Joyce Boorman was born in the United Kingdom, and received her teaching certificate at St. Gabriel's College, London and an advanced diploma from the Laban Art of Movement Studio. She taught in England until the late 1960s, when she emigrated to Canada. Ms. Boorman continued her studies, earning an MA from the Department of Ballet and Modern Dance at the University of Utah, and a PhD from the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in 1980.

Boorman authored several critical works on creative dance for children, taught in the Department of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and directed the Children's Dance Theatre there. Widely recognized as the driving force and organizer behind the First International Conference on Dance and the Child at the University of Alberta in July 1978, Ms. Boorman was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal for professional contributions to the Canadian Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER), the Tait McKenzie Medallion of CAHPER, and the Alberta Achievement Award of Excellence. The Conference was subtitled "The Child As Spectator, Creator, Performer" and was sponsored by the Dance Committee of CAHPER, and Alberta Culture at the University of Alberta.