BIOGRAPHY

Mary Fogarty is a writer and researcher of popular culture, music, and dance. Recent publications include a chapter about Toronto b-boys and b-girls’ formal contributions to breaking aesthetics in We Still Here: Hip Hop North of the 49th Parallel (Marsh and Campbell, 2020), and a chapter about dance fandom online in Beyoncé: At Work, On Screen, and Online (Iddon and Marshall, 2020). One of her long-term research projects on the rise of international breaking competitions and how they are judged has been published in The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition (Dodds, 2019).

Her forthcoming project is the Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance Studies, co-edited with Dr. Imani Kai Johnson, that features chapters from internationally recognized Hip Hop dancers, scholars, activists, and advocates.

With degrees in music (PhD), popular culture (MA) and film studies (BA Honours), Professor Fogarty is an interdisciplinary scholar who also focuses on multidisciplinary collaborations across Hip Hop dance communities, humanities, and the social sciences. She is currently working on a number of research projects including work to be published as chapters about: local battle rap and dance scenes’ digital representations with Sean Robertson-Palmer; the influence of the Fly Girls with co-authors Leah “McFly-Waackeisha” McKesey and Diana “Fly Lady Di” Reyes; personal archives of dancers with Jason “J-Sun” Noer; and the relationship between aerosol arts, music studies and breaking aesthetics with co-author Anthony “YNOT” DeNaro.

Fogarty is co-editing a special issue of Contemporary Music Review with Gina Arnold on Taylor Swift. Her research about Taylor Swift, the Paparazzi, and posture experts has also been selected for the Society for American Music digital lectures of 2021. Parallel research on histories of slouching and punk posture will appear shortly in The Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock.

She has been an invited Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Hip Hop Education Center (2013-2015 and 2017-2018). At York University, she is cross-appointed with Theatre & Performance,  and Communication & Culture graduate degree programs.

Dr. Fogarty is currently the President of IASPM-Canada and Editor of IASPM Journal. She is a former Chair of PoP Moves Americas.

She is known for her advocacy of Hip Hop dance education in and outside of formal institutions over many years. Fogarty is a member of KeepRockinYou arts collective, founded by Judi Lopez, and the lead facilitator/lecturer of the Toronto B-Girl Movement.

A list of her publications is available on her personal website at www.maryfogarty.ca