January 16, 2024

Longtime faculty member and Pilates Director, Jennifer Morley, takes on a new role as Interim Dance Program Director!

Jennifer Morley is an Associate Teaching Professor and the Somatics coordinator in the Drexel University dance program. She is the Director of both the Drexel Pilates studio and the 450-hour Drexel Pilates training program. She is the coordinator of the Somatics minor. Her scholarship is highly focused on both existing and emerging embodied practices and the cultures and value systems from which they emerge. Jennifer is dedicated to anti-racist pedagogy and active inclusion.

Her specific work in the Pilates method has been centered on the deconstruction of the biomechanics of the classical repertoire. This practice is reflected in the 400-page training manual she authored and utilizes in the training program. This approach, partnered with exploration of the kinetics of dynamic stabilization and a love of full-bodied expressive movement create the foundation of her dance pedagogy.

Jennifer’s choreographic research is focused on the development of archetypal movement modes as a starting point for the creation of inhabited landscapes. Utilizing the Jungian understanding of archetypes as energies that reflect innate tendencies that mold and transform individual consciousness that live in all humans across time, space, and culture, she works to develop movement motifs that connect to lived experiences.

Her work was most recently presented at the Somatic Dance conference in Geneva New York and at the Cardell Dance Studio in Philadelphia. She has had a two-year choreographic residency at Philadelphia’s Community Education Center and been the recipient of multiple New Stages for Dance grants through Dance USA Philadelphia and the Pew Center for Arts and Culture.

Jennifer is invested in the development and support of community. She teaches mindfulness workshops throughout the University and beyond. She developed a community-based yoga course, through which she was able to study trauma informed care at the Kirkbride Center behavioral health care facility.

Her background includes Pilates certifications from Romana Kryzanowska (Romana’s Pilates) and Karen Carlson (Pineland Pilates) and multiple yoga certifications including a dynamic flow certification from Alex Holmes. She is working toward a Dynamic Embodiment certification from Dr. Martha Eddy and holds select certifications in the Franklin Method. Drexel Pilates has been highlighted in Dance Magazine, Pilates Style Magazine, and Drexel Quarterly. Interviews with Jennifer have been published on DanceAdvantage.net and the Gratz Industries International newsletter. Jennifer’s performance background includes work with Keith Thompson/ danceTactics, Olive Prince Dance, and Deborah Goffe’s Scapegoat Garden. Through danceTactics, Jennifer taught master classes at Duke University and at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina. She was the recipient of a 2020 Rocky Award.