TC Affiliations:
Educational Background
PhD Educational Psychology, Learning Sciences and Human Development, University of Washington
MFA Dance, University of Washington
BFA Dance, University of Arizona
BA Religious Studies, University of Arizona
Scholarly Interests
embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive approaches to cognition in dance; dance as a cultural technology for developing situated ways of being and thinking; kinetic research methods; and pedagogy of research methods
Biographical Information
Matthew Henley, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Dance Education Program and Affiliated Researcher in the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Henley focuses his research on describing cognitive and social-emotional skills associated with dance education. He takes a phenomenological approach, analyzing how dancers in diverse communities describe the experience of learning concepts in the dance classroom. Henley's related interests include enactive cognition in the arts, developmental and neuroscientific approaches to embodied knowing, research methods for pedagogy, and the pedagogy of research methods. Henley danced professionally in New York City with Sean Curran Company and Randy James Dance Works. Henley earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology: Learning Sciences from the University of Washington, and M.F.A. in Dance from the same institution. Previously, he served as Associate Professor of Dance at Texas Woman's University, where he coordinated the B.A program and taught in the M.F.A. and Ph.D. programs.