on incarcerated and detained youth. Her work investigates dance as a means of expression and healing, exploring themes such as confinement, freedom, government rehabilitation programs, juvenile justice, and integrating social-emotional learning with dance. Her research has been supported by a prestigious NEA Arts Education Research Grant (2023–2024) and has appeared in prominent publications like the Journal of Dance Education and the Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship. She has also contributed chapters to key texts, including Dance Education and Responsible Citizenship: Promoting Civic Engagement through Effective Dance Pedagogies and Dance Education Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices (Routledge). At TWU, Dr. Morgan teaches dance pedagogy and theory courses, coordinates the MA in Dance and the BA in Dance with Teacher Certification, mentors student teachers, and advises PhD and MA students.

Education

Ph.D., Dance, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX
M.A., Dance, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX
B.F.A., Dance, Ohio University, Athens, OH

Artistic Interests

Dance Education; Dance; Community Dance Practices; Action Research; Juvenile Justice; Arts Advocacy; Dance Pedagogy

Latest Articles

Fine Arts Dance Education Program or Dance/Drill Team? Or Both?: Defining and Creating High School Dance Programming in Relationship to the National Core Arts Standards
Dance Education in Practice (2021)
Ilana Morgan

Arts Education and Citizenship: A Pedagogical Framework
Journal of Dance Education (2018)
Ilana Morgan

"Internetting and Female Undergraduate Dancers: Embodied Cognition, Dance Education, and the Extended Technological Self
Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship (2016)
Ilana Morgan

Chapters

Classroom as Laboratory: Teacher Self-Study and Dance Education
in Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices | Routledge (2023)
Ilana Morgan

Arts Education and Citizenship: A Pedagogical Framework
in Dance Education and Responsible Citizenship: Promoting Civic Engagement through Effective Dance Pedagogies | Routledge (2019)
Ilana Morgan

Professional Affiliations

• Dance and the Child International (daCi)
• National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)
• Texas Dance Educators Associate (TDEA)
• World Dance Alliance (WDA)

Honors & Awards

• College of Arts and Sciences Research Fellows Award, Texas Woman's University (2023)
• Outstanding 2022-2023 Faculty University Supervisor, Texas Woman's University (2023)
• College of Arts and Sciences Research Fellows Award, Texas Woman's University (2022)