https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog daily 0.75 2026-03-09 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/no-one-cares-on-ballets-deaths-by-irrelevance monthly 0.5 2026-03-19 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/doing-the-unthinkable monthly 0.5 2026-03-01 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/humanizing-ballet-pedagogies monthly 0.5 2025-01-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/1e5fde25-fd5e-4b22-b11c-26cdecc20fca/AO24-4071-sig-600x100.jpg Writings - Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies - Make it stand out My priority is for this book to be accessible to those interested in reading it. Please connect with me directly if costs are prohibitive. https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/the-meanings-of-grades monthly 0.5 2023-05-26 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/ungrading-another-iteration monthly 0.5 2024-06-24 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/ballet-pedagogy-and-bodily-autonomy monthly 0.5 2022-07-05 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/fuck-self-care monthly 0.5 2022-04-15 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/ungrading-and-pedagogic-ontology-a-love-letter monthly 0.5 2022-09-08 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/meditations-on-agency monthly 0.5 2021-09-06 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/listening-as-pedagogic-praxis monthly 0.5 2021-06-18 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/on-acknowledgment monthly 0.5 2021-09-16 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/neither-tiny-nor-pretty monthly 0.5 2023-08-15 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/student-shaming monthly 0.5 2021-12-19 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/inside-the-lines monthly 0.5 2021-01-01 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/presence-and-pedagogy monthly 0.5 2021-01-01 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/pedagogy-for-end-times monthly 0.5 2024-06-24 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/the-pedagogy-of-impossible-decisions monthly 0.5 2021-01-01 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/pedagogy-as-protest monthly 0.5 2021-09-26 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/on-hesitant-bodies monthly 0.5 2021-01-01 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/the-incidental-pedagogy-of-the-coronavirus monthly 0.5 2021-01-01 https://www.jessicazeller.net/blog/a-starting-place monthly 0.5 2020-12-29 https://www.jessicazeller.net/connect daily 0.75 2026-01-27 https://www.jessicazeller.net/home daily 1.0 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/1609444239408-QSNXGTBC8ZA9H6CFTK76/IMG_2342.jpg Home - Jessica Zeller, Ph.D., M.F.A., is a Professor of Dance in the TCU School for Classical & Contemporary Dance. She teaches courses in ballet technique and repertoire as well as Dance Studies coursework in Dance histories, theories, pedagogies, and methodologies. Zeller aims to design and teach courses that center humanity, equity, and vitality in the ballet studio and the classroom. In the tradition of Critical Pedagogy, she seeks to balance a critique of unjust systems and hierarchies with the hopeful view that liberatory education is always possible. In the tradition of Feminist Pedagogy, she seeks to honor and acknowledge each individual student; their histories and ways of knowing and being in the world. And in defiance of ballet’s exclusionary traditions, she seeks to make space for each student to find the form in their individual body to their desired end—to overturn ideals for the sake of healthy artistic development and embodied agency. (See Teaching Philosophy and Writings.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/8c0d7005-0acd-4e6b-af76-b8863a438f62/Screenshot+2026-03-20+at+7.35.26%E2%80%AFPM.png Home - Review of Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies in Dance Chronicle “Extending the reach of critical pedagogy theorists Paulo Freire and bell hooks into the dance studio, Zeller rejects the traditional model of ballet education that sees students as recipients of a teacher’s knowledge and instead invites educators and students to collaborate in the collective purpose of student learning. She encourages reflection on content and methods by the teachers, who then model critical thinking for and with the students. Central to this cooperative enterprise is an acknowledgement of everyone’s ‘whole humanness,’ which Zeller defines as students and teachers inherently having ‘a fullness of being and humanity that, by virtue of their existence, deserves due regard’ (p.3).” —Dr. Steven Ha https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/e5094e7b-f33c-4164-a1f4-a7d4d48c0b91/Screenshot+2026-02-12+at+8.31.44%E2%80%AFPM.png Home - Feature Article in TCU’s Endeavors Magazine Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies: Philosophies, Perspectives, and Praxis (Routledge, 2025) is featured in the 2026 issue of TCU’s Endeavors research magazine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/469f22aa-7074-4b17-88f3-ee0a2a1d1d13/Screenshot+2026-03-20+at+7.35.51%E2%80%AFPM.png Home - Review of Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies in the Journal of Dance Education “Mining the concept of humanizing pedagogies for teaching ballet is personal for Zeller. She is committed to the genre as both a practitioner and educator. Her passion for and about ballet underscores the book’s subtitle, Philosophies, Perspectives, and Praxis for Teaching Ballet, and becomes increasingly evident as she invites readers to join her “thinking through—a process” (2) that was so integral to her writing the book. Zeller’s process is a journey of critical reflection, where she recognizes the privileges afforded her as a tenured faculty member teaching in a BFA ballet program at a predominately white private institution of higher education. She also does not shy away from critically examining ballet traditions that have promoted its authoritarian pedagogical practices. The grace and humility Zeller reveals while acknowledging these realities become her call-to-action for teachers of all dance genres and in all contexts to reflect upon the potential of humanizing our pedagogy for dance students of today and in the future.” — Sherrie Barr, MFA, CMA https://www.jessicazeller.net/research daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/5cda59c0-b6f7-4981-b38b-34c8c35544de/Cover+-+Final.jpg Research - New Book: Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies: Philosophies, Perspectives, and Praxis for Teaching Ballet. London: Routledge, 2025. In Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies, Jessica Zeller offers a new take on the ballet pedagogy manual, examining how and why ballet pedagogies develop, considering their implications for students and teachers, and proposing processes by which readers can enact humanizing, equitable approaches. Read reviews in the Journal of Dance Education and Dance Chronicle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/a944ecb7-c05b-4c91-b7d6-6cebab7b7e15/9780190296698.jpg Research Book: Shapes of American Ballet: Teachers and Training Before Balanchine. Oxford University Press, 2016. "At last we've a serious examination by Jessica Zeller of seven brave and resourceful ballet teachers from Russia and Italy who came here to initiate and catalyze their ballet traditions. It's been a missing link in studies of the major influences on the creation of our unique, contemporary American ballet. Located in New York City, their schools tempered and molded both the athletic bodies of Americans, and in so doing affected the bold choreography of our artists. Zeller's fluid and judicious writing brings to light the energy and pathos of early twentieth century dance history." –Judith Chazin-Bennahum, University of New Mexico https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea218b594c3d263ca1c216a/72bce8a0-29c0-413b-9df4-0fa6bfc8cb9d/Screen+Shot+2019-11-15+at+8.50.07+PM.png Research - Selected Presentations/Podcasts Podcast Interview: “Optimism.” Teacher of the Ear. Host Chris Friend. January 2022. Listen here. Podcast Interview: “Ungrading Dance.” Lesson Impossible. Host Aviva Levin. June 2020/Dec 2021. Listen here. Conference Presentation: “Grading Dancing: Fitting the Square Peg of Ballet into the Round Hole of University Assessment.” Presented at the CORPS de Ballet, International virtual conference, July 2020. Podcast Interview: Beyond the Curriculum. Host Aaron Blackwelder. June 2020. Listen here. Public Lecture: In the Liminal Space: Pedagogy at the Intersection of Our Ideals and Our Humanity. Presented as part of Temple University’s Dance Studies Colloquium series. November 2019. https://www.jessicazeller.net/teaching-philosophy-excerpt daily 0.75 2024-08-28