Guest Faculty

Carter Alexander is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts leader whose career spans professional performance, ballet training, arts administration, and higher education. Currently serving as Associate Professor of Practice and Chair of the Division of Dance at SMU Meadows School of the Arts, he is recognized for his commitment to developing versatile artists and fostering meaningful connections between tradition and innovation in dance.

Alexander began his training with his mother, Amanda Stone, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, before continuing at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the Dallas Ballet Academy. After high school, he danced professionally with Hartford Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet. During his time with Hartford Ballet, he studied under master teacher Truman Finney, whose mentorship would profoundly influence his approach to teaching and artistic leadership.

Following his performing career, Alexander held leadership positions with Ballet Workshop New England, Massachusetts Youth Ballet, the School of Ballet Arizona, and Miami City Ballet School, where he served as school principal and senior faculty member for seven years. Throughout his career, Alexander has cultivated the next generation of dance artists, with dozens of former students advancing to professional careers in companies across the United States and abroad. He has been a guest taught for multiple institutions including Ballet Austin, Indiana University, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and The Portland Ballet.

A passionate advocate for new choreography, Alexander co-directed the aka:ballet choreography project in 2018, bringing together emerging artists to create and premiere new works in an intensive collaborative environment. As artistic director of Dallas DanceFest/Dallas Dances and Ballet Dallas, he championed contemporary voices while creating original works of his own.

Since joining the SMU faculty in 2018, Alexander has contributed to the continued expansion of the Division of Dance’s artistic and educational reach through performance, curriculum development, and guest artist initiatives. His choreographic works for the Meadows Dance Ensemble include Luisant (2019), Syvällinen (2020), Repetition Repeating Difference (2023), and The Noise of Time (2024).

Alexander holds an M.F.A. in Choreography from Jacksonville University and a B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University.