Undergraduate Representative | Rachel Mehle | rmm00014@mix.wvu.edu

Hello, my name is Rachel Mehle and I am a current student at West Virginia University majoring in dance and multidisciplinary studies focused on forensics, criminology, and anthropology. I am a native Coloradoan and have worked with various studios around the Denver area. I was very happy to attend my first-ever conference this past year in my native city as it made my overall time at the conference an even greater experience. My school had its own table at the conference and I was happy to be a representative and talk to various attendees about my program and how we work with a dance science program.

Graduate Representative | Lóri Fejes | lorifejes@gmail.com

Lóri Fejes is a student and scholar of dance and dance history. Growing up in Hungary he practiced folk dance at an early age but found his true calling for dance in college, when he began training in ballet and modern, to overcome childhood trauma. He is now a graduate student, researching dance as politics and advocacy, trying new styles whenever he can, and choreographing ritual, folk, and contemporary pieces. He is a member of the seventh cohort of NDEO’s PK-12 Mentorship Program, hoping to cement his studio teaching before beginning doctoral studies in dance.

Student Initiatives Co-Advisor | Bradford Chin | bachin@uci.edu

San Francisco native Bradford Chin (he/they) is a dance artist/methodologist, DEIJ/accessibility consultant, and audio describer for dance based in San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Formerly a company member with AXIS Dance Company, his creative research interests are disability in dance, critically inclusive pedagogy, improvisation and/as composition, and creative process and aesthetics in Western concert dance culture. His work has been recognized and funded by over $35,000 in support from the California Arts Council, The Actors Fund, Arts Council for Long Beach, and the UCI Center for Medical Humanities, among others. He is currently on the Advisory Council for the National Dance Education Organization.

Full bio and additional information are available at https://sites.uci.edu/ BradfordChin.

Student Initiatives Co-Advisor | JC De’ Marko V. Burnett-Gordon | jvburnettgo@uncg.edu

JC De’ Marko V. Burnett-Gordon, from Nashville, TN, received Bachelors degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies from Tennessee State University and in Dance Education from the University of Memphis. He works for Metro Nashville Public School and served for the National Dance Week for the State of Tennessee, the National Honor Society for Dance Art Chapter Sponsor, and the Tennessee Educators Association. JC is also the CEO & CFO of the Dare 2 D.R.E.A.M. Foundation 501c3 Nonprofit Organization. He received a Masters in Education in Curriculum & Instruction for Secondary Schools with an emphasis of Curriculum Design from Tennessee State University, for Arts in Medicine from the University of Florida, and for Arts in Dance Education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

NDEO offers annual sholarships to college students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in dance or dance education to help defray the costs associated with attending. Recipients receive complimentary conference registration, one-year complimentary (individual) NDEO membership, and a $300 check mailed after conference. View Student Conference Scholarship Info

The NDEO internship program offers remote internship opportunities. Please click here to view availble internships.

NDEO offers internship opportunities for highly motivated, independent, and mature graduate and undergraduate student members of NDEO who seek to understand dance arts education in relation to the national agenda of educational reform. Internships offer practical and challenging experiences in dance education, research, legislation, policy and funding, advocacy, arts or business administration, marketing and publications, conferences, and membership.

The NHSDA Collegiate Program is designed to honor the accomplishments of outstanding undergraduate or graduate students studying dance in a dance major, minor, or elective program at a postsecondary institution. An NHSDA Collegiate Program Chapter can be implemented in any postsecondary institution that supports accredited dance coursework. The institution is required to maintain an NDEO Institutional Membership - Higher Education for as long as the institution hosts an NHSDA Collegiate Program. The chapter can be set up as a one-time honor, as a program of an existing student organization, or as a stand-alone student organization or club with officers, regular meetings, and planned activities. Students must become members of NDEO at either the Undergraduate Student or Graduate Student level in order to be inducted and to receive Graduation with Honors. Click here for more information about starting a NHSDA Collegiate chapter.