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Currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Theatre, Dance and Performance Program at York University
Expected End Date: May 2026

• Thesis Title: Evaluating Legacy: Tracing the Impact of Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty and Rethinking Arts Impact Assessment in the Canadian Dance Sector
• Supervisory committee: Dr. Bridget Cauthery, Dr. Anne F. MacLennan and Dr. Mary Fogarty

Completed a Masters in Dance at York University in April 2018

• Thesis Title: The Rize of Krump in Canadian Dance
• Supervisors: Dr. Mary Fogarty and Dr. Danielle Robinson
  

Completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance at York University in April 2014

• Specializing in World Dances and Choreography

My Ph.D. research explores the impact of The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed in 1972 by Cold War defector Rudolf Nureyev, on the National Ballet of Canada and the wider Canadian dance sector. Using this production as a case study, I re-examine how arts impact has been assessed at the federal level by the Canada Council for the Arts. While The Sleeping Beauty is often remembered as a lavish and financially risky venture, my research uncovers new evidence that it became a long-term artistic, institutional, and financial asset for the company. Through this lens, I challenge the prevailing emphasis on short-term, quantifiable outcomes, showing instead how artistic legacies unfold over decades and become embedded in labour practices, institutional memory, and national cultural identity. I also demonstrate how the Canada Council’s recent shift toward data-driven evaluation diverges from the recommendations of leading arts impact scholars. Ultimately, my study advocates for historically grounded, discipline-specific, and long-term models of evaluation that better reflect the unique nature of dance and artistic production in Canada, while critiquing federal policies that prioritize short-term visibility and economic growth at the expense of lasting artistic development and sustainability.

Research interests include: arts impact assessment and evaluation models; cultural policy and arts funding mechanisms in Canada; dance historiography; labour practices, precarity, and sustainability in the dance sector; intersections of media, myth-making, and representation in dance history; popular dance forms; hip hop and street dance in Canada; popular culture; and arts criticism, including reviewing practices and the role of criticism in shaping cultural value.

Forthcoming 2026: Malnig, Julie, Elizabeth June Bergman, and Deanne Kearney, eds. Traversing Popular Dance Histories: Mediation and Re-creation. Special Issue of The Journal of Popular Culture. Forthcoming 2026. (Co-editor)

Forthcoming 2026: Kearney, Deanne. "Queer Futures on Stage: Chappell Roan and the Power of Performance Aesthetics" in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Gender in Popular Music Industries. Forthcoming 2026. (Author)

• Newman, Shawn, and Deanne Kearney. “The Impact Challenge: Moving from Output to Impact.” in De Gruyter Handbook of Creative Industries, edited by Louis-Étienne Dubois, Laurent Simon, and Bérangère Szostak, pp. 323–334. De Gruyter, August 2025. (Co-author)
• Kearney, Deanne. "Dancing with AI: Unveiling the Potentials and Pitfalls of ChatGPT for a New Wave of Dance Critics and Criticism." in Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, no. 29, June 2024. (Author)
• Kearney, Deanne. "Book Review—Renegades: Digital Dance Cultures from Dubsmash to TikTok." Riffs Journal 2021. (Author)
  
• Fogarty, Mary, Jonathan Osborn, and Deanne Kearney. “The Multiple Legitimacies of Tentacle Tribe, A Dance Company.” In Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! An Approach to Underground Music Scenes 1, 535–45. 2015. (Co-author)

“Arts Impact Assessment and Institutional Change: How Ballet Defections Influenced Canada’s Dance Sector.” Indeterminate States: Bodies, Fields, Praxis, Dance Studies Association. Online, 2025. (Speaker)

“Influencers, Agency, and Popular Dance: Decolonizing Movement Practices through Online Technologies.” Galvanizing Dance Studies: Building Antiracist Praxis, Transformative Connections, and Movement(s) of Radical Care, Dance Studies Association. Rutgers University, New Jersey, 2021. (Speaker)

“Not Just the Icing on the Cake: Dance in Missy Elliott’s Iconic Imagery and Visuals.” Big Sounds from Small Places, IASPM-Canada. Online, 2021. (Speaker)

“Dancing to the Derogatory: Female Hip-Hop Dancers Face the Music.” Imagining Differently: Research-Creation Practices in Urgent Times, Theatre & Performance Studies Graduate Conference. Online, 2020. (Speaker)

“Transitioning Commonses: Beyond the Institutional Between.” Dancing in Common, Dance Studies Association. Chicago, 2019. (Panelist)

“Superkick’d: Athleticism and Movement in Toronto’s Professional Wrestling Scene.” More Bounce to the Ounce: Graduate Student Symposium, Popular Culture and Dance Research Symposium. Toronto, ON, 2019. (Speaker)

“The Dungeon Sessions: An Ethnographic Look at Krump in Toronto.” Empowerment Through Art: Multidisciplinary Creativity Conference. Toronto, 2018. (Speaker & Panelist)

“#BlackLivesMatter: Social Change through Krump.” A Place in This World: Music and Belonging / Canada 150, IASPM-Canada Annual Conference. Toronto, 2017. (Speaker)

“#BlackLivesMatter: Social Change through Krump.” World Dance Alliance Global Summit. St. John’s, 2017. (Speaker)

“The Multiple Legitimacies of Tentacle Tribe, A Dance Company.” Keep the Ideas Flowing, Popular Culture Association of Canada. Niagara Falls, ON, 2015. (Speaker)

“The Multiple Legitimacies of Tentacle Tribe, A Dance Company.” Move On Up – Popular Culture and Dance Research Symposium, PoP Moves. Toronto, ON, 2015. (Speaker)