Justin Tornow
School of Dance
Email Address: jctornow@uncg.edu
Education
UNCG 1997-2001 BA in Choreography; BS in Political Science
UNCG 2007- 2010 MFA in Choreography, concentration in Pedagogy
Temple University, PhD candidate in Dance Studies (defending 2026)
Biography
Justin Tornow (she/her) is a choreographer, university dance educator, and researcher whose transdisciplinary work integrates dance, theory, and pedagogy. Her teaching fosters critical and creative thinking through embodied inquiry, collaboration, and the praxis of democratic education. Tornow’s research investigates the pedagogical links between philosopher and educationalist John Dewey, dance education pioneer Margaret H’Doubler, and U.S. dance avant-garde Anna Halprin, then discusses the pedagogy’s relevance to 21st-century dance education. She has presented her creative and educational work internationally, and is the founder and director of COMPANY, a collective of artists working at the intersection art and pedagogy while collapsing distinctions between theory and practice. Justin is a Ph.D. candidate in Dance Studies at Temple University and holds an MFA in Choreography from UNC-Greensboro.
Courses Taught
- Dance History 307 (Fall)
- Choreographing with Cage (Spring)
Scholarly Creative/Research Activity
Justin’s research interests include John Cage’s philosophy and creative practice, Merce Cunningham and the Zen Buddhist foundations of the Cunningham Technique, Black Mountain College, and John Dewey’s Pragmatist and democratic philosophy of education.