Ann Dils

Dr. Ann Dils is an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina (USC), Department of Theatre and Dance, and an Adjunct Instructor in the same department. She is also a former Professor and Chair of the Department of Dance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte). Dils holds roles in multiple institutions, including mentoring in Towson University’s Master of Arts in Dance Education through the Circle of Dance Masters. Her academic journey spans roles as Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at UNC Greensboro and teaching at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Education: PhD in Performance Studies from New York University and MA in Dance from The Ohio State University.

Research Interests: Dils focuses on dance history, movement analysis, feminist theory, and cultural studies. She is currently developing a collection of essays on vernacular dance in 1930s New York City. Her work includes co-authoring Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader (2001) and leading the National Endowment for the Arts-funded digital project Accelerated Motion.

Awards: Recipient of the Dixie Durr Award for Outstanding Service to Dance Research from the Dance Studies Association. She has also served as editor of Dance Research Journal and president of the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) board.

Advising & Grants: Active in mentoring dance education students and securing grant-funded projects. Her work bridges digital humanities and dance studies.

Labs/Teams: Co-developer of Accelerated Motion, a digital archive for dance materials, and collaborator with Ann Cooper Albright on scholarly works.