Alex Ketley worked closely with Summer Lee Rhatigan on the initial creation of the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. In addition to being on faculty, he served for fourteen years as the school’s Resident Choreographer and created nearly forty original works for the advanced students.

The Conservatory was designed to guide and support young people in their discovery, understanding, development, and application of the tools necessary to thrive as an artist. Stemming from a classical foundation, the school was deeply invested in learning through the engagement of contemporary choreography and current movement methodologies.

The school closed in 2018 due to the retirement of the Artistic and Executive Directors and their relocation to Europe. The school served more than 3,000 advanced students across its fourteen year history.

Alex Ketley is an Advanced Lecturer in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University and has taught a number of courses that closely track his interests artistically. Some of these classes include:

Advanced Ballet

Dance and Disability

Hot Mess: Deliberate Failure as Practice

Choreographic Film

Choreographic Tooklkit: Strategies to Building Movement, Dance, and Time Based Art

Dancecution: Performance Practice, Death Row, and the Evolution of Cultural Reform.

He has also created a number of performance projects for University main stage productions.

The aims of the program are:

“The Department of Theater & Performance Studies integrates theory, criticism, and performance. Our interdisciplinary department welcomes students from across the University who want to be involved in intensive, innovative, intellectual work. We foster students' engagement with performance in multiple modes. Students in the department learn analytic skills through research-based scholarship. In collaboration with our academic mission the department produces numerous events through its creative program. Our workshops and artistic productions include canonical plays, commissioned dance works, experimental projects, and work by visiting artists. The Department serves many audiences and facilitates engaged scholarship in dance, theater, and performance.”