Current Students

ZAKIYA ATKINSON is an arts administrator, educator, and artist committed to fostering artistic exploration and social change. She is the Artistic Director of Zaman Dance Theatre Collective and the Fine & Performing Arts Supervisor for Cranford Public Schools. Previously, Atkinson was the dance program director for the Memorial High School Performing Arts Academy, where she taught for ten years.

Atkinson has served on the faculties at New York University, William Paterson University, and Bronx Community College. An advocate for dance, she founded the Essex County MetroWest Dance Festival and Modern Renaissance X, performance events merging student and professional dance artists throughout New Jersey. Atkinson employs the arts in community spaces as a tool for transformation and has facilitated outreach in South Africa, Uganda, and locally. She has been the recipient of an NEA Learning & Leadership grant and fellowships with Body Politic Laboratory at Gibney (NYC), Bates Dance Festival, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Atkinson earned a B.A. in Communications and Theatre from Temple University, a M.A. Dance Education from New York University Steinhardt, and a Certificate in Holocaust & Genocide Education from Saint Elizabeth University. She is a member of Dance New Jersey, the National Dance Education Organization and has been published in Dance Education in Practice. Atkinson continues to present her in-practice research at arts, education, and social justice conferences.

Atkinson is pursuing the Interdisciplinary Specialization as a doctoral student with the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include Community Dance Practice, Sociocultural theories in education, and Social Justice Education.

MELISSA BARTREM is a dance artist, educator and choreographer from Toronto, Canada. Her work in the dance industry has taken her across North America, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. Her professional credits include performances on stage, television, industrial shows and other live events. As an educator, she strives to cultivate a classroom environment that nurtures creativity, fosters the love of movement and promotes the highest quality in dance education. Bartrem has served on faculties at Centennial College, teaching Commercial dance and interdisciplinary arts as part of the Performing Arts fundamentals program, in addition to working with the Royal Academy of Dance, mentoring students of the Certificate in Ballet Teaching studies program. She has had the opportunity to collaborate with various arts organizations in both South Africa and China, in addition to presenting her in-practice research at various arts and education conferences. Bartrem holds a B.A. in Theater Performance and Sociology from The University of Toronto, and an M.A. in Dance Education from The Royal Academy of Dance, accredited through the University of Surrey, England. Bartrem also holds a variety of professional teaching certifications, with organizations such as The Royal Academy of Dance, British Association of Teachers of Dancing and Can Fit Pro Canada. Bartrem intends to pursue the interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include challenging traditional dance pedagogical practices and inclusive performance arts training in higher education.

PAOLA MARIA BASSIGNANA is a teacher, dancer, choreographer, and dance educator born and raised in Italy. She is an elementary public-school teacher at the Istituto Comprensivo Albaro in Genova (Italy) and is committed to providing dance with an increasingly prominent position within the public-school curriculum. She will achieve this through innovative activities inspired by interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teaching approaches. 

Bassignana is a dance teaching artist for the non-profit international organization Mus-e, founded by the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin. She regularly holds school residences in collaboration with musicians and visual artists in some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of Genova, where artistic practices become essential for developing social inclusion. In the past, Bassignana worked in teacher preparation programs both as an adjunct professor of Body Language and Movement Expression at the University of Genova (Italy). She has also worked as a professional development instructor of dance education for PreK-12 public school teachers.

As a dancer, she attended the Bella Hutter Dance School in Torino with Anna Sagna and studied for the Professional Trainee Certification Program at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York. She also has an M.A in Italian Literature at the University of Torino (Italy). Bassignana attended the first Italian Training Course for Dance Educators at Mousikè, the leading center for Dance Education in Italy. Recently, she completed the Teaching Artist Community at Teachers College Certificate Program in Responsive Pedagogy in New York.

As a choreographer, she was recognized as a winner in numerous dance competitions such as the 19th Young Talents Award in Torino (2002); the International Dance Week in Perugia (2001); the Città di Bologna Award in Casalecchio di Reno (1998); the Agon National Contest in Torino, (1995), and the Coreografie d’Autore National Contest in Castiglioncello, (1996). 

As a public-school teacher, she led her students to win several awards in national school competitions such as Giocabus in Genoa (2013), which required creating an original advertisement to disseminate the habit of ticket payment. For months the poster created by her students became a billboard ad traveling around the city of Genova inside the buses of the local public transportation agency.

Bassignana has published many articles documenting and examining various innovative dance education projects she conducted in public schools throughout her career. She developed a keen experience as choreographer and production manager of music videos that involve dance and movement for educational (Mus-e) and artistic (emerging musician and music bands) purposes. Most recently, she expanded her area of interest to include the study of historical dances of the 19th century and her involvement as a soprano in the choir of medieval and renaissance music Arkansè.

Bassignana is an Ed.D. Dance Education Program student at Teachers College, where she pursues the Interdisciplinary specialization. Her main research interest is the inclusion of dance in the public-school curriculum, specifically concerning implementation models and outcomes assessment.

DAWN MARIE BAZEMORE is a Philadelphia based dance artist and educator.  She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Rowan University and the Artistic Director of her own dance collective DMB|#dbdanceproject. Bazemore is a former member of Philadanco and has also performed featured roles in Broadway and regional musical theatre productions.  Her performance of Strange Fruit, choreographed by the late Dr. Pearl Primus, is currently on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

In addition to collaborating with her collective, Bazemore served as an Artist in Residence at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of North Carolina School for the Arts and has been commissioned to choreograph for Philadanco and Nimbus Dance Works.  In 2018, she was selected to be a Jacob's Pillow Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellow and was the 2019 Dance Visions Artist in Residence at the Performance Garage. Bazemore's creative work tackles the socio-political concerns of the communities to which she identifies, which she has also addressed in her essay Dance and Activism: The Practice and Impact of Sociopolitical Concert Dance published in the online journal The Dancer-Citizen.   

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Bazemore trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Academy East, Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn, and the Fournier-Grego Performance Center.  She is a graduate of the NYC High School for Performing Arts and has earned a B.F.A. in Dance from SUNY Purchase and an M.F.A. in Dance from Hollins University.   Bazemore has been awarded the Helen Tamiris Award for Excellence in Dance and the 2018 ACHI Magazine Inc. Trailblazer of the Year award. 

Bazemore's interdisciplinary research interests are centered around the de-colonization of dance programs in academia from both a curricular and administrative standpoint as well as developing undergraduate level courses that explore the connections between socio-political activism and art-making.

Ana Leon Bella is currently an adjunct professor at Rutgers University and Hunter College. At Rutgers, she teaches Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) at Mason Gross School of the Arts and graduate-level dance history at Hunter College. With vast experience in teaching dance theory and practice, Bella has worked at various institutions across the tri-state region and overseas, including Wagner College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Manhattanville College. She also has international teaching experience, including a significant tenure at Beijing Normal University in China. 

In addition to her academic roles, Bella is the founder of AB Movement Consulting. Through her consulting work, she integrates movement principles to enhance bodily function, mindfulness, and overall well-being. Bella also delivers bilingual lectures in Spanish and English on topics related to dance, wellness, and health as a public speaker.

Previously, Bella served as the Director of Programming, a board member, and a Teacher Trainer at Moving for Life, Inc., where she led somatic dance/exercise programs aimed at empowering individuals in their recovery from cancer and other chronic illnesses. During the Covid pandemic, she was part of a team responding to the health crisis with innovative online dance/exercise programming.

She has recently transitioned from this role to begin her doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Bella brings over two decades of experience in dance, fitness, and education. She holds numerous certifications, including Laban Certified Movement Analyst (CMA), Registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator (RSMT/E) with ISMETA, Certified Polestar Reformer Instructor, Certified Teacher of BodyMind Dance (CTBMD), and Certified Moving for Life Instructor (MFLCI). Her work is particularly focused on empowering individuals of all ages, especially those dealing with chronic health conditions. Bella earned her master’s degree in dance education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and she was recognized with the Certificate of Outstanding Academic Achievement in the Dance Education Program. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from Cornell University.

As a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Bella is pursuing an interdisciplinary specialization. Her research interests include somatic movement, dance therapy, embodied leadership, and culturally responsive pedagogy, with a special focus on access, diversity, equity, and inclusion in educational settings.

Sylvia Henao Bernal is a multidisciplinary artist and dance education professional from Bogotá, Colombia. Her profound interest and commitment to classical ballet has led her to pursue holistic dance education in academia. Currently, she is the Ballet Hispanico Teachers College Dance Education Scholar in Residence and serves as a Teaching Artist for the inaugural BE BOLD project at The Misty Copeland Foundation. Previously, Henao Bernal worked as a ballet teacher in early childhood education centers, private ballet studios, and provided individual coaching to students. She also worked at the American Ballet Theater’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School as a Children’s Division assistant and taught at the Covenant Ballet Theater.

Henao Bernal is a recipient of the Fulbright Minciencias Grant, awarded by Comisión Fulbright Colombia, to pursue her doctoral degree in the United States. She earned dual B.A. degrees from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, in Art History and Fine Arts, for which she was awarded merit for her thesis, "Claroscuro". Additionally, she received her M.A. degree in Teaching Dance in the Professions: The American Ballet Theater Pedagogy from New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Human Development and Education in addition to obtaining full certification in the American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum (Pre-Primary to Level 7 & Partnering). Henao Bernal continues to expand her artistic career by deepening her studies in choreography under the guidance of her mentor, Anabella Lenzu, in the Online Choreographic Mentorship Program and her teacher, Rick Tjia, through the Diploma in Choreography Program offered by I-PATH International Performing Arts & Theater. Most recently, Henao Bernal became a certified Pointe Shoe Fitter under the mentorship of the renowned Josephine Lee, and in Progressing Ballet Technique with the purpose of approaching ballet from multiple perspectives in order to better support the physical, mental, and emotional education of students.

Henao Bernal aims to pursue interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests lie in measuring the community impact of ballet curriculum design implemented in public education in schools and/or higher education, and deepening her knowledge of anatomy, movement science, and motor learning pedagogical applications to understand the type of dance methodology that best supports the diverse needs and body characteristics of Colombian artists.

ANN BIDDLE M.A., has been a dance educator, professional developer, curriculum writer, and choreographer for the past 30 years. She is the Director of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Institute and the Director of DEL at Jacob’s Pillow. As the Founding Faculty of DEL at the 92nd St Y with Jody Arnhold (1994 to present)  Biddle has designed and taught multiple courses for DEL including Foundations in Dance Education, DEL Essentials, Planet Dance, Dancing in Early Childhood, Dance and Nature, Teaching from Transformation to Inspiration (Tina Curran), Dance and Literacy (Barbara Bashaw), Teaching Dance Technique, DEL: The Next Generation, the DEL Facilitators Training Program, Dance for Social Change, Hip Hop to the Top (Shakia Barron, Eli Kababa), Tracing Footsteps, and the DEL Essentials OPDI course for NDEO. Biddle has been a Dance Lecturer at UMASS/Amherst, Mount Holyoke College, and Skidmore College.

Biddle has partnered with numerous dance companies including Urban Bush Women, Doug Varone, Flamenco Vivo, Jose Limon Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, New York City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Movement Research, Jonah Bokaer, HT Chen Dance Center, and Robin Becker Dance Company. Biddle has taught at the National University in Costa Rica as a Fulbright scholar and at the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana.  She also worked closely with the late Alan Lomax as a Choreometrics analyst.  

Biddle was an advisor to the NYC Department of Education’s Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, PreK-12, and has been an NYCDOE Blueprint professional development facilitator since 2005. Biddle was the Director of Arts Programs at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley, MA, and Director of the Dance Department from 2011-2018. She is the Director of the DEL PVPA dance mentorship program featured in the upcoming documentary film, PS Dance! The Next GENeration. 

Biddle’s dance teachers’ curricula include: The Essence of Cool: West Side Story, New York Export: Opus Jazz the Film (NYC Ballet), Dance Motion USA Doug Varone and Argentinian Brenda Angiel’s aerial collaboration, Richard Daniel’s Dances for iPhone film series, Wonderdance early childhood curriculum, Dance Making Inspired by Langston Hughes Poetry, Re-imagining D-Man in the Waters, the DEL Facilitators Training Manual and Robin Becker’s Into Sunlight Dance Curriculum. She is a frequent presenter at NDEO conferences and was selected to pilot the Model Cornerstone Assessments as part of NCCA. In addition, Biddle has published integrated curricular units though the NYC DOE such as Dance Units Inspired by Literary Works (2016), and The Essence of Pearl Primus through Photography and Poetry: The Negro Speaks of Rivers (2018). Biddle is currently the Project Director of the DEL Tracing Footsteps: Honoring Diverse Voices in NYC Dance History curriculum project.

She earned a B.A. in English Literature from Kenyon College and a M.A. in Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Biddle is currently a doctoral candidate in the Dance Education EdD program at Teachers College.

Her research interests include teacher education and preparation in K-12, transformational leadership, adolescent development, educational mentoring and coaching, and dance and social justice.

SHIRLENE BLAKE is currently the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) Director of Dance for the Office of Arts and Special Projects. As a dance educator in the NYCDOE, she has taught at Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts and was a dance educator and teacher leader at Harvest Collegiate High School. While at Harvest, Blake participated on the administration team for the planning and facilitation of school wide professional development and advisory curriculum. Blake also served as a NYCDOE citywide dance facilitator, curriculum writer/reviewer, Arts Monday facilitator, and was an adjudicator for the Arts Achieve dance assessments.

For New York State, Blake was the Subject Matter Expert for the Dance Content Specialty Test for NYS Teacher Certification and served on the NYS Arts Content Advisory Panel, which advised the Commissioner and Board of Regents on curriculum and assessments. She was also on the NYSED Arts Standards Revision Team. In 2016, New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) awarded Ms. Blake the Diana Domoracki-Kisto Award for her years of dedication to dance education. She was also an active Board member and Treasurer of NYSDEA for three years. Before joining NYCDOE, Blake was a teacher, department chair and teacher leader at Nassau BOCES Long Island High School for the Arts. There she developed and implemented curriculum in Dance Technique, Choreography, Dance History and Anatomy.

Additionally, Blake has facilitated teacher workshops on Social Emotional Literacy, 21st Century Skills, Strength Based Education and Technology. She was also one of the founding
members of the Rosemary Kennedy / Long Island High School for the Arts collaborative, creating an opportunity for students with special needs to find common ground through dance. Blake also created and taught the “Mommy & Me” movement experience for teenage mothers with children ranging in age from 5-months to 3-years old in the Nassau BOCES Teenage Parenting Program.

Born in Trinidad, West Indies, Blake's family migrated to the United States in her formative years for educational opportunities. Blake earned a B.F.A in Dance from Southern Methodist University and an Ed.M. in Dance Education from Temple University. Blake also holds a Post-Graduate Advanced Certificate in Supervision and Administration from Hunter College. Blake intends to pursue the Teacher Education specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. She is interested in the implementation and balance between theory and practice in teacher preparation programs and issues of social justice consciousness.

Kaysie Seitz Brown is an El Paso, TX born educator, choreographer, and dancer currently based in Austin, TX. She is an Associate Professor and Head of Dance Teacher Certification in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Texas State University (TXST) in San Marcos, TX. In 2001, Brown moved to New York City and studied with the Dance Education Laboratory. She then had the pleasure of teaching and performing with LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program), Young Audiences NY, and the outreach dance theatre company, Notes in Motion. In 2005, she moved back to Texas, where she joined the dance faculty at TXST. 

Her scholarly/ creative work at TXST involves the development of her arts integration outreach program Creation in Motion, a multi-faceted program that includes dance integration teacher training, residencies, and interactive performances by Creation in Motion Touring Ensemble for Young Audiences, or CIM TEYA (pronounced “SIM-TAY-YUH”). Brown has presented numerous workshops and papers on her work with Creation in Motion and CIM TEYA at conferences nationally and internationally, and in 2022, she published a paper about her work with CIM TEYA in the Journal of Dance Education entitled Dance & Cultivation: Spurring the next generation’s enthusiasm for the art of dance. Brown also teaches with the Austin Independent School District arts enrichment program, MINDPOP, and has been invited to lead professional development workshops for arts integration elementary schools in the Round Rock Independent School District. In 2019, she was invited to be the keynote speaker for the RRISD Arts Integration Institute. Brown has also had the honor of performing in danceworks choreographed by Erick Hawkins, LeAnne Smith, Kelly Holt, Karen Earl, Katri Shaller, Joan Meggitt, Karen Potter, Joan Hays, Ana Baer, Michelle Nance, Shay Hartung, Misti Galvan, Caroline Sutton, and Toni Bravo. Her own choreography has been produced in Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Costa Rica, Germany, Scotland, and Trinidad & Tobago.

Accolades include the 2022 TAHPERD Honor Award, 2020 Dean's Seminar recipient, the 2019 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, the College of Fine Arts and Communication Presidential College Achievement Award for Excellence in Service in 2023 and 2013, the 2016 College of Fine Arts and Communication Presidential College Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2015 College of Fine Arts and Communication Presidential College Achievement Award for Excellence in Scholarly/ Creative, and the 2015 TAHPERD University Dance Teacher of the Year Award. In 2014, she was awarded the competitive internal Research Enhancement Program grant to fund a Creation in Motion after-school residency, entitled “Enhancing the Learning of Science through the Creation of Dance.”

Brown holds a B.E.S.S in Dance from Texas State University and an M.F.A. in Dance from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. While studying at Teachers College, Brown intends to pursue the interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program. Her research interests include teacher education and examining the neuroscience of the utilization of dance education to develop and strengthen social & emotional learning.

CAROL CHAPLA is a dance educator, choreographer, and performer based in New York City. Currently, on the faculty of The Marymount School of New York, Chapla develops dance curriculum, choreographs musicals and singers performance tours, founded the Latinx Dance Company, and collaborates with the Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers program. Chapla is a New York State K-12 Certified Dance Educator and member of the New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) and the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). 

Chapla has been on the faculty of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a dance educator at The Dalton School, and a teaching artist with the American Ballroom Theater Dancing Classrooms program, where she was an educational liaison and appeared in the documentary feature film Mad Hot Ballroom. She has performed at The Wild Project, Madison Square Garden, Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, Disney World, and Pennsylvania Dance Theatre. She has choreographed for the New York City Fringe Festival and presented for SELF Magazine Workout in the Park. 

Chapla has danced and promoted fitness on the Dr. Oz Show, LIVE with Kelly & Michael, and Good Morning America. In addition, she has been seen in and contributed to the New York Times, the New York Post, and Dance Spirit Magazine. With Crunch for over a decade, Chapla presented at IDEA and is a creator of Boom and Sweat School curriculum. She was a master trainer of LaBlast, a dance workout created by Louis Van Amstel of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. As a manager and master instructor for Crunch she was a liaison and choreographer for Broadway Dance Series classes in partnership with musical casts of On the Town, Bring it On, Memphis, Sister Act, Rock of Ages, and Billy Elliot.                  

Chapla earned a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Speech Communication from Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in Dance and Dance Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and is the 2003 recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education Award.  

Chapla intends to pursue the interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include dance in the digital age, social justice, advancing the role of dance education and dance education advocacy. 

DEBORAH DAMAST is a Clinical Assistant Professor and the Program Director of the Dance Education Program at NYU Steinhardt, where she is also the Director of Kaleidoscope Dancers, Artistic Director of the program’s concerts and founder and director of the dance education study abroad program to Uganda. In addition, she is the Dance Director of IMPACT as well as numerous artistic collaborations with other NYU Programs including Percussion Studies, Music Education, Music Technology, and the Motion Capture Lab.

Damast has served on the faculties of Peridance, 92Y, New York City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Yard, Paul Taylor, Steffi Nossen School, and others. She has shown her choreography in numerous venues in NYC regularly since 1989, nationally in Massachusetts and Oregon, and internationally in Italy, Japan, Korea and Uganda. She also choreographs regularly at NYU for Faculty Concerts and other collaborative projects since 2002, including the EdTech conference and for the NYU Steinhardt graduation ceremonies at Radio City Music Hall.

She continues to teach children’s dance at LREI as well as the 92Y Dance Education Laboratory and The Yard in Martha’s Vineyard. At the Yard, she directs Kids Do Dance and conducts professional development for teachers through the Making It Initiative, and was on the writing team for the Doris Duke Audience Development grant.

Damast has presented her work at NDEO, ACDA, Dance Teacher Magazine, CUNY and NYSDEA conferences and the Forum on Education Abroad in the United States, and internationally at Kyambogo University in Uganda. She conducts Professional Development for the NYCDOE as a DELTA team leader, for UPK teachers through DEL, was a founding writer of the DEL/Early Childhood program and a writer for the NYC Blueprint for the Arts in Dance. She has worked on Arts Achieve for the NYCDOE and has co-written curriculum for New York City Ballet and Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Damast is the co-creator of Move N Groove Kids, a creative movement video series. She was featured on an NPR segment on creative dance as well as on Ugandan TV discussing collaborative practices. Damast is a recipient of the 2009 NYU GSO Star Faculty Award, the 2010 National Dance Education Organization Outstanding Educator Award, and the 2017 Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, has served on the NDEO board, and is Past-President of the New York State Dance Education Association.

Damast earned her B.F.A. Dance from SUNY Purchase and an M.A Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt.

Damast intends to pursue the Teacher Education specialization as a doctoral student with the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include cross-cultural collaboration in dance education, creative approaches to technique pedagogy, early childhood dance education and teacher training in dance education.

HEATHER DOUGHERTY is a dance artist and educator hailing from Pennsylvania. As a performer, Dougherty has danced in such unique locations as petraglyph caves in Montana, ancient ruins in Rome, Italy, a parking lot in Philadelphia, and art galleries in SoHo, NYC. As a teacher and choreographer, Dougherty has mentored a broad range of dance students at independent dance studios and in college and university dance programs. Dougherty has served on the dance faculties of The University of Arizona, The City University of New York Queensborough Community College, Middlesex College, Ursinus College, and Montgomery County Community College. She has also been a Guild-Certified Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method for Somatic Education since 2013.

The practice of somatic education has catapulted Dougherty’s curiosity further into the investigation of human movement potential, neuroplasticity, and the form and function of embodied awareness. She possesses an integrated approach to movement, the body, and consciousness that is based firmly on anatomical, kinesthetic, and developmental principles. The foundation of her beliefs regarding dance and dance education is rooted in the concept of educating the whole person. She is interested in the significance of somatic practices, the potential of interdisciplinary collaborations, and creating community through the arts.

Dougherty earned a B.S. in Dance and Dance Education from New York University and an M.F.A. in Theatre Arts and Dance Choreography from The University of Arizona.

Dougherty will complete the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her scholarly interests include dance education in the context of adult learning and the intersection of human development and embodied cognition. Her current research investigates the role of dance education within community colleges.

PATRICIA DYE is a member of the Council of Elders for African Cultural Heritage featured in DanceAfrica at BAM. She is also a NYCDOE Middle School Summer Audition Boot Camp (Lincoln Center) dance educator. A creator and founder of Passing Ancestral Knowledge Along Theater Dance Company, Dye has been the co-artistic director from 1993 to the present.

Dye is a native of St. Croix USVI whose early education was in Montserrat and Nevis, islands in the Caribbean, and who now resides in the borough of Brooklyn. Dye has performed professionally throughout the U.S. and Europe for 16 years in addition to teaching, advising, and directing the Dance Department at Science Skills High School for Science, Technology & Creative Arts’ as well as the student run after school dance program Jow-Ile-Bailar Dance Companies in Brooklyn for 25 years. Dye was previously dance faculty member for Ballet Hispanico and assistant dance educator at Fashion Institute of Technology. For seven years, Dye was the artistic director of the Restoration Dance Theater at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. She has served as assistant and dance Captain for Dr. Chuck Davis since 1988. Dye is a mentor teacher for NYU and Hunter College dance educators. She has been an influential member of the New York City Department of Dance Education Assessment Team, Dance Blue Print Facilitator member DELTA 2005-2021, and the Region 8 Facilitator, New York City Department Dance Exit Examination Team, Arts Achieve Dance Adjudicator, New York City Middle School Summer Dance Audition Boot Camp Instructor, Teacher Effectiveness (TE) Arts Dance Facilitator, New York City Mentor, Brooklyn Arts Monday Facilitator, a member of the United Federation of Teachers Dance Educators Executive Committee, a NYCDOE Arts Curriculum Mapping Writer Dance Team participant, a Brooklyn Arts Festival Committee member. 

Dye is one of the DEL 92nd Street Y Dance Ambassadors and conducts dance education workshops with Anne Biddle, Jody Arnold and was a featured Master dance educator in the NYS Emmy nominated documentary PS Dance! Dye is also the narrator voice of the remote dance learning film PS Dance! Dance to the Rescue.

Dye has presented workshops for the NYCDOE Region 8 and conferences including NDEO, SDHS, NDA and CORD, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music Teacher Advisory Council. Throughout a successful career of over forty plus years, Patricia has taught master classes and workshops, choreographed, and appeared in videos, industrial shows, Broadway shows, television commercials, and movies throughout the USA and Europe, including professional dance companies: Forces of Nature and Jubilations. 

Dye has received the following awards: UFT mini-grants, the Capezio Ballet Makers Grant 2006-2014, the Phyllis Hyman Phat Friend Award 2008, the Long Island University Future of Men Leadership Award 2010, the Diana Domoracki-Kisto Award in 2013 from the New York State Dance Educators Association (NYSDE) for Pre-K-12 Dance Educators, and the Dance Teacher of the Year (2020) by Dance Teacher Magazine. In 2021, Dye was a curator for the Celebrating Diversity Fashion Institute of Technology International Dance and Music Festival Concert 10th Year Retrospective.

She received a B.F.A in Dance Education and Performance at Adelphi University and M.A. in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt.

Dye is currently pursuing the Teacher Education specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include examining diverse cultures as an integral part of young people’s development as well as examining the embodied experiences of the Ubuntu and Sankofa philosophies in Afro-diasporic dance.  

Lenard Foust is a performing artist based in NYC and a part-time doctoral student in Dance Education at Columbia University. His diverse career includes performances with recording artists, work on cruise lines, a ballet company, and several musical theater productions. Foust holds an MFA in Dance Performance and a graduate certificate in World Performance Studies from the University of Michigan. He was recognized as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at Capital Normal University, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Beijing Dance Academy in China.

He has served as an Assistant Professor at Alabama State University and taught Jazz and Hip Hop to BFA Dance and Musical Theatre students at the University of Michigan. Additionally, Foust has guest-taught at the University of California Riverside, Columbus State University, Wittenberg University, and more. His choreography credits include Sheila E.'s performance at the World Games, and he has worked as a movement coach for notable actors and actresses. He is currently agency-represented and signed with LDC Artist Representation, while pursuing opportunities on Broadway.

Foust's research focuses on the underrepresentation of African American dance professors in higher education and the marginalization of African Diaspora dance forms in academia. He explores how Hip Hop and Jazz practices can enhance dance education, boost graduate employability, and influence the global dance landscape. He is also interested in bridging the gap between formal dance training and professional readiness for BFA graduates. IG: @Ellejaymoves.

ANA NERY FRAGOSO is the Acting Director of the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, CUNY. AGDEP prepares candidates to teach Dance PreK - Grade 12 to students of diverse backgrounds, abilities and interests. The curriculum is enriched by repertory classes with New York City-based choreographers, international performance opportunities and internships at various venues.

Fragoso served as Director of Dance Programs for the NYCDOE Office of Arts and Special Projects from 2014-2021. She provided leadership and guidance for dance programs in public schools, designed professional learning opportunities for dance educators teaching K-12 dance in NYC public schools, and served as a liaison between the NYCDOE and external organizations offering dance and dance-related services to schools. She also directed the Arnhold New Dance Teacher Support program, which provides first and second year dance specialists with mentorship, funds and instructional supports.

Fragoso grew up in the Canary Islands, Spain, where she began her lifelong passion for dance. Upon her arrival in NYC, she studied at the Alwin Nikolais Dance Lab (NYC) for two years. For twelve years, Fragoso taught at P.S. 315, a Performing Arts Elementary School in Brooklyn, where she created a dance curriculum that emphasized improvisation, technique and dance making. At P.S 315, she established strong partnerships with the larger NYC professional dance community such as Ballet Hispanico, Dancewave, Together in Dance, The Ailey School, the Chinese Cultural Center, Dancing Classrooms, the Merce Cunningham School, Ballet Tech, American Ballet Theater and the New York City Ballet. During her last year at P.S. 315, she was selected to be one of the five New York City master dance educators featured in the PBS documentary, PS Dance!. From 2013-14 she created a brand new dance program at the East Village Community School where she built a strong community around dance by motivating students to explore, sharing curriculum with the administration, and educating parents, staff and administration on the educational benefits of a comprehensive public school dance curriculum.

Fragoso has been a member of the NYCDOE Dance Blueprint Writing Committee since 2004 and has worked as a NYCDOE dance facilitator co-designing professional development workshops for New York City Department of Education dance specialists. In 2017, she was a member of the New York State Dance Learning Standards writing team. From 2007-14, Ana was a faculty member at the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at the 92nd St Y providing instruction for pre-service and inservice dance educators and dance artists. As a cooperating teacher, she mentored undergraduate and graduate dance education students from New York University, Hofstra University and Hunter College. Fragoso also worked for six years as a dance coach for the Artful Learning Community Grant (ALC) doing action research to develop strategies for collaborative inquiry around formative assessment practices and student learning in dance and on Arts Achieve, a four-year project that developed innovative dance assessment tools and strategies. She has been the recipient of two grants from the Ministry of Culture in Spain and a J. Javits Fellowship award.

Fragoso earned a B.A. Dance/Education from Hunter College and an M.F.A. in Dance/Choreography from Sarah Lawrence College.

Fragoso intends to pursue the Teacher Education specialization within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her primary objective is to acquire exceptional research skills and strategies to deepen her understanding of issues related to teacher education, advocacy and policy.

JILL GRUNDSTROM is a dancer, educator, trainer, and choreographer from Marquette, Michigan. She is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of Theatre and Dance at Northern Michigan University (NMU). Grundstrom is the director of NMU’s dance company, CO/LAB COLLECTIVE, as well as North Coast Dance Festival. She is currently the resident choreographer for Forest Roberts Theatre and was previously the resident choreographer for Superior Arts Youth Theatre. Her work in the dance industry has taken her across the United States and Europe, including performances and choreography for stage and screen, master classes, and consulting. Grundstrom has previously worked for Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance and is currently assisting with new Character Dance and Partnering curricula for American Ballet Theatre (America’s National Ballet Company®). She recently published her thesis titled The Female Leadership Experience in Pre-Professional and Professional Ballet.

Her collaborative efforts have won Grundstrom awards such as Performance Artist of the Year from the Marquette Arts and Culture Center, as well as local and state awards for NMU’s zero-barrier theatre initiative, Theatre for All. Under Grundstrom’s direction, CO/LAB COLLECTIVE’s original work What We Leave Behind: Addressing Climate Change Through Dance was awarded recognition and the opportunity to present at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Madison, Wisconsin.

Grundstrom holds a B.S. in Secondary Education with majors in English and French from Northern Michigan University, an M.A. in Dance Education from New York University, and an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership from Northern Michigan University. She is certified in the Luigi Jazz Technique, American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, is a Certified FLX Conditioning Specialist, and a Hamrick Method Master Trainer. 

Grundstrom will complete the Movement Sciences specialization as a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. She is particularly interested in the application of pre-screening and pre-habilitation processes in collegiate dance and musical theatre majors that address physical, mental, and nutritional health. Her research interests lie in the education of preventative and proactive measures and behaviors for collegiate performers, as well as the female leadership experience in dance.

Lindsay Hansen is a full time Dance Educator at Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts in Hartford CT. She has been teaching Dance Education in the Hartford Public School system for over 10 years. Lindsay continues to be the district Arts and Wellness Teacher Leader developing professional development sessions and Dance Education curriculum. She is the Kinsella Freshman Academy Team Leader that supports incoming freshman students as they settle into their high school career. Lindsay continues to be a guest teacher at the University of Hartford Community Division Dance Department as well as an Adjunct Professor for Jazz Dance at Central Connecticut State University. As well as a faculty Choreographer for CCSU performance events. Lindsay is the Vice President Elect of Dance for The Connecticut Association For Health, Physical Education in CT. Lindsay Hansen holds an Associates of Arts degree in Dance from Naugatuck Valley Community College, along with her B.S. in Elementary Education with a cross endorsement in Dance Education K-12 from Central Connecticut State University. She has also completed her M.S. in Educational Leadership from CCSU and Administrative 6th year from Quinnipiac University in CT. Lindsay’s research interests focus on all students in the public education system being given the opportunity to experience Dance at the recreational and artistic level, depending on their personal interests. Lindsay believes Dance Education experiences teach students how to be innovative thinkers, independent learners, and adaptable to working with others which prepares them for life outside of the school setting.

CHARLOTTE HATHAWAY is a researcher of creativity and dance from the United Kingdom and current Doctoral Fellow and Program Assistant for the Dance Education program at Teachers College. After 12 years as a Dance Specialist in different schools across England, Hathaway had a growing curiosity to investigate what it means to be creative, a word that was becoming a catch-all phrase to describe many different aspects of teaching and learning. She embarked on her M.Ed. in creative education at the University of Exeter (Devon, UK) under the tutelage of Professor Anna Craft and Dr. Kerry Chappell, where she discovered her interest to investigate embodied creative risk taking. Her thesis ‘To risk or not to risk: a study on creative risk-taking in the dance classroom’ explored if female students took risks when choreographing for their GCSE exam. 

After graduating Hathaway was invited to join various European creative research projects as a research associate where she worked with organizations like CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), the University of Helsinki, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and Stord/Haugesund University College in Norway. Alongside Dr. Chappell, Hathaway was a co-investigator and carried out a four-year research project with Siobhan Davies Dance to investigate the choreographic development of young people. Hathaway became a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Development at the University of Winchester (Hampshire, UK) in 2014. Here she trained teachers in creative pedagogies, movement education, and educational theory. She enjoyed supervising undergraduate students for their teaching placements and advising them for their dissertations. In 2015 Hathaway won an award to study at an Arts focused Summer school with Harvard University, which inspired her to move to the US for the next stage of her journey. In 2018, she joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and continued to work with early childhood and elementary trainees as an instructor and field placement supervisor and was an academic advisor for students in LAS. 

Hathaway has presented at national and international conferences including at the annual British Education Research Association (BERA), the World Congress of Dance and the Child International (daCi) in Denmark and at the Future of Dance Education conference in Norway. She is a recipient of awards from the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) and the Phi Delta Kappa International organization (PDK).

Hathaway recently presented at the Royal Academy of Dance conference Mapping Dance and Dance Teaching: Past(s), Present, and Future(s)

Her latest publications: 

Chappell, K.A., & Hathaway, C. (2019). Creativity and Dance Education. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Education 

Hetherington, L., Chappell, K., Ruck Keene, H., Wren, H., Cukurova, M., Hathaway, C., Sotiriou, S. & Bogner, F. (2019). International educators’ perspectives on the purpose of science education and the relationship between school science and creativity. Research in Science & Technological Education.

She intends to follow the Interdisciplinary track whilst studying for her Ed.D in Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University combining teacher education, creativity, and embodied learning within her research. She is keen to explore what links can be created between creative risk-taking with the body and how teachers can cultivate this with their students.

CHRIS HOUSTON, M.B.A., Doctoral Fellow, is an international dance teacher, choreographer, and director. He served as the Artistic Director for two Cirque du Soleil world tours, Amaluna and OVO, as well as the Assistant Director for the world tour of Kooza—where he also performed a lead character as ‘The Trickster’. Amongst many industrial and corporate events, Houston has choreographed for Jean Ann Ryan Productions, the famed Crazy Horse Paris at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and for Michael Flatley (creator of Riverdance) in London on the BBC.

As a dance teacher, Houston has been guest faculty at the Arts Educational School, Italia Conti College of the Performing Arts, the London Studio Center, and Pineapple Studios all in the United Kingdom. He has also taught at Chapman University in Orange County, at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City, as well as company classes with Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Dragone in Belgium, and CDA Productions in Las Vegas.

As a performer, Houston was in the original London West End productions of Miss Saigon and CATS and was then one of fifty dancers selected to be a part of Celine Dion’s game-changing Vegas residency, A New Day (directed by Franco Dragone and choreographed by Mia Michaels). Houston also joined Celine on her Taking Chances World Tour (directed by Jamie King and choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon, Mark Swanhart, and Mia Michaels).  He was the dance captain in Viva Elvis by Cirque du Soleil (directed by Vincent Paterson and choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon) and was in the original cast of Light Seeker in Singapore (created and directed by Michael La Fleur). Houston has also performed in CHICAGO the musical, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera in The Merry Widow (directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman), and at the Signature Theatre in Stroman’s workshop of A Happy Life. 

Houston attained a B.A. in Performing Arts from Saint Mary’s College of California, an M.B.A. with a specialization in leadership and innovation from Edinburgh Napier University, and is currently pursuing doctoral research in dance education, leadership, and policy.

DIECA W. JONES is a dance educator and artist, based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas currently serving as the Dance Department Director for Haltom High School in the Birdville Independent School District. Jones serves as Co-Chair for the National Dance Society Performing Arts Council. 

In 2018 Jones founded DWJones DanceWorks to facilitate, collaborate, and create original dance works through site-responsive social engagement and activism. Her work brings together aspects of dance, research, education, place, and activism in the local community. Her current projects focus on the built form of architecture and bodies, simultaneously creating place and meaning through movement and social engagement. She seeks to take audience members from a stance of observation to participation, begging the question of how much choice and ultimately responsibility we have within the world we live. Recent works include Muro Fronterizo, a site-specific dance work in collaboration with North Texas Dream Team, exploring the issues and complexities of immigration at the Texas/Mexico border wall. Squaring the Circle, explores the essence of home within a practice as a research method of art-making. With a strong interest in education and social engagement, Jones seeks opportunities to connect with other like-minded artists, collaborating with local artists such as Sarah Ayala in Mappa Mundae and international artists such as Ana Sanchez-Colberg’s global participatory event Seven to the Seventh which connects artists and participants across cities and communities and 1(-1) which explored the experience of Latinx female youth in exile via immigration. 

Jones has presented works at state, national, and international conventions and symposiums including Texas Dance Education Associations, Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, The National Dance Society, and Situated Practice-Virtual Symposium: Dance as a Social Art Practice Hosted by MA Art and Social Practice, Center of Rural Creativity, Shetland College, University of Highlands, Scotland. Jones received her B.F.A. in Modern Dance from Brigham Young University and M.F.A. in Choreography from Jacksonville University. 

Jones intends to pursue the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include site-responsive socially engaged practice to develop and advocate for dance curriculum in underserved and marginalized communities.

JAEYOUNG JUNG is a New York State certified childhood education teacher, dance specialist, and a lifetime learner. Jung has had extensive training in classical ballet, modern dance, character dance studies, neuro-developmental movement, and somatic approaches to dance. 

Jung has choreographed many dance pieces for school recitals and events in New York, Canada, and South Korea. She also performed in many educational dance events, including the project of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. She served on the faculty of the ABT's affiliated performing arts school in New York for five years, presenting ABT's National Training Curriculum (NTC) student exams. More recently, Jung served on the faculty of the Garden House School in New York City as a dance specialist until 2020. In 2016, Jung earned an ABT/NTC affiliate teacher award. 

Originally from South Korea, Jung holds a B.A. in Dance with a concentration in ballet studies from Sung Kyun Kwan University. She then came to New York to continue her studies by earning an M.A. from the dance education program at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT)/New York University (NYU) and an M.S.Ed. in Childhood Education from Brooklyn College. She also holds a variety of professional teaching certifications, including ABT/NTC, CBTS (Certified Ballet Teaching Studies) from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), and CTBMD (Certified Teachers of Body-Mind Dancing). 

These diverse learning and teaching experiences shaped and broadened Jung's perceptions on body-mind connectivity and embodied cognition. She believes that high-quality interdisciplinary education should be accessible to all learners, and dance education and movement sciences play a significant role in development by empowering learners of all ages. Jung's research interests include developing an effective interdisciplinary classroom learning environment through movement science and culturally responsive approaches. Jung intends to study interdisciplinary specialization while earning her Ed.D. in Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

KŪPONO KANEAO is a dancer, performer, and educator from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Kaneao has been performing, teaching, and choreographing since childhood. In his youth, Kaneao would perform and tour with Te Ha’a Lehua, a hula halau (Hula School) in his native Hawaii. Kaneao would also accompany Te Ha’a Lehua in their European tour in 2003 and 2013. While attending Bingham Young University Idaho (BYUI), Kaneao began performing with the university's touring company, Dance Alliance. As a member of Dance Alliance, Kaneao would tour across the continental U.S and abroad in Eastern Canada. Though he specializes in Hula and Ballroom Dance (also known as Dance Sport), BYUI and Dance Alliance introduced him to various styles of dance such as European Folk, American Folk, Asian Folk, Central and South American Folk, African Folk, Hip-hop, and various contemporary styles. 

Due to the vision of BYUI in hands-on learning, Kaneao was fortunate to begin teaching collegiate movement courses in ballroom and folk dance as an undergraduate. Immediately after receiving his degree, Kaneao began teaching as adjunct faculty for the department of theater and dance at BYUI where he also served as the assistant director to Dance Alliance for the 2019 season. From 2019-2021, Kaneao attended New Mexico State University (NMSU) where he served as the Graduate Assistant for the Department of Kinesiology and Dance. His responsibilities as the graduate assistant included teaching courses in social and ballroom dance, coaching and choreographing for the NMSU Dance Sport Company B team, and program building. While attending NMSU Kaneao would dance, perform, and compete as a member of the NMSU Dance Sport Company A team. Kaneao currently serves as a coach for Idaho Ballroom Academy. Outside of academia, he also holds various certifications through Dance Vision International Dance Association (DVIDA). 

Kaneao received a B.F.A. in dance pedagogy from Brigham Young University Idaho and a M.A in dance education from New Mexico State University. Kaneao intends to pursue a specialization in movement science as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. His lifelong goal is to be full-time dance faculty at a university. His research interests include the incorporation of somatic practices in ballroom dance, strength and mobility training in relation to ballroom dance, and the use of technology to strengthen outside of class practice for collegiate dance students and faculty. 

Hetty King, BFA, MFA, MA, CMA, RSDE®, RYT200, TT® is a native New Yorker. She has been a part of the NYC dance and performance world as a performer, choreographer, dance educator, writer, and scholar since graduating from The High School of Performing Arts in 1985. 

King’s choreography has been presented in NYC and across Canada. As a dancer, she worked in the companies of Ralph Lemon, Marta Renzi, Victoria Marks, Bill Young, and David Dorfman. Independently she created and performed with Allyson Green, Tim Feldman, and Jeremy Weichsel. In Montreal, she created an international summer dance intensive at Studio 303, and performed with Tedi Tafel, Irene Stamou, and Lin Snelling. 

King has been in the field of dance education since 2000. As a teaching artist with the Lincoln Center, The Joyce, Pentacle, Third Street Music Settlement, the 92nd Street Y Center for Arts Learning and Leadership, Hospital Audiences, and Buddy Buddha serving a wide range of populations from in-school to after school, and institutions. She has taught at the New World School for the Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, and Cocker College. In both public and private schools, she has developed K-5 dance programs that focus on the creative process. She is a facilitator for the Dance Education Lab (DEL) at the 92nd Street Y and a member of PreK Create a collaboration with the NYC DOE integrating dance in the PreK/3K classroom curriculum. 

King received the Saul Birns award and full tuition remission at NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She has received the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities, three Jerome Foundation Commission Grants for choreography, and a US/Mexico Fund for Culture Grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. King has presented numerous times at NDEO’s National Conference and is a contributor to Dance Education in Practice and Contact Quarterly Unbound. 

As a student of the late somatic movement pioneer, Nancy Topf, King nurtured a love of the somatic arts as they relate to dance, embodiment, and the education of the whole child. King was certified by Nancy and is under contract with the University Press of Florida to complete Nancy’s posthumous manuscript, A Guide to a Somatic Practice – The Anatomy of Center, due July 2022.

King is the Program Director for the Dance Makers in the Schools program at Movement Research, one of the world’s leading laboratories for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms. She is the dance and movement teacher at Speyer Legacy School, a K-8 school for gifted students, and an Assistant Teacher/Movement Teacher in the Hollingworth PreSchool at Teachers College. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, a theatre technician at the Metropolitan Opera, an international student from China, their two adopted daughters Evelyn and Agnes, and their cat, Clyde.

She is an Arnhold Fellowship recipient in the EdD Dance Education Program at Teachers College following the interdisciplinary track where her research interests are at the intersection of early childhood and Somatic Movement Education.

Michael Anthony Kerr is the Artistic Director of DanceKerr & Dancers, a NYC/NJ based dance company founded in 2015 and recently established as a NJ Nonprofit Corporation 501(c)(3). Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, he commenced undergraduate dance major studies at SUNY College at Brockport, later earning a Bachelor of Arts in The Arts/Dance from SUNY Buffalo State College and Master of Arts degree from Rutgers University. Kerr, who initially began his dance teaching career in the private sector in 1990, holds permanent NYS PreK-12 Teacher Certification in Dance. He has recently retired from the New York City Department of Education after a stellar career spanning twenty-five years to pursue new professional opportunities.

During his tenure as a middle school dance teacher with the NYCDOE, Mr. Kerr also served on the original writing committee for the NYC Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance Prek-12, as a DELTA city-wide professional development facilitator, a cooperating teacher for Teachers College, Columbia University, New York University Steinhardt, and on the faculties of the Dance Education Laboratory, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts and Graduate School of Education. He has also conducted numerous dance and professional development teacher workshops, served as a panel speaker, teaching artist, curriculum writer, guest artist, lecturer for such venues as Dance Teacher Magazine’s Teacher Summit, American Dance Guild, NYU, CW Post LIU, The Dalton School, Nimbus Dance Works, NDEO, NJAHPERD, Accademia Dance Center in Siena, Italy, Young Dancers In Repertory, On Camera Film Festival at Lincoln Center and Laban 2018 International Conference.  

His work as a public middle school dance teacher was featured in the New York Emmy nominated documentary PSDANCE, as well as on News 12 Brooklyn, in New York Teacher, UFT with a front-page feature interview, in Dance Teacher Magazine (June 2017) and in Don Rauf’s book Exploring Theater: Choreography and Dance in Theater. Kerr served as both Co-Chair and Chair of UFT/NYC Dance Educators and was awarded the Diana Domoracki-Kisto Dance Educator Award by the New York State Dance Education Association in 2015. Throughout his teaching career, he performed for a variety of choreographers, dance companies and venues in the United States and Europe including Maher Benham Coyote Dancers, Deborah Damast, Gemini Dance Theater, Floorplay Contemporary Dance Theater, Amy Kail, Dance Consort: Mezzacappa-Gabrian and Deanna Losi while teaching dance in the Tuscany region of Italy for several years.

Mr. Kerr is furthering his education and pursuing doctoral studies as an Arnhold Fellow Recipient in the Ed.D Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research aim is to examine pedagogical challenges of PreK-12 public school dance educators.

Monica Lessard is currently the elective dance and resident jazz teacher for the Joffrey Dance Academy at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to teaching classes during the school day, Monica spends additional hours co-choreographing the annual performance of The Nutcracker and choreographs jazz pieces for the spring dance concert. She also works as the stage manager for all dance department shows. 

Aside from her many duties within the dance department at Fort Hamilton, Monica works collaboratively with the school’s drama department and is the resident choreographer for the annual spring musical (West Side Story, Into the Woods, Adams Family, The Prom). She is also a freshman advisor, facilitating a smooth transition and successful long-term trajectory for small groups of freshman classes. Monica is an asset to the school’s Teacher Wellness initiative, teaching Pilates and movement based classes on a weekly basis to the staff and is a member of the school’s Equity and Social Justice committee. 

Before her employment at Fort Hamilton, she worked at the Nancy DeBenedittis Elementary School in Corona, NY, where she designed and implemented the school’s first ever dance curriculum. Monica is employed at several private dance studios within the tri-state area and occasionally finds herself at the judge’s table for local dance competitions. 

A New Hampshire native, Monica was trained classically with the RAD syllabus. Her love for ballet established a strong technical foundation and in high school she began to train and compete in various styles and genres of dance. She was accepted to Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts and earned her B.F.A. in Dance Performance in 2007. During her time at Point Park, Monica was a member of the Playhouse Dance Company and was a selected two-time attendee and performer at the National College Dance Festival. A day after graduating, she was employed by a local studio closer to home and while developing her teaching style and love for teaching, she saved enough money to move to New York City in 2009. She continued to train and graced many stages working with small dance and musical theater companies as she continued to teach at studios all over the city. In 2015 she was selected into the Lincoln Center Scholar Program, and earned her M.A. in dance education from Hunter College in 2017.

Monica is an Ed.D. dance education student at Teachers College, Columbia University where she will pursue an interdisciplinary specialization. She intends to focus her research on the importance of dance to humans and human development, the universal purposes of dance, the shortcomings and effectiveness of dance education, and the successful implementation of dance programming in primary through postsecondary education. 

Nimisha Mahiyaria is an international classical Indian and modern dancer, educator & author based in New York City. She is currently the incoming doctoral fellow of Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has previously worked as an instructional dance educator at Science Skills High School, Brooklyn NY. Mahiyaria has also worked as a Digital Communications Associate for Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. As a scholar, she has co-authored Chapter 8: The Role of Yoga In Orthopaedic Disorders in Fundamentals of AYUSH: An Introductory Course for Health Professionals alongside Dr. Ahuja, Specialized Orthopaedic Surgeon at AIIMS hospital India. In 2021, Mahiyaria was selected to present her research on the impact of dance improvisation on trauma healing at New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) Conference. In addition to her passion for teaching dance Mahiyaria has also taught yoga for the last decade, a movement practice native to her country. She is the founder of Hum Yoga, a non-profit organization that teaches the benefits of yoga and meditation to all, especially the disadvantaged populations of our communities. In addition to being a teacher and author, Mahiyaria has been working as a professional freelance dancer for the last 13 years, performing at renowned international venues such as Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to name a few. Her work has been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, The New York Times, Dance Magazine, NJArts, The Stewardship Report, Broadway World and broadcasted live on national television in all CommonWealth countries in the world.

She is the recipient of the O1 Visa: Alien of Extraordinary Ability and is empaneled in the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India as an outstanding modern dancer. She has been awarded the Doctoral Fellowship at Teachers College along with the Arnhold Ed.D Fellowship. She previously received the Arnhold Scholarship at New York University. Mahiyaria holds a masters degree in Dance Education from Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University along with a B.F.A in Dance and a B.A. in Public Relations from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. 

She is currently specializing in Leadership and Policy within Dance Education and is interested in furthering international dance education research by examining the impact dance education has on relieving trauma experienced by both teachers and students in international schools and colleges.

Kelli McGovern is a dance educator, performer, researcher, and entrepreneur based in Hoboken, NJ. She has worked for the past ten years as a full-time, tenured dance educator at Bayonne High School (BHS) in Bayonne, NJ, where she has created the dance arts curriculum in the district and the BHS Young Dancer Program, a 501(c)3 community outreach program designed to offer dance training to children with limited access to dance classes. BHS Dance brings in a multitude of professional guest artists each year and has held performances at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater in NYC. 

McGovern is also co-owner of Washington Rock Dance, LLC (WRD) along with her business partners and collaborators, Cleo Mack and Blair Ritchie. WRD is a private dance school, founded in 2015, based on developmentally focused training designed to maximize the potential of each student. The school offers training tracks through pre-professional companies, recreational classes, and performance ensembles. WRD creates a foundational support structure for the professional dance company, Rock Dance Collective (RDC), a non-profit where McGovern serves as a Founder and as Executive Director. RDC has been commissioned by DanceNOW SteelStacks and Joe’s Pub, The Outlet Dance Project, Rutgers Summer Stage, and CoLab Arts. RDC has self-produced multiple evening-length works throughout NYC at venues such as Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 100Grand Dance, and New York City Center. Excerpts from their most recent project, Arrangements (Brooklyn, 2020), was selected to be presented by the Morris Museum - A Smithsonian Affiliate and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, for the 2020 NJ Arts Annual exhibition, Dissonance. Rock Dance Collective aims to create multidisciplinary art that responds to societal and environmental stimuli through a collaborative process.

McGovern has served on the writing team for the 2020 NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards for Visual and Performing Arts, developed the Model Curriculum Dance Assessments to be used as the guide for all dance programs in New Jersey, and has facilitated workshops CTE Arts Assessments. She has been selected to present her educational philosophies at the National Dance Education Organization National Conferences in Arizona, Washington, D.C, and Florida, and at the NJAHPERD Conference. Kelli is an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

McGovern earned a B.F.A in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts and an Ed.M. in Dance Education from the Graduate School of Education, both at Rutgers University.

McGovern is pursuing the Leadership & Policy specialization as a doctoral student with the Ed.D. Dance Education program at Teachers College. She is interested in developing research to examine funding and implementation of dance education programs in school districts; working with administrators and communities to examine obstacles that may be preventing dance from being an indispensable learning opportunity in every student’s education.

Kellyn Mylechreest is a New York City and Philadelphia-based dancer, choreographer, immersive performance artist and movement educator. She is a Doctoral Student in Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and holds her M.F.A. in Choreography from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and her B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. As a dance educator, Kellyn works as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance at Queens College, CUNY and Queensborough Community College, CUNY, and is honored to step into the role of the Program Coordinator for Morningside Dance Works at Teachers College, Columbia University. In the past, her work as a teaching artist has led her to work with companies such as New York City Ballet and Alvin Ailey’s Arts in Education Programs, bringing modern, ballet and hip-hop to students across the five boroughs of NYC. She has also previously served as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Queens College, the Dance Company Director at SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology and the Divisional Dance Leader with The Salvation Army.

As a dancer she has had the opportunity to perform works by Ohad Naharin, Lar Lubovitch, Lucinda Childs, Merce Cunningham, Ori Flomin, Betsy Coker, and Mariel Pettee. She has worked with companies such as Twyla Tharp, Linked Dance Theatre, Houseworld Immersive and Blue Morph Collective, and her choreography has been featured on companies such as City Lyric Opera, FIT Dance Company, CAST Company, Second Ave Dance Company, Rave Theater Festival, NACHMO film festival and more.

Kellyn’s teaching experiences have led her to write two dance curriculums, “The Dance Collective,” a 52 week ballet curriculum, and “The KéKay Method,” an alternative preschool movement-based curriculum, which is used in schools across the nation. Her work in the dance industry has led both her creative and academic research to be focused on making the dance world a more inclusive, diverse and safe space for dancers everywhere, and is thrilled to be bringing this same mission to the Morningside Dance Works program.

JAQUELINE OLIVARES is a Dance Educator based out of Texas. She currently serves as the Assistant Dance Director at Smithson Valley High School in the Comal Independent School District, nestled in the Texas Hill Country. She is in her 6th year teaching in the public education sector, primarily teaching at the secondary level. 

Olivares has served as the fine arts committee member for her campus AVID task-force, a college-readiness district-wide program, the District Educational Improvement Council (DEIC) for Comal ISD, and as a cooperative teacher/mentor for Texas State University's Dance student teachers. 

Olivares was born and raised in Eagle Pass, Texas and discovered her love for Dance the moment she stepped inside her local dance studio. She graduated from Texas State University with a B.F.A. in Dance Education in 2016 and received her M.A in Dance with a Concentration in Education from Texas Woman's University in 2020. 

During her undergraduate career at Texas State she was a teaching artist with Creation in Motion, an out-reach program that held residencies at elementary schools. Olivares created and implemented a curriculum based on concepts and ideas from Anne Green Gilbert’s Creative Dance approach. Her tasks included integrating creative movement with the school’s Science and English curriculum and coordinated and choreographed a yearly performance for parents and community members. 

Olivares was a member of the Orchesis Dance Company, a modern dance student company within the Dance Division at Texas State and The World Famous Texas State Strutters, a traditional Texas dance/drill team who performed at university events, around the State of Texas and overseas. 

As an undergraduate, Olivares received the Gwen K. Scholarship, Karen Earl Scholarship, and the College of Education scholarship during her graduate career at TWU. Olivares received the Department of Dance Graduate Award for Excellence in Writing in 2021. 

Olivares’ professional accolades include receiving the Campus New Teacher of the Year Award in 2016. She was a Comal Education Foundation Grant Recipient in 2017; the PTA Teacher Grant Recipient in 2018; and received the Comal ISD 590 Award in 2021; a district-wide award given to educators that “go the extra mile” for their students and community.

Olivares has presented her graduate research, Perceptions of Teacher Stress and Teaching Success, at the National Dance Educators Organization and at the Texas Dance Educators Association conferences.  Alongside her conference activity Olivares has also led professional development for both teachers and administrators.

Olivares intends to pursue the Teacher Education specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include dance pedagogy, teacher resiliency, and educational leadership and policy. 

Francine E. Ott, a native of New Orleans, is an artist, educator, performer, choreographer, mentor, writer, and speaker. She received her B.F.A in Dance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Ott has been privileged to study at many dance intensives, including the American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow, where she received scholarships. She has worked, studied and danced with Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence and Tony Kundu among others.

Her choreography has been showcased at Restore Arts Festival, North Carolina State University, UNC-Greensboro, Greensboro Project Space, Gregg Museum of Art + Design, The Fruit Durham, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival, Homegrown at the CAC in New Orleans, APAP, SummerStage Dance, BAM: Black Brooklyn Renaissance, Dance Harlem, This Woman’s Work, Dixon Place, and International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Ott was featured in the October 2020 issue of Dance Spirit magazine's article entitled, “How Social Dance Can Benefit Your Training---and Your Humanity.”  She was also featured in the July 2011 issue of Dance Magazine, “When Words Hurt,” and in the February 2011 issue of SHAPE Magazine, “Confidence Queens.”

Ott worked at Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance and was the Rehearsal Director of Camille A. Brown and Dancers. She assisted Ms. Brown in works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Urban Bush Women, and LaGuardia High School. She was also a teaching artist and choreographer for Crossing Point Arts, Black Girl Spectrum, and Whole Heart Productions. Ott is currently a mentor and lecture moderator for Camille A. Brown and Dancers Social Dance for Social Change series.

In 2017, Ott became a Dance Lecturer and Artistic Director at North Carolina State University. She also moderated Lunchbox series talks, taught master classes, as well as Dance and Mental Health workshops, which afforded her opportunities to share this work at UNC-Greensboro, Dance Project, and throughout the North Carolina Community. Ott received the African American Cultural Center Faculty Fellowship Award to create her film, "fragile," which speaks to the raw, yet beautiful journey many women of color have experienced through their artistry while healing from trauma. In March of 2022, Eva Yaa Asantewaa gave Ott the opportunity to share this work as a guest writer for issue nine of the Gibney Journal in an article entitled, Cycles and Circles: Breaking Chains to Spark Healing.

Ott earned her M.A. degree in Mental Health Counseling at Nyack College and was the Interim Administrative Assistant at the Manhattan Campus for the Alliance Graduate School of Counseling. In Ott’s company, Francine E. Ott/The Walk, she integrates the arts with the mental health field---allowing a person to find their voice, and healing through a unique therapeutic process of growth, change, and transformation. 

Ott intends to pursue the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include dance/movement, mental health/psychology, religion/spirituality, and people of the diaspora.

Pascal Rekoert started his dance career performing with Dutch companies Stichting Totaal, Danstheater Arena, Foundation Satori, and Bronkhorst & Jongewaard. In 1998 he performed in The Fall, a piece that garnered acclaim as “the dance document of the 90’s,” receiving the coveted Prix d’auteur du conseil général de la Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris, France. Upon his arrival to New York in 2000, Rekoert became a premier dancer and Associate Artistic Director with Jennifer Muller/ The Works, assisting Artistic Director Jennifer Muller with choreographies for New York City Opera, with performances at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, and with projects in Bolivia, Thailand, China, and Brazil. Since 2000, Rekoert has also produced a wide variety of festivals and performance series in New York City: WestFest which featured companies from the UK, Israel, and Canada; The HATCH Presenting Series; The HATCHed Sequel Series; the GHOST Series, and dance film festival Canned Unicorn at The Rover SoHo.

Rekoert’s choreographies have been presented in theaters in Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and throughout the United States. Mr. Rekoert commercial work includes Motorola, Levi’s, Dockers, PTT Dutch Royal Communications, L’Oreal Paris, BERENIK, New York Fashion Week, and various celebrity designers. Described as “magnetic and intricate” (the Dutch Volkskrant, 2001), Rekoert has also collaborated with various filmmakers. In 1999, he choreographed the Dutch short dance film Erasmus Spitzen, Crossing a Bridge on Points, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Since 2008, Rekoert has worked with Z Collective in a variety of theater, film, and hybrid collaborations. Rekoert independent film ventures include the first-ever ”portable” dance film festival in 2008, bringing 35 short dance films to mobile devices, such as iPhones, and iPods.

Rekoert has received generous support from the Westbeth Artists Residents Council (2009-2011) and The Field for a two-week residency at White Oak Plantation in Florida (2008). Prizes and awards include the Chashama Best Short Film Award (2008), and the Prix d’auteur du conseil général de la Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris, France (1998).

As a Lincoln Center Scholar who finished his master’s degree in an inaugural partnership program between Lincoln Center Education and CUNY Hunter College, Rekoert helped revise the New York City Department of Education Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance. In June 2016, he graduated with NHSDA Honors and was selected to present Chancellor Farina with the President’s Medal during the CUNY Hunter Commencement ceremony. Before becoming a full-time NYCDOE dance educator in 2015, Rekoert taught master classes throughout the US, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Bolivia, and Thailand.

Rekoert earned a B.A. in Dance from SUNY Empire State College and an M.A. in Dance Education from CUNY Hunter College. Rekoert is pursuing the Leadership and Policy specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Through his research, he aims to understand the correlations between gender and dance education within the male adolescent population in urban neighborhoods.

Shola Roberts; A proud Grenadian American woman internationally known as a professional dancer, dance educator, choreographer, fitness instructor, and model. Her credits include performances with Kowteff West African Dance Company under the Artistic direction of Sewaa Codrington, Oyu Oro under the Artistic direction of La Mora, Fritzalyn Hectorwhom she most recently performed for the 2020 Dance Africa film: Vwa zanset yo: y’ap pale, n’ap danse!, Francine Elizabeth Ott and Otis D. Herring, for whom she served as an assistant choreographer. Shola was a part of the 2018 Voices of  Congo Square cast, which made its debut in the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She has also worked with the Purelements, an Evolution in Dance as a professional company member, teaching technique styles like Dunham, African, and Jazz, just to name a few. In 2014-2017, she choreographed the award-winning dance presentation for the Ramajay Mas band for theWest Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn. She served as Dance Caribbean Collective Lead Artist and served as the Choreographer/ Rehearsal Director for Dance Caribbean Collective’s and WIADCA’s Youth Performing Arts Company.  In 2017-2019 Roberts served as one of the dancer’s/ choreographers for Grenada’s own four-time winning Groovy Soca Monarch King Dash. In February 2020, she was selected to perform as a dancer for the international soca king Machel Montano in his final concert series Machel Monday: The Wedding.

Roberts is a graduate of Howard University, earning her BFA in Dance and Caribbean Studies. In 2019, she was selected as one of eight candidates to pursue her Doctoral degree in Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Presently, Roberts' heart desires to give back to her community by sharing her passion and love for the arts.   

One of those movements made by her was through the founding of Dance Grenada, a dance festival, in 2020. With the goal to provide a platform for Grenadian and International dance artisans to share and increase their knowledge base of traditional and contemporary dance styles and techniques. All done through dance workshops, performances and panel discussions, and symposiums while contributing to the larger Grenadian and dance community and the world around them. 

She earned her M.A. degree in Dance Education at CUNY Hunter College where she was a Lincoln Center Scholar. Roberts intends to pursue the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include the need of creating a culture/community through the arts for the purpose of physical, mental and emotional development.

Jade Charon Robertson is an award-winning choreographer, filmmaker, author, educator, entrepreneur, and mother, hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is an Associate Professor of Dance and Media Technology at Medgar Evers College and the Founder and Artistic Director of 30:11 By Jade Charon and By Jade Charon Company. Known for her spirited and soulful movement style, Robertson's innovative approach blends dance with film, earning her numerous awards. These include the Baba Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellowship at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the 2024 Angela’s Pulse Dancing While Black fellowship, the 2022/2023 Bill T. Jones/New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Artist Residency, and the 2020 Hicks Choreographer Fellowship from the School of Jacob's Pillow.

In 2017, Robertson’s film Reverse garnered significant attention from the New York Times, leading to interviews and features on the publication's social media platforms. Her dance film Recharge, which tackles the racial dialogue in Black America, premiered online in 2020 and received critical acclaim. The film was featured in Dance Magazine’s “Friday Film Break ” and PBS SoCal’s “7 Dance Videos That Helped Us Get Through 2020.” Robertson was also highlighted in Dance Magazine’s issue, “What Does It Take to Carve Out a Career in Dance Filmmaking?” Her films have been showcased and awarded at prestigious festivals and conferences, including the Pan African Film Festival, the Cannes World Film Festival, the Charlotte Black Film Festival, the Vancouver Black Independent Film Festival, and the Montreal Independent Film Festival. As a director, she has been honored with the Cream City Award from the Milwaukee Film Festival and Best Futurist Film from the Cannes World Film Festival.

Robertson believes in the power of dance as ministry and is passionate about the intersection of dance and media technology. With a background in youth arts programming, community-based education, outreach, and mentorship, she uses her work to empower others. Her TEDxUCLA talk, “Dance as Ministry,” encapsulates her commitment to this philosophy. She also advocates for dance and technology education in underserved communities and predominantly Black institutions, sharing her insights in her paper  “Empowering Dance and Technology Education: 10 Vital Steps for Implementation in Underfunded Spaces within Predominantly Black Institutions,” published in the Horizon Journal of Humanities.

In addition to her artistic achievements, Robertson founded the bi-annual festival Restore, which offers performance opportunities and mentorship for Black women choreographers.  She also created The Gem Project, an initiative that provides young girls aged 9-18 with a platform to explore performing arts and mental health.

Robertson holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts with a concentration in Dance and Theater from Columbia College Chicago. She is currently pursuing the Interdisciplinary specialization doctoral degree in the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, with research interests in dance, film, new media technologies, and interdisciplinary dance curricula.

Learn more about her work at www.jadecharon.com and on Instagram at @jade_charon.

Laurie J. Roth is a dance educator and choreographer. Currently, Roth teaches dance at The Trevor Day School – an independent school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where, over thirty years ago, she established the dance program. The focus of her work has been cultivating student voices through her classes and the signature program, Choreolab. Choreolab is a student dance concert that promotes leadership and creative autonomy for grades 7-12 students. Roth is also a certified yoga instructor, and this practice continues to inform her teaching. Along with teaching dance and yoga, Roth is the Director of Performances and Events producing all performances and school events.

A central theme of Roth’s teaching is to honor the creative process from the inception of an idea to simmering, to its germination. Technique is utilized to support this development. Building an artistic community – respectful, supportive, collaborative - where risk-taking is encouraged and where it is safe to make mistakes, is a fundamental part of the journey. Students are encouraged to foster an openness to new ideas and cultivate a willingness to depart from habitual patterns.

Roth was a member of The Mel Wong Dance Company in New York City and DanceCompass in residence at Montclair State University. In recent years, the focus of her choreography has been on the intersection of theater and dance. The amalgamation of these two domains has provided Roth the opportunity to collaborate with theater directors, opera singers, and actors.

For two years, Roth served as an academic advisor and Vice President of the Board for Greenwich Village High School. She designed and wrote the arts curriculum. Although the school never opened, it allowed her to design a progressive school from the ground up and discover the efficacy of interdisciplinary education. Laurie is also the co-founder of Stamp and Rave, an educational production company that promotes creative thinking and expression and a love of the performing arts, with a special emphasis on serving marginalized communities. Through Stamp & Rave Laurie co-taught the course, Cultivating Creativity, which provides the opportunity for creative exploration at all ages.

Roth earned a BFA in Dance at Purchase College with honors for her senior project and a Master of Arts in Integrative Studies through the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. Her thesis titled, Transformational Gifts: Anna Halprin, Improvisation, and a Community of Experience, included a research paper on the life and work of Anna Halprin and the examination of the relationship between improvisation, personal growth, and community building. She applied this research to create a performance piece using dancers and non-dancers that culminated in a live performance.  

Roth will commence her study in the interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College where she intends to follow her path exploring the relationship between neuroscience, movement, and creativity.

LAILA SALES is a native of Harlem, New York, and is the Director of Dance for the Lawrence Public School District. She is committed to creating and maintaining an exceptional dance program devoted to student collaboration, artistic expression, and individual creativity. Sales is also the Co-Founder and Program Director for Gritty Cherries Inc, a non-profit arts organization mission. The mission of Gritty Cherries is to foster and guide youth to feel a sense of ownership and accomplishment through the arts as a way to help them to realize their potential. Moreover, they endeavor to make the performing arts available to at-risk student populations to become a creative force within their communities and harness the arts' economic vitality through dance.

Sales began studying dance at the age of five at the Mary Bruce Tap Dance School. Sales furthered her training at Dance Theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey, and most notably The Martha Graham School, where she performed with the company and Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. She aspires to produce artistic work rooted in the experience of confronting and overcoming creative and political challenges. Her work has been produced and commissioned by Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors and Dance Theater Workshop. Internationally, Sales has worked with performing artists in Italy, Cuba, and South Africa. She previously taught at the Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts in Brooklyn. In 2019, The New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) awarded Ms. Sales the Outstanding Leadership Award for her contribution and commitment to the field of dance education.

Sales graduated from LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts. She continued her studies at SUNY Brockport, where Sales received a BFA in dance. She then completed her MFA in choreography and performance at the University of Michigan School of Music as a Rackham Fellow. Furthermore, Sales holds a MA in psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Certificate in School Administration from LIU Post.

Sales intends to pursue the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include the effects of socioeconomics and ethnicity on dance pedagogy and curriculum development and culturally diverse dance education leadership.

PARUL SHAH, Artistic Director of the Parul Shah Dance Company, utilizes performance and education to promote cultural awareness and explore stories around identity. Based in New York City, Shah’s work as an educator and choreographer is committed to shining a light on marginalized communities and giving voice to stories that go unheard. Her repertoire draws from her classical training in the North Indian classical dance tradition, Kathak, while building on the dance form’s mythological storytelling roots to explore contemporary narratives.

As an educator, Shah has been a teaching artist, studio teacher, and guest lecturer at universities for over two decades. Central to her work as an educator is to foster awareness and dialogue through artistic creation. She is currently a teaching artist for City Lore, NYC, and is on the dance faculty at Kulture Kool, NJ, where she has been teaching for 12 years.  Shah has guest lectured and held residencies in several universities, including A&M University, New York University, Rutgers University, Hunter College, Barnard College, Amherst College, and Nichols College. In addition, she has served on the faculty at Rutgers University and Teachers College, Columbia University. Adjacent to her educational career, Shah has been a curator for more than 15 years and is a co-curator for the Erasing Borders Dance Festival in NYC.

Shah has presented her work around the world and at home to critical acclaim, including City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival: NYC, the New Victory Theatre: NYC, the Kennedy Center: Washington D.C, Jazz at Lincoln Center: NYC, Asia Society: NYC, Jacobs Pillow, Inside/ Out series: MA, World Music Institute: NYC, the Japan Forum Foundation: Tokyo, The United Nations Development Program: England and U.S, Suvarna Parva: India, Ahmedabad, and collaborative work in Europe. Shah has also been an Artist in Residence at Mass MoCA, a Teaching Residency for The Yard, and the Fresh Tracks’ Residency at New York Live Arts.

Shah has earned her B.A. in Political Science from New York University and her M.A. in Dance & Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is excited to continue her studies as a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education program at Teachers College through the interdisciplinary specialization track. Shah’s research focus is to challenge Euro-centric dance institutional policies and recognize diverse perspectives in dance education.  Her other research interest includes examining dance as a construct of culture embodying political, social, and national ideologies.

Mónica Silva is currently an Associate Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and a doctoral student in the Dance Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also a member of the Studies in Dance and Scenic Practice research-creation group within PUCP's Vice-Rectorate of Research.

Previously, Mónica served as Head of the Academic Department of Performing Arts at PUCP for four years. She also directed the undergraduate Dance program at the Faculty of Performing Arts, where she led the design of the new curriculum and established the PUCP Dance Company. Additionally, she coordinated the Dance, Body, and Scene research group and has actively participated in various academic and professional networks across Latin America’s performing arts community.

Mónica has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career, recognizing her contributions as a dancer, choreographer, and educator.

She holds a B.A. in Education from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and an M.A. in Dance Education from New York University.

Her intended area of specialization is interdisciplinary, with a particular focus on contemporary dance.

Rachel Swenson is a licensed Idaho K-12 teacher serving as a dance teaching artist for Idaho Commission on the Arts and the Utah Arts Council as well as a dance specialist and the Creative Director at Idaho Fine Arts Academy, a grades 6-12 public arts school of choice in West Ada School District. She teaches both the art-of-dance and how to incorporate dance as an integrative learning tool through project-based choreography with students that focuses on connections to dance history, current events, life skills, environmental issues, and social issues. Swenson is the co-director/co-founder and curator of the Idaho Screendance Festival. She has performed professionally in various venues in Utah and was a guest performer for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. She has also performed for choreographer Meghan Durham Wall for the Paradigm Dance Project and Jim Moreno's Proving Ground Dance Company. Performing the works of Hanya Holm and Alwin Nikolais have been highlights of her professional experience. 

Throughout her career, Swenson has worked in many K-12 schools in Utah and Idaho, including as an Art Works for Kids teaching artist at Knowlton Elementary and William Penn Elementary schools in Utah; as a visual arts teacher at Christine Donnell School of the Arts in Idaho; and as a creative dance teacher for the Virginia Tanner Dance Arts in Education program at University of Utah. Swenson has extensive experience providing professional development for educators, including Idaho’s Arts Powered Schools, West Ada School District, BYU Arts Partnerships, Utah Valley University, EduFest, the Utah State Office of Education, Dance and the Child International, Utah Arts Council’s Arts Networking Conferences, Artworks for Kids, Tanner Dance Program, Idaho Dance Education Organization, and the National Dance Education Organization. 

Swenson has been awarded over sixteen grants for dance education from Idaho Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jeker Foundation, the Inukai Family Foundation, Idaho Film Collection, and VSA Idaho and is the recipient of the 2019 Teacher of the Year for Idaho Fine Arts Academy and the 2017 NDEO Executive Directors Award for Outstanding Advocacy. In her commitment to advocating for equality in arts education in public and private schools, Swenson has been active in establishing and serving state and national organizations. She is the founding President and current President of the Idaho Dance Education Organization and is the Northwest Region Representative for the National Dance Education Organization, where she was also a contributing committee member for the NDEO “Priorities Pamphlet.” Swenson has also served on multiple committees for the State Board of Education and West Ada School District for revisions of arts education standards and textbook adoptions. 

Swenson earned a B.F.A. in Modern Dance and an M.Ed. in Education from the University of Utah. Swenson is pursuing an Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, New York. She was a 2019-2020 Susan H. Fuhrman Endowed Scholarship Recipient and Arnhold Dance Education Institute Research Assistant. She is a recipient of the Arnhold Institute scholarship for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. Her research interests include social-emotional learning in collaborative choreography, creative cognitive processes, cultivating creativity, the cultural hierarchy of arts education, dance literacy, and improving arts education leadership.

Diane Tomasi is a human who loves to teach, dance, perform, and explore all things somatically as an aerialist, dancer, and educator.

Tomasi has been teaching tumbling and contemporary dance since 2001, and aerial arts, primarily aerial silks since 2014. At BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Diane is the Director of AcroBAX II and a tumbling and contemporary dance instructor. Diane created and built the aerial program at Brooklyn Ninja Academy and teaches adult and child classes there. Tomasi is also a co-founder of This Body, a community of artists who work together to advocate and change the 'starving artist' concept around creating art.

Tomasi began as a gymnast at the young age of 2, later began to dance, and then was introduced to aerial through an inclusive, abled/disabled body workshop with Blue-Eyed Soul Dance Company in the UK. Tomasi has performed at Galapagos Art Space, The Slipper Room, Jacob’s Pillow, The Wild Project, Dance New Amsterdam, and The Muse Brooklyn, among other places, and with Phaedra’s Cabaret, Ko-Ryo Dance Theater, This Body, as well as in their own work.

In July 2023 Tomasi received an MA in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University and a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts Dance from Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2005. Diane also has certificates in the Simonson Method of Teacher Training, 2013, Thai Massage Adv. Studies Sen Theory & Application, 2010, and Thai Massage Basic Studies Level I & II, 2009. 

Tomasi is interested in the immense confidence and joy that can be attained through movement and dance. Dance brings people together through community, expression, creativity, vulnerability, and acceptance. Dance offers alternative pathways of learning: experiential, visual, and physical. Tomasi is interested in advocating and lifting up these qualities of dance as well as re-envisioning performance and the dance industry as dance is underfunded and under-appreciated, especially in NYC after a long and turbulent pandemic. 

Tomasi is pursuing an interdisciplinary specialization encompassing advocacy, pedagogy, and kinesiology in the Dance Education, Ed.D. program at Teachers College.

Tomasi uses both they/them and she/her pronouns, and more of and about their work can be found at: www.dianetomasi.com and www.thisbodylives.com.

ALLISON TROTTA is the Dance Department Chair and Senior Class Dean at The Nightingale-Bamford School, where she teaches and develops curriculum and programming in all three divisions. This has included the implementation of an elective program in the Upper School, which has enabled her to create many new courses including Dance History, Dance and Film, Dance and Gender, Site Specific Dance, and Dance and Politics. 

Trotta choreographs regularly at Nightingale for student concerts and mentors both student choreographers and Seniors pursuing Independent Study Projects in dance. Trotta has connected the Nightingale Dance Department to many local arts institutions. She has worked closely with the educational directors of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to facilitate regular class visits. She has brought Gibney Dance, Alexandra Beller and Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo to Nightingale for assemblies and master classes. She is a partnering teacher with the Joyce and a member of the National Dance Education Organization, whose conference she attends annually. 

Trotta has enabled students to show work in the Dig Up Festival at the 92nd Street Y and has her dance classes regularly attend their Friday at Noon series. Trotta's choreography has been presented throughout the United States including at the Boulder International Fringe Festival, the Dance Complex in Cambridge, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, University Settlement, The Joyce SoHo, and the Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center. The Boston Globe described her work as having a visceral rhythmic punch, (Campbell, 2007) and she is the recipient of a Harkness Space Grant from the 92nd St. Y. 

Trotta earned a B.F.A. in Dance and Performance from Marymount Manhattan College and her M.F.A. in Choreography from Sarah Lawrence College. 

Trotta intends to pursue the Leadership and Policy Specialization as a doctoral student with the Ed.D. in Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently researching the relationship between critical thinking and equity mindset. Her research interests include the relationship between dance education and service learning, equity work, and social justice education.

Eto’o Tsana is a native New York City performing artist, choreographer, dance educator, and youth development specialist based in New York City. Tsana has traveled extensively throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, France, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania, collaborating with other dance artists, teaching, and performing professionally. She also has ten years of experience in youth development, performing arts curriculum writing, and community school employment experience.

Tsana is the Artistic Director of Mabina Danseuses Dance Company, founded in 2011. The company focuses on the principles of cultural performance, humanitarianism, and anthropology from a Kongolese dance and cultural perspective. 

She graduated from Hunter College Magna Cum Laude with an MFA in Dance and from Queens College Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's Degree in Drama, Theater, and Dance. She is also the recipient of the 2018 AEA Award for "Best Upcoming Female Artist," HAPAWARDS 2019 & 2020 "Best Independent Female Artist and Best Independent Artist," Uollywood Awards recipient for "Contributions Made to Culture, Music, and Dance," and the NHSDA Honors recipient.   

Tsana is pursuing the Interdisciplinary Specialization as a doctoral student with the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include the private cultural arts sector of dance education and gender and education: the diverse and complex experiences of Black and Brown women in higher ed in dance education with a lens that extends through entertainment to education and is not limited to sociocultural theories, justice, and equality.

Jen Turey (Draghi) is currently an adjunct professor and choreographer at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT where she also serves on the marketing committee for the Health Promotion and Exercise Science department and as the faculty advisor for student run dance clubs, Eversion and Shuffle. Turey is also on faculty at Broadway Dance Center, an annual guest artist at Burklyn Ballet Theatre, and teaches regularly in the tri state area. Her latest work as choreographer for the new musical, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, opens at the Sargent Theatre (314 W. 54th Street in NYC) on September 15, 2024. 

As a performer, Turey's professional performing experience includes the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular as a Rockette, touring throughout the US, Canada and Europe with the Broadway National and International tours of 42nd Street, Crazy for You, and The Will Rogers Follies and regionally at Northshore Music Theatre (Cabaret and 42 Street), The Cape Playhouse (Erma in Anything Goes), Westchester Broadway Theatre (Crazy for You and Good News), The Reagle Players (Crazy for You, Guys and Dolls, Gloria in Bye Bye Birdie, Showboat, Gertie in Oklahoma, The Will Rogers Follies and My One and Only) and The Shubert Theatre in New Haven, CT (Erma in Anything Goes). As a professional choreographer, her career has brought her to the Weston Playhouse (The Light in the Piazza and the world premiere of Saint-Ex), Merry-Go-Round Playhouse (Crazy for You, No, No, Nanette and Thoroughly Modern Millie) The Reagle Players (Crazy for You - Co-Director and The Will Rogers Follies - Assistant Choreographer), Richter Park (Pippin, Crazy For You, Funny Girl, 42nd Street and 9 to 5) and Western Connecticut State University (The Donkey Show, Bat Boy, Marat/Sade, Spring Awakening, Anything Goes, et al.) Before pursuing her studies at Teachers College, Turey ran a private performing arts studio in Newtown, CT for twenty-three years as the artistic director and owner and also regularly contributed to benefit performances supporting her community affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. 

Turey holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts with an Acting concentration from Hunter College, an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and is  a proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Certifications include Progressing Ballet Technique, Rhythm Works, and Acrobatic Arts.

Turey is an Ed.D. Dance Education Program student at Teachers College, where she pursues the Interdisciplinary specialization. Her research interests include higher education curriculum, the preservation of tap dance history specifically recognizing women and women of color, and exploring dance as an interdisciplinary art form.

Alaina Wilson is a choreographer, dancer, educator, and arts 

administrator based in New York City. Currently, she works with Gibney Dance as Executive & Board Liaison, collaborating with Founder, CEO & Artistic Director Gina Gibney, the organization’s Board of Directors, and staff Executive Leadership Team to facilitate strategic projects. Wilson also pursues her own independent work as a choreographer, dance performer, and teacher, most recently serving as a Visiting Artist in Dance with Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA. 

Wilson has previously held dance teaching positions with the Eliza Corwin Frost Early Childhood Center, the Bronxville Ballet School, the Bronxville Adult School, and the Ailey School Junior Division. Her teaching has primarily focused on introductory dance training for young children and instruction for adult beginnings in the forms of ballet and contemporary dance. As an administrator, Wilson has served as Company Manager with Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation, including managing visual arts and performance programming for the annual Hudson Eye Festival in Hudson, NY from 2019 – 2021. She has also worked with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance as interim Company Manager and Development Associate. 

In advancing her own choreographic work, Wilson has been awarded residencies at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn, NY and the Catwalk Institute in Catskill, NY. She has received commissions from Vassar College’s Modfest Arts Festival and the Frances Lehman Loeb Arts Center, and she has presented her choreography throughout New York City and the northeastern region of the U.S. Since 2014, Wilson has created and produced 16 original performance works of dance as well as four choreographic works on film. 

Wilson earned a B.A. in Greek & Roman Studies with a minor Art History from Vassar College as well as an M.F.A. in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College, Wilson was named the 2016 recipient of the Ashish Patil ’08 Memorial Prize for excellence in interdisciplinary study for her undergraduate thesis work contextualizing contemporary perceptions of ancient dance. While at Sarah Lawrence College, Wilson conducted a master’s thesis on the role of perception within choreography and performance. 

Wilson intends to pursue an interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include phenomenology, perception, and somatic inquiry within dance teaching practices.

Royce Zackery is a tenured Associate Professor at Howard University in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts were he served as one of the Howard University Dance Arts Area Coordinators for 11 years. He is on the Ballet Faculty of the Washington Ballet in the Professional Training Division and Adult Programming. In addition to working with the Misty Copeland Foundation serving as a member of her Advisory Council, Mr. Zackery is a Governor’s Honor Award Recipient from the state of Georgia.

Zackery's professional performing and teaching career both expand beyond 25 years in the industry with companies ranging from classical, contemporary, modern, and touring Broadway shows. He has taught master classes, workshops, held residencies, and led panel discussions for symposiums in the U.S./ Canada and several European countries. Recent live online discussions include: Who’s Responsible for Dancers Health? A 5-day series presented by Dance Medicine Specialist’s Dr. Danelle Dickson & Dr. Sheyi Ojofeitimi. Dance, Entertainment, & Mental Health: The What’s Up Roadie Podcast. Arts & Resiliency, It’s Role in Community & Social Justice presented by MindLeaps and the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Rwanda, and Addressing Racialization in Ballet; an Inaugural Canada-US Symposium in Ballet.  

Zackery has been on the teaching staff at three (3) of the most noted and prestigious Dance Arts facilities revered around the world in New York City including The School at Steps on Broadway, the Alvin Ailey Extension Program, and Broadway Dance Center. His choreographic works have been presented by several international festivals, gala performances, and governmental functions worldwide including Russia, Germany, the U.S. and Africa. Zackery's choreographic & collaborative commissions include dance companies in the U.S., Israel Institute, Rwandan, and UAE, Embassy’s, US- Palestine Affairs, Company E Arts, NGO’s, the Kennedy Center & Universities across the nation.

Zackery received his Master’s Degree from N.Y.U. Steinhardt/American Ballet Theatre School of Education & Pedagogical study, a B.F.A. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas Texas, and he is a certified American Ballet National Teaching Curriculum Specialist. His Dance Education Doctoral Program area of specialization is Movement Science with a research focus specifically in Neuromuscular Biomechanics, Fascial Systems, and injury prevention.