Michelle LaVigne

I approach communication as a social practice that allows us to share information, critique
social/cultural trends, challenge institutional norms, and instigate organizational change. My
classes in oral communication focus on the ethics of academic, civic, and professional speech
within the highly mediated, multimodal, and mutable context of the 21st Century. I am
committed to supporting students in becoming critical and ethical communicators as they
navigate global problems and social challenges in their fields of study and career pathways.
Toward that goal, I am interested in inclusive pedagogies that offer flexible learning
opportunities and promote community engagement. My research transverses the areas of
dance, rhetoric, and performance. I am particularly interested in using frameworks that examine
the consequences of cultural, social, and political repetition within dance histories, dance
bodies, and their archives. I published a chapter, “Contemporary Repetitions ; Rhetorical
Potential and The Nutcracker” in The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet (2021), which
examines the reworkings and performances of The Nutcracker to argue that its persistent
circulation constrains contemporary ballet’s rhetorical potential by reaffirming the values of
familiarity, comfort, and normativity. I have presented my research at national and international
conferences and published reviews in Dance Chronicle, TDR/The Drama Review, Quarterly
Journal of Speech, Text and Performance Quarterly, and the Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Criticism.