#  Laura Quinton 

Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies

Lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media

 

 

 



   ![Headshot for Laura Quinton](/sites/g/files/omnuum6821/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-04/Quinton%20photo%20%281%29.jpeg?itok=64mil2P8) 

 



 





 

I am the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies and a Lecturer in Theater, Dance & Media at Harvard. I came to Harvard in 2022 as a Lecturer in History & Literature, and I continue to be affiliated with Hist & Lit.

My first book, *Ballet Imperial: Dance and the New British Empire*, is under contract with Harvard University Press. The book tells the story of how ballet, once a staple of British popular entertainment, became an elite national art and global “soft power” tool over the course of the twentieth century. Along the way, I uncover how the Arts Council of Great Britain, BBC Television, and the British Council worked to spread ballet at home and abroad – and how dance artists’ evolving creativity could test these sponsors’ goals. Fellowships from the Harvard Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities, NYU Center for the Humanities, Mellon Foundation/Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), and the Alumnae Association of Barnard College have supported my research.

A former dancer, I received my PhD in History from New York University in 2021. From 2021-2022, I was a Resident Fellow at NYU's Center for Ballet and the Arts and a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the NYU College Core Curriculum. My writing has appeared in *The New York Review of Books*, *The Historical Journal*, and *Twentieth Century British History*, among other venues. I have collaborated with artists and arts organizations on public lectures and events, including most recently with Boston Ballet.

At Harvard and NYU, I have designed and taught courses that invite students to analyze a wide range of arts and cultural forms in order to grapple with larger questions and global histories of politics, power, and identity. My new Fall 2025 seminar – *Boston Goes Dancing* – on dance in the Boston area, past and present, received a Curricular Innovation Award from the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship. Professor David Levine and I are currently developing an Arts & Humanities Introductory Course – *And The Crowd Goes Wild* – on audiences and spectatorship.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## People
    
     [TDM Faculty](/people/art-faculty) [Staff & Administrators](/people/staff-administrators)