Associate Professor of Dance
Dance History, Theory, Criticism, and Ethnography
Dr. Fisher earned a master’s degree in dance history and
ethnography from York University in Toronto before receiving her Ph.D.
in Dance History and Theory from the University of California,
Riverside. Having taught both at York University and at Pomona College,
Claremont, California, she was for ten years a regular contributor of
dance writing to the Los Angeles Times. Her book,
Nutcracker Nation: How an Old World Ballet Became a Christmas
Tradition in the New World (2003,Yale University Press) won the
2004 Special Citation given by the de la Torre Bueno Prize and the
Society of Dance History Scholars. Her articles have appeared in many
dance publications and scholarly journals. She is co-editing (with
Anthony Shay) a volume of essays on dance and masculinity, and
researching a book on the life and work of Anna Pavlova.
A former dancer and actor, Dr. Fisher also had careers as a travel
writer, film critic, magazine editor, television critic, and media
commentator for CBC radio in Canada. In the 1990s, she made a few
unlikely comebacks in the arena of performance, appearing on the
sidelines of the Kirov Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet and
La Bayadère, and later, ironically enough, alongside
Mikhail Baryshnikov in David Gordon’s “The Matter,”
which used La Bayadère music and was remounted for
“Pastforward,” a White Oak Project concert in Los
Angeles. She has presented papers at many professional conferences and
has guest lectured for American Ballet Theatre, the National Ballet of
Canada, and many smaller dance organizations. An excerpt of
Nutcracker Nation appeared in Dance Magazine. Dr.
Fisher also wrote about the ballet on the editorial pages of the New
York Times and the Los Angeles Times, as well as appearing
on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” ABC’s
“Nightline,” and “CBS Sunday Morning.”
She holds the distinction of being the only self-appointed ballet
coroner to hold regular inquests into the death of Giselle.
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