Candidate's Statement: 

This is a challenging time for the arts, and specifically for educators within every sector. My primary goal for serving as Southeast Director would be to uplift voices that are actively being silenced in the region by listening to and seeking to meet the needs of current members, while outreaching to future members and advocating for the next generation of educators.

As an educator in Florida, I have confronted numerous challenges and realize how imperative building access points in dance across higher education, K-12, community, and disability-inclusive settings is to the survival, and subsequent growth, of our field. I would endeavor to strengthen pathways for undergraduate and early-career research, mentorship models across sectors, and partnerships that extend dance education into community, disability, and justice-involved populations who are too often left out of the conversation. My strategy draws directly from my own practices, as I have direct experience with translating vision into documentation, policy, and repeatable systems. As a member of several university and department committees, I have shaped general education humanities curriculum, accreditation self-studies, rubrics, and hiring structures, and would bring that same rigor to NDEO’s institutional initiatives.  

My service to the field includes holding positions within faculty governance, professional organizations, and community practice. At my institution, I served on the Humanities, Arts, and Languages subcommittee for three years, helping to transition faculty to a new general education curriculum. I synthesized rubric calibration data, co-authored policies for advising, and co-drafted instruction manuals and syllabus templates across departments. I was recently elected to the Faculty Grants committee where I will apply expertise from serving as a reviewer for both the Gobioff Foundation as well as the Hillsborough County Arts Council’s grant cycle processes. I was a founding member for both DanceATL and Dance Tampa Bay, two service organizations in the Atlanta and Tampa dance communities respectively. I served on the boards of both these organizations, crafting bylaws and mission statements, as well as co-organizing and co-leading community town halls to identify the needs of dance professionals and educators within these cities. As the director of my dance company, Poetica, I have created opportunities for dance performances and classes within the community including: 1) a series of accessible dance classes in collaboration with occupational therapy, 2) hosting weekly, community dance classes in partnership with Tampa Parks & Recreation, and 3) crafting literacy focused dance-interdisciplinary library programming for all ages.   

My leadership experiences center on directing recurring programs and building infrastructure that lasts. I have solicited chorographic/creative proposals, curated programs, directed, and overseen production logistics for performances within the community and at the university-level, producing an average of 4-5 shows every year. This includes working with dance students and professionals to bring choreography and classes into alternative spaces, such as the Tampa Museum of Art, downtown parks, and local neighborhood businesses. My collaborative work is consistently crossing disciplinary boundaries and breaking down barriers to entry for arts experiences. I wholeheartedly believe in dance for everybody and every body, and have worked as a teaching artist for Arts4All Florida for 8 years, delivering dance instruction to schools and community centers serving people with disabilities. This work has led to several collaborations between my university students and these communities, furthering my mission, as well as NDEO’s, of fostering empathetic dance educators.

I have seen firsthand how dance programs thrive when they’re connected to networks larger than a single institution, and would carry that mission forward if elected.