Courtney Liu is an educator, choreographer, and performer who earned her BA and MFA from Duke University. She has performed with the Broadway cast of the Phantom of the Opera, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Queen of the Night, AEA & Disney Developmental labs, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Busch Gardens Theme Parks, and the Cincinnati Ballet. Courtney also performed with a variety of contemporary companies in New York City including Peridance, De Funes Dance, Monica Hogan Danceworks, and Terra Firma Dance Theater. Courtney has served as Assistant Dance Captain at the Phantom of the Opera and as Assistant Director for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Most recently, she performed on Good Morning America for the reopening of Broadway and continues to serve as a ballerina vacation swing for the Phantom of the Opera.

 

Courtney has taught dance in a variety of pre-professional dance settings including the Institute for American Musical Theater, the Ballet Institute of New York, the Chapel Hill School of Ballet, and the Raleigh School of Ballet. Her pedagogical research on ballet, body image, and flow/yu has been presented at the Embodied Learning Summit, CORPS de Ballet International, the Appearance Matters Conference, and the National Dance Educators Organization. In recent years, Courtney taught multiple levels of ballet and the interdisciplinary course, Body Image and Gender, at Duke University. She has also taught guest masterclasses at both Duke University and Elon University.

 

Courtney's choreography has been commissioned by the Ciompi Quartet, Thistle Dance, Maximiliano Amici, Barriskill Dance Theater School, and the American Dance Festival in collaboration with the Nasher Museum. Prior to launching her dance career in New York, Courtney studied psychology and managed an NIH-funded study evaluating the effects of Aprepitant for opioid withdrawal at Bellevue Hospital/NYU Langone Medical Center. Courtney’s experience in the field of psychology combined with her experience as a mixed-race American continues to inform her choreographic research.

 

Courtney is an RYT-200 certified yoga instructor and an ABT® Certified Teacher in levels Pre-Primary through Level 3.