Joan Lawson (30 January 1907 – 18 February 2002) was an English ballet dancer and writer of several books and text on the subject of dance. She performed in revues and opera with the Nemtchinova-Dolin Ballet from approximately 1933 to 1934 and was director of the Royal Academy of Dance's teacher's course between 1947 and 1959 and was the Royal Ballet Society's character and mime teacher from 1963 to 1971. Lawson was a critic for the Dancing Times and was vice-chair of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.