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Arts Division
Department of Performance, Play & Design (PPD)
Porter College
Professor of Dance
Faculty
Regular Faculty
Cognition
Dance
Education
Theater Arts A Main Stage
Room 218
By appointment via email
Theater Arts Center
Edward (Ted) Warburton received early dance training at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ted performed professionally with American Ballet Theater II, Houston Ballet, and Boston Ballet. Earned doctorate in human development and education from Harvard University. He served as Director of Research for the National Dance Education Organization, President of the California Dance Education Association, and Interim Dean of the Arts at UCSC. Currently, Ted is Senior Research Fellow of the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA.
Thinking behind the doing of dance and the art of dance in education. Interested in the relational practices and cognitive processes that support (or undermine) the doing, making, and viewing of dance. Creative work uses digital media and network technologies as visual, aural, and connective materials in live performances that fuse dance, theater, and media designs.
Teaching centers artistic expression and personal development with coursework that provides high quality movement experiences, performance analysis, and research opportunities.
2023 Special Achievement Award for Overseas Scholars, Korean Society of Dance; 2017 Sachs Distinguished Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University; 2016 Outstanding Researcher, National Dance Education Organization; 2012 Excellence in Research, UCSC Arts Division; 2007 Research Fellow, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival; 2003 Emerging Leader, National Dance Education Organization; 1993 Morgan Award for Excellence, Boston College
Warburton, E.C. & Crum, D. (2025). Thinking behind the doing of dance: A review of Cognitive Dance Studies. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000823
Bashaw, B., Grundstrom, J., Houston, C. & Warburton, E.C. (2025). Leadership in dance and dance education: A review. Research in Dance Education: Special Issue on Leadership and Futures, 26(1), 7-29.
Warburton, E.C. (2024). Recentering ballet for twenty-first century dance education. Dance Education in Practice, 11(1), 7-13.
Warburton, E.C. (2022). TikTok challenge: Dance education futures in the creator economy. Arts Education Policy Review, 125(4), 430-440.
Warburton, E.C. and Laughlin, G. (2020). A performed solution to the Pythagorean problem: The Three Bodies Project. Leonardo, 53(2), 145-150.
Warburton, E.C. (2019). Metonymy in dance: Ballet bunheads take a cognitive turn. Dance Research, 37(1), 18-34.
Warburton, E.C. (2016). Becoming elsewhere: ArtsCross and the (re)location of performer cognition. In R. Blair and A. Cook (eds.) Languages, bodies, and ecologies: Theatre, performance, and Cognition (pp. 93-106). London: Methuen.
Warburton, E.C., Reedy, P., & Ng, N. (2014). Engaging families in dance: An investigation of moving parents and children together. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 15(1), 1-27.
Warburton, E.C., Wilson, M., Lynch, M., and Cuykendall, S. (2013). The cognitive benefits of movement reduction: Evidence from dance marking. Psychological Science, 24(9), 1732-39.
Press, C. and Warburton, E.C. (2013). Creating dance: A traveler’s guide. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Warburton, E.C. (2011). Of meanings and movements: Re-languaging embodiment in dance phenomenology and cognition. Dance Research Journal, 43(2), 65-83.
Giges, B. and Warburton, E.C. (2010). From router to front row: Lubricious Transfer and the aesthetics of telematic performance. Leonardo, 43(1), 24-32.
THEA 30 Introduction to Dance Theory and Technique
THEA 31B Dance Studio I: Ballet
THEA 131B Dance Studio II: Ballet
THEA 137 Studies in Performance
THEA 139 Random: With A Purpose
THEA 164 Issues in Dance History and Theory
THEA 165 Dance Modernism
THEA 166 Ballet: A history
THEA 290C Performance Analysis
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