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Northwestern School of Communication

Alyssa Motter

(She/Her)
Visiting Assistant Professor of Instruction
Alyssa E. Motter designs and facilitates interactive, movement-based experiences that provide a liminal space for social dialogue, self-reflexivity, and creative exploration. Her performance work explores the ways in which collaborative ensembles and personal narratives intersect. Motter’s research centers on community-building and learning through the arts, including studying identity through embodied methods and using movement to enhance science learning.

Department

Theatre

Area(s) of Expertise

Choreography, Dance, Improvisation, Performing Arts
Alyssa Motter

Alyssa E. Motter is a dance artist, educator, and writer who specializes in socially engaged dance practices. She designs and facilitates interactive movement-based experiences that connect individuals and encourage creative exploration, dialogue, and self-reflection. Her research focuses on community-building and learning through the arts, including studying identity through embodied methods and using movement to enhance science learning. Currently, Motter serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University, where she teaches dance composition, improvisation, and collaborative studies. She holds a M.F.A. from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a B.F.A. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has danced with South Chicago Dance Theatre and notable choreographers such as Kyle Abraham, Jasmine Hearn, and Nejla Yatkin. Motter has served as a dance writer for Newcity Chicago among other publications and as an arts administrator for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Carnegie Mellon University.

Education

  • MFA in Dance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Peck School of the Arts
  • BFA in Dance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Fine and Applied Arts

Courses

  • Dance 225-0 Introduction to Dance Composition
  • Dance 101-2 Dance as Creative Collaboration
  • Dance 345 Studies in Dance Collaboration
  • Dance 350 Modern/Contemporary: Studies in Advanced Improvisation

Publications

Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Identity In and Around Organizations (2023)
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Researching Individual Somatic Identity through Movement and Dance: Body-Centered Narrative Inquiry

Journal of Transformative Education (2020)
Autoethnographic Dance and Transformative Learning: Exploring Self-Reflexive Identity Work and Change

International Transformative Learning Conference Proceedings (2018)
A Model of Dialogic Embodiment: Transformative Autoethnographic Dance

Recent Awards, Fellowships, and Residencies

Learning Fellowship (2023) University of California-Berkeley, Greater Good Science Center, Bridging Differences in Higher Education Campus Cohort

Chicago Cultural Center Residency (2019) See Chicago Dance, Chicago, IL

Jack Mezirow Living Theory of Transformative Learning Award (2018) International Transformative Learning Conference 2018, New York, NY