Personal statement

Michelle Elliott is the Subject Leader for Dance and a practitioner-researcher with a particular focus on creative movement practices. She is the co-convenor of the Creative Practice and Embodied Knowledge Research Group, a collective that aims to celebrate and elevate knowledge that exists and emerges from our creative, embodied interactions and experiences.

From 2023-2025 Michelle was a co-investigator on the AHRC funded initiative Dancing Otherwise: Exploring Pluriversal Practices. Her latest research is informed by her pedagogical interests into how different cognitive processes might be articulated and re-imagined through different dance movement practices.

Prior to joining Bath Spa, Michelle developed a diverse professional portfolio as a dancer and choreographer, working across a range of educational contexts. She has taught in varied community settings and is committed to ensuring that dance as a discipline remains open, inclusive and accessible to all. She continues to advance knowledge of embodied intelligence and its role in learning, creativity and relational engagement.

Professional qualifications

  • MA Choreography (2009)
  • PGCE in Post-compulsory Education (2003)
  • PG (Dip) Arts Management (2000)
  • BA (Hons) Performing Arts: Dance (1995).

Accreditations and leadership programmes

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Advance HE Diversifying Leadership Cohort of 2023.

Teaching specialisms

  • The choreographer-researcher
  • Enhancing creative cognition through movement-based practices
  • Dance as activist practice.

Other external roles

  • External examiner for Middlesex University (2016-2020)
  • External Examiner for the University of Plymouth (2011-2014)
  • Advisor for Worcester University (2009).

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Philippe Decouflé
book_section

Elliott, M (2021) 'Philippe Decouflé.' In: Butterworth, J and Sanders, L, eds. Fifty contemporary choreographers. 3rd ed. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 69-73. ISBN 9780367376765

Dancing otherwise: new assemblages for pluriversal practices
article

Hunter, V, Perazzo, D and Elliott, M (2025) 'Dancing otherwise: new assemblages for pluriversal practices.' Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 5 (2). pp. 59-80. ISSN 2767-6013

An examination of critical approaches to interdisciplinary dance performance
article

Elliott, M (2009) 'An examination of critical approaches to interdisciplinary dance performance.' Research in Dance Education, 10 (1). pp. 63-74. ISSN 1464-7893

Choreography and Britishness
conference_item

Elliott, M (2010) Choreography and Britishness. In: Imagining Bodies: Landscape, Memory, Community, 13-15 May 2010, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia.

Watching us, watching you
performance

Elliott, M (2009) Watching us, watching you. Bath Spa University Theatre, Bath, UK, 12 March 2009.

We want you to watch us
performance

Elliott, M (2008) We want you to watch us. The Nightingale Theatre, Brighton, UK, 2008.