<p>Abigail F. Agresta-Stratton, earned a MA in Dance Education from New York University&rsquo;s Steinhardt School and is a Registered Dance Educator. Abigail has taught dance in many public and private schools and studios for over thirty years (twenty seven years in PK-12) and has created and implemented multi-faceted dance curriculums. Abigail is a graduate of Dance Education Laboratory and has been a member of the New York City Department of Education Blueprint Writing Committee, Project Manager of the NYCDOE Dance Curriculum Planning Committee, a scorer for the NYS Dance Content Specialty Test, Chair of the NYC Dance Educators /UFT, Secretary of the NYS Dance Education Association, and President of NYSDEA Abigail has served as the moderator of the National Dance Education Organization&rsquo;s&nbsp; K &ndash; 12 Forum and Chair of the PK-12 Mentorship Committee.&nbsp; In October 2012, she was awarded the Presidential Service Award by NYSDEA for her dedication to the advancement of da nce education.&nbsp; In August 2013, Abigail was honored at the Dance Teacher Magazine Summit as the 2013 K &ndash; 12 Awardee and was recognized for her commitment and accomplishments in dance education and advocacy for dance. In 2018, Abigail was recognized by the Executive Director of NDEO, and in 2021 she was also acknowledged by NDEO&#39;s President. Currently, Abigail is on NDEO&rsquo;s Advisory Council representing Mentorship and is Co-Chair of NDEO&rsquo;s PK-12 Mentorship Program.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Adrienne Wilson, MFA/ CET is Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Auburn University. She teaches all levels of modern dance and rhythm tap, movement for the actor; choreographs and directs the dance ensemble; created and advises the Dance Minor; and serves as a University Senator. She earned an MFA in Choreography and Performance from The College at Brockport; and Bachelor&#39;s and Master&#39;s Degrees in Piano Performance from Ithaca College. WIison is a Certified Evans Teacher (CET) and works closely with Bill Evans and Courtney World in their collaborative research project documenting Evans&#39; Tap Legacy. She is actively involved in ACDA, and&nbsp; serves as Regional Director for the South Region; and is Vice President of the Alabama Dance Council.</p>

Adrienne Clancy, founded ClancyWorks Dance in 2001, and over the past two decades has taught and performed nationally in over 20 states and internationally in 9 countries on 6 continents. Dr. Clancy worked as a Company Member for: Bella Lewitzky, Liz Lerman, Nora Reynolds-Daniel, Bill Evans. Dr. Clancy, both an artist and a scholar, earned a PhD and MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s Univ., a MA in Dance History from Univ. of New Mexico. Awards for teaching include: NDEO’s 2013 Outstanding Dance Educator of the Year, presenting at 2016 TEDx Midatlantic, honored on NBC News (Washington, DC), among others. In 2020 she founded Building Racial Equity in the Arts through Dance “B.R.E.A.D.” and in 2007, the Dance Educators Training Institute, a professional development workshop for artists/educator

Agata is a graduate from Sacramento State University (BA, Dance) and has been teaching dance since 2010. Throughout her career in teaching, Agata has discovered her passion for high school (and college) dance education and continues to use her experience to help guide new generations of dancers evolve as artists both in the classroom and beyond. Agata believes that every student that walks in the studio should be given a chance to see the value of their worth, explore their creativity, expand their movement vocabulary and continuously seek out growth in every part of their learning experience. Currently, she is the dance director at St. Francis Catholic High School in Sacramento CA.

Alexandra James, is a Southern Maine-born maker, mover and mother. As an independent artist, she’s engaged with improvisation and interdisciplinary investigation, the interrogation of pedagogy and craft, seeking liberation through the integrity of embodied knowledge and the sharing of practice. In addition to her role as BDF’s Director of Training Programs, Alexandra is a professor of dance at Bates & Colby Colleges, and artistic director of a youth Hip Hop company. Her work has been presented work in Chicago, New York and South Africa, with a teaching practice that carries her nationally. She earned her BFA from the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago in 2009.

Alia Montijo graduated from The Ohio State University in Dance and Women's Studies and from Jacksonville University with a Master’s in Choreography. She has danced professionally in New York, Chicago, and Michigan, touring nationally and internationally. She is the recipient of the Denman Research Award, the American Association of University Women: Career Development Scholarship, Best in Live Performance: Venice International Art Fair, and dance film awards from Dance and Media Japan and Contact Improvisation International Film Festival. She is currently on faculty at North Central College and researching the possible correlations between subatomic behavior and macro-social choreographies.

Allison Spadaro (EdM) is the middle school dance teacher in Teaneck, New Jersey. She completed the Master’s of Education degree in dance education at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, she helped establish the NDEO Rutgers Student Organization that she led as co-chair in 2015-2016. She performed and choreographed for the award-winning, Indian-Fusion dance company, Nritya Creations where she performed in Times Square and the Indian Consulate in NYC. Allison serves on the NDEO Advocacy Committee and is the chair of the National Initiatives and Special Projects subcommittee. Allison has presented professional development sessions at the district, state, and national level (DanceNJ, CoDEO, NDEO), and continues to proudly showcase her evidence-based dance pedagogy throughout the country.

Ally Ferry is a candidate for a Master’s Degree in Dance Education from Rutgers University. She is currently completing her student teaching in Pre-Kindergarten with Deanna Brennan as her cooperating teacher. Ally is a principal dancer for The Redef Movement professional dance company, training in hip hop and street styles: breaking, locking, popping, and more under the direction of John “Comix” Barrella. With the Redef Movement, Ally has performed in various shows including being a speaker and performer at TEDx Asbury Park: Chaos. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Georgian Court University in 2021 studying in ballet, modern, improvisation, and choreography. Ally is a current member in the Rutgers University Chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts.

<p>Alyssa Gray is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte double majoring in Elementary Education and Applied Dance adding on a K-12 dance teaching license. Alyssa has been a member of the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Education since 2021. In the fall of 2021, she was a micro internship research scholar for UNC Charlotte&#39;s office of undergraduate research. Alyssa&rsquo;s career goal is to become an elementary school teacher integrating dance into her classroom. She believes teachers are one of the most influential people in a student&#39;s life. Alyssa wants to make a difference in the lives of her future students while also integrating her love for dance into her classroom.</p>

Amanda Byars is a dance educator at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN. Before joining the faculty at GPS, she served as Adjunct Professor of Dance at Agnes Scott College; Curriculum Specialist at Moving in the Spirit, a youth development/dance nonprofit; and Pilates Instructor. She holds a BFA from the University of Massachusetts, an MFA from the Ohio State University, certifications in Pilates and Labanotation, and is a certified Elementary Labanotation teacher trainer. Her choreography has been performed across the United States. As an educator, Amanda has presented at many workshops and conferences, including the National Dance Education Organization Annual Conference, Creative Connections Arts Educators Conference, and the Woodruff Arts Center's Educators Conference.

<p>Amanda Gabaldon (MFA) is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Tampa. She is founder and artistic director of Poetica, a creative research platform that moves at the intersection of contemporary dance, poetry, and community. Amanda studied under Anne Green Gilbert at the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers in Brain Compatible Dance Education in Seattle, WA. Her pedagogy builds on Gilbert&rsquo;s brain compatible dance curriculum to emphasize creativity and strengthen mind-body connections while incorporating poetic forms and creative writing. She has been a feature writer for Creative Pinellas&rsquo; Arts Coast Journal, the Tallahassee Council on Culture &amp; Arts, DIYdancer Magazine, &amp; ArtsATL.</p>

<p>Amy Miller is driven by translating the inherent reciprocity necessary for moving together in the studio in ways that can inspire &#39;movement&#39; in our daily lives. Formerly with the Ohio Ballet, Miller was also a founding member of Cleveland-based GroundWorks DanceTheater. After performing with and directing Gibney Company for 10 years, she now focuses on education as Gibney&rsquo;s new Director of Learning &amp; Leadership. She has invested deeply in Gibney&rsquo;s Community Action initiatives by working alongside survivors of gender-based violence, by conducting social action trainings with activists around the world, and by facilitating healthy relationship workshops raising awareness about the role of the arts in violence prevention - all which now deeply inform her overall approach to equity in dance education.</p>

<p><strong>Amy Jacques</strong>&nbsp;teaches in the dance and psychology departments at Brenau University. She is the coordinator of the graduate certificate program in dance/movement therapy and helped create the undergraduate minor in dance/movement therapy. She<strong>&nbsp;</strong>has an MA in Dance-Movement Therapy from Columbia College, an MS in Clinical Counseling Psychology with a specialization in teaching from Brenau University, and a BA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University.&nbsp; &nbsp;Amy trained in Vaganova ballet technique with Elizabeth Boitsov, a former Bolshoi master teacher, and graduated from her school. She is certified to teach Basic and Advanced Duncan technique through the Isadora Duncan Foundation in New York. She has performed Duncan works as a guest artist with Lori Belilove and Company and Duncan Dance Chicago. Her professional dance experience also includes Ballet Chicago under Daniel Duell, Boitsov Classical Ballet of Chicago, Lyric Opera of Chicago under Maria Tallchief, Ballet Theater of Chicago,&nbsp; Ballet Iowa, Lexington Ballet, and&nbsp;the Asheville Ballet. Amy also&nbsp;traveled with Ken Laws presenting on the Physics of Dance. Amy has choreographed and staged classical ballet, and Duncan works&nbsp;for various schools, companies, and festivals, including Gainesville Ballet, &nbsp;Asheville Ballet, Boitsov Classical Ballet of Chicago, Atlanta Ballet Fest, Buford Ballet, Western Carolina University, Brenau University, and the musical&nbsp;<em>Hair</em>&nbsp;for the Asheville Hair Project. Her teaching experience includes Brenau University,&nbsp;Western Carolina University, and Georgia College and State University. She is a board-certified&nbsp;dance/movement therapist and a licensed professional counselor. As a dance/movement therapist, Amy has brought dance/movement therapy programs to various schools and has presented dance/movement therapy workshops at conferences. She has experience working with depression, anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, and children with developmental disabilities. One of her specialties is working with children on the autism spectrum. She has a private practice in dance/movement therapy and counseling.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Amy Love Beasley is a dance artist and an Assistant Teaching Professor at North Carolina State University. She teaches studio and lecture courses, and is currently teaching somatic studies, modern technique, and improvisation. Her work has been performed at Elon University, the Greensboro Fringe Festival, UNC Greensboro, FSC-Jacksonville, Wake Forest University, the North Carolina Dance Festival, UNC School of the Arts, Art-o-Matic in Washington, DC, and at Waxworks and the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, NY. She has had the good fortune of performing for many inspiring artists who resonate in her teaching and work. Before joining NC State, Amy was on faculty at Elon University, UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest University, and with the UNC School of the Arts’ Summer Intensive.

Amy Grebe earned a MA in Urban Studies with a concentration in Community Arts from Eastern University. She has been a practicing community artist for over two decades. Currently, Amy works with Girls First as their Director of Education where she developed an arts-based curriculum that addresses the specific cognitive and behavioral needs of young girls living in an urban context. Additionally, Amy serves as a consultant and presenter, providing training to educators and organizations seeking to deepen their impact on youth by establishing trauma-informed, arts-integrated classrooms. The recently published book HEALING THROUGH THE ARTS FOR NON-CLINICAL PRACTITIONERS (2019), joins the numerous publications in the field of community arts to which Amy has contributed.

<p><strong>ANA NERY FRAGOSO</strong> is the Director of the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, CUNY. AGDEP prepares candidates to teach&nbsp;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.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>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 support.</p> <p>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 thirteen 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 Hisp&aacute;nico, Dancewave, Together in Dance, The&nbsp;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 the curriculum with the administration, and educating parents, staff, and administration on the educational benefits of a comprehensive public school dance curriculum.</p> <p>Fragoso was a member of the NYCDOE Dance Blueprint Writing Committee in 2005 and worked from 2005 to 2014 as an 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 in-service 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. Fragoso earned a B.A. Dance/Education from Hunter College and an M.F.A. in Dance/Choreography from Sarah Lawrence College.</p> <p>She is the recipient of the J. Javits Fellowship award and two grants from the Ministry of Culture in Spain. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Dance Teacher Award.</p> <p>Fragoso is an Arnhold Fellowship Recipient in 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.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Andrea Knowlton is a Choreographer, Filmmaker and Educator. She has presented stage works in NYC, LA, and Atlanta where she is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Kennesaw State University. She teaches Choreography, Filmmaking, Contemporary Technique, Pedagogy, and Improvisation. She directs and edits dance films for festivals nationally and internationally. Her research on the pedagogy of dance filmmaking was presented at the 2021 NDEO Conference. She is the Primary Investigator and recipient of a National Science Foundation Award which supports research exploring Dance and AI in collaboration with scientists from GA Tech. She holds a BFA in Dance/Choreography from Marymount Manhattan College, and an MFA in Choreography/Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts.

<p>Andrew Jannetti, MA is based in NYC where he is a choreographer, dancer, educator, and producer. He has presented works at DTW, Danspace, Gibney, 92nd Street Y, Alvin Ailey Center, The Duke, DIA, Brooklyn&nbsp; Arts Exchange (BAX), Cunningham, DUMBO Dance Festival, CoolNY Festival, ADG Festival, NY International Dance Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival. He&rsquo;s received grants from NYSCA, NJSCA, MCAF, Meet The Composers, the Field, and Harkness, He teaches Pre-K -5th grade for the NYC DOE, is a Teaching Artist at BAX, and an Adjunct&nbsp; Professor at Rutgers and&nbsp; St. Francis College. A Past President of &nbsp;the NYSDEA, he has served on the Advisory &nbsp;Board of the NDEO. He&rsquo;s received a BAXten award, aPASEtter award, the Dani Nikas Excellence in Teaching Award and Lifetime Achievement Award from NYSDEA.</p>

Angela Sigley Grossman is an Associate Professor of Dance at DeSales University. She holds an MFA degree in dance performance and choreography from Temple University and a BA degree in dance from DeSales University. Angela has presented choreographic work at Temple University, St. Gregory's University, Bucknell University, Moravian University, DeSales University, the American College Dance Association, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and the Baltimore Dance Invitational. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Arts Academy Elementary Charter School in Allentown.

<p>Angela Harris is a choreographer and founding Executive Artistic Director of Dance Canvas, Inc., a career development organization for emerging professional choreographers and youth. Angela received her dance training at Dance Theater of Harlem, School of the Hartford Ballet, and The Eglevsky Ballet. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, she graduated from The Baltimore School for the Arts and attended Mercyhurst College and City College of New York, earning a BA in journalism, while on full ballet scholarship at Steps on Broadway.</p><p>Angela has danced professionally with The Georgia Ballet (GA), Columbia City Ballet (SC), and Urban Ballet Theater (NYC). Her theatre dance credits include:&nbsp;<em>Jasmine Guy&#39;s Daughters of Alpha</em>;&nbsp;<em>Sophisticated Ladies</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Degas&#39; Little Dancer</em>&nbsp;(Marie u/s) at the Tony award winning Alliance Theatre;&nbsp;<em>A Chorus Line</em>&nbsp;(Kristine),&nbsp;<em>Chicago</em>&nbsp;(Lipschitz),&nbsp;<em>Camelot</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Annie Get Your Gun</em>&nbsp;at the Aurora Theatre; Film:&nbsp;<em>Scary Movie 5</em>&nbsp;(Principal Dancer).</p><p>Angela has choreographed for professional ballet companies and schools across the country. Her work has been performed by The Georgia Ballet, Ballet Lubbock, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute and she has premiered multiple ballets at the Rialto Center for the Arts and the Ferst Center for the Arts through her company, Dance Canvas. Angela has choreographed for professional theater productions, including:&nbsp;<em>The First Noel</em>&nbsp;(Kenny Leon&#39;s True Colors Theater Company),&nbsp;<em>110 in the Shade</em>&nbsp;(Theatrical Outfit),&nbsp;<em>Little Shop of Horrors</em>&nbsp;(Actor&#39;s Express),&nbsp;<em>Bridges of Madison County</em>&nbsp;(Aurora Theatre),&nbsp;<em>Frankenstein&#39;s Funeral</em>&nbsp;(Found Stages) and University productions:&nbsp;<em>Ragtime</em>&nbsp;(Kennesaw State University),&nbsp;<em>Drowsy Chaperone</em>&nbsp;(Georgia Tech).</p><p>In 2016, Angela was awarded a Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observership to work on&nbsp;<em>Little Dancer</em>, a new Broadway musical Lab, under the direction of Susan Stroman. Angela was awarded the Emerging Artist Award in Dance from The City of Atlanta&#39;s Office of Cultural Affairs and received a proclamation from the Atlanta City Council for her work in dance in Atlanta. Angela was one of five Inaugural National Visiting Fellows at the School of American Ballet in NYC, assisting the prestigious institution with diversity initiatives.</p><p>Additionally, through Dance Canvas, Angela has been a catalyst, consultant, and resource for numerous new dance organizations and artists throughout metro Atlanta. Angela has developed youth dance programs for the City of Atlanta&#39;s Office of Cultural Affairs, Grammy award winning recording artist Usher&#39;s New Look Foundation, and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. She received the 2011 American Express Emerging Leader Award from Americans for the Arts and she also served on the national Emerging Leaders Council for Americans for the Arts from 2011 &ndash; 2014.</p><p>Angela is currently an Adjunct Professor at Emory University, Spelman College and Brenau University. She is also&nbsp;a ballet instructor at Dekalb School for the Arts and Academy of Ballet. She has served on the faculty of the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute and has been a master class/guest instructor at colleges and universities across the country.</p>

Angela Rosales Challis, from Cochabamba, Bolivia, is a filmmaker and dance educator. She holds a BA in Dance Education from Brigham Young University, and an MFA in Film and Media Arts with a certificate in Screendance from the University of Utah. She has taught film production, film and culture, and screenwriting. She is an international award-winning filmmaker. She taught at the elementary schools as a dance specialist for many years. She was awarded the “Utah Art Educator of the Year” and “Sorenson Legacy Award” for her excellence in teaching dance. Angela is currently a visiting professor at Brigham Young University. She directs Kinnect, an outreach dance company at BYU. Angela is invested in using art to bring up difficult conversations.

<p>Vo Vera (Angelo Sapienza) has spent the last two decades identifying as a Bboy and self-trained dancer, having received formal dance training and undergraduate degrees from Arizona State University (ASU). Instructor, choreographer, performance artist, active community participant, poet and photographer, his pursuit of so many avenues speak to the devotion of his creative engine. Currently, he works with Jacob Jonas The Company and The Sacred G&rsquo;s. As an educator, he has served as Faculty Associate at ASU, and as Faculty Adjunct at several Maricopa Community Colleges since 2015. He is a graduate student at ASU, reaching for an MFA in Dance, with an emphasis on movement language synthesis, and codifying a new dance technique.</p>

Ani Javian (MFA) is a movement artist whose research is rooted in her ideas about humans as story-tellers, story-holders, and story-makers. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Rutgers University. Her choreography has been shared in Bangkok, Thailand, at REDCAT in Los Angeles, and in New York City and elsewhere. Her creative work has received funding from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Dance New Jersey, The Greater Columbus Arts Council, and The Ohio Arts Council. She has performed with Joanna Kotze, Molly Lieber, Gladys Bailin, and Paige Phillips. Ani is a Board Member of the American College Dance Association. She has an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University and a BA in Dance and English from Connecticut College. www.anijavian.com

Anna Mansbridge, choreographer, dancer and educator, is originally from Australia and the UK and now resides in Seattle, Washington, USA. She holds a First-Class Honours Degree in Dance and Education from Bedford College, UK, and an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College, California. She is the Director of Kaleidoscope Dance Company, a youth dance company founded in 1981 by world-renowned dance educator Anne Green Gilbert, and she has been on the faculty of the Creative Dance Center teaching modern, ballet and creative dance to all ages since 1999. She has taught in schools and other community settings as an Artist-in-Residence. Anna was on the daCi USA Board from 2009-2020, and served as the Chair 2017-2020. She will be the secretary for daCi international from July 2022.

Anna Dunn, RAD RT, has worked as the DSA Ballet Mistress since 2006. She also serves the school as the Community Arts Liaison connecting DSA with opportunities in the broader community and working with students and staff to advocate for the arts. Dunn received her Master’s in Arts Administration in 2014 from Goucher College and her Bachelor’s in Dance Education in 2005 from Winthrop University. She recently began her Ed.D. degree in Teacher Leadership at KSU. In addition to teaching at DSA, she is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Dance Canvas, connecting the public and private schools in Metro Atlanta with dance curriculum to resources in the community. Dunn was the founding president of the Dance Educators of GA Society, Inc.

<p>Anna Hendricks is a dance educator, multi-disciplinary artist and justice-seeker living in Western MA. She is the founder of Great Falls Creative Movement, a dance education organization offering creative, inclusive and community-based dance programming in studios, schools, nursing homes and community organizations throughout Franklin County, MA since 2009. Anna holds a BA in dance with a focus on interdisciplinary arts and education from Mount Holyoke College where she graduated in 2020 as a Frances Perkins Scholar. Anna is fed in all of her work by a long-term queer research and movement practice with Julia Handschuh and Lailye Weidman. She lives on a collective homestead with her partner, her 13 year-old and many animals and friends.</p>

Annika Sheaff earned a BFA in dance from The Juilliard School. Sheaff went on to tour the world with Pilobolus and performed over 550 times on four continents. Sheaff has worked commercially for Sesame Street, EXTRA, and been on the cover of Dance Magazine. Annika toured with Aszure Barton and Artists before joining Groundworks Dance Theater where she was thrilled to collaborate with exceptional choreographers. Sheaff is a founding member of ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty). Her choreography has been shown all over the United States as well as in South Africa. She was awarded a Creative Workforce Fellowship in 2016 which funded the creation of seven new dance films. Annika Sheaff is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Baldwin Wallace University.

April Cox is a dance instructor/choreographer teaching hip hop, jazz, and contemporary dance in Johnstown, PA. A Philadelphian native, April has received her BA in Sociology and Minor in Dance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2008. In 2010, she began teaching dance in Johnstown, PA, where she grew up, and has since received many accolades in the community and competitively (i.e., Showstoppers, Encore DCS). Additionally, April is the co-founder of Sophisticated Legacy, a program that unites students from local studios during competition season. She is passionate about not only building strong dancers, but building strong leaders that will affect change in the world. She has a love for hip hop dance and continues to hold workshops and camps to spread this love in her community.

<p>Aquila Kikora Franklin, JD/MPA, is a Professor of Theatre/Dance and the Associate Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the Penn State School of Theatre where she teaches Intro to West African Dance, Hip Hop Theatre, jazz, and Mojah dance. Kikora has performed, choreographed and taught in cities across the globe including Linz, Austria, Grahamstown, South Africa, Dakar, Senegal, Minas Gerais, Brazil, throughout China, Europe, and the United States. In addition, she has choreographed and performed for the Atlanta Hawks Dance Team, Grammy Award Winning group Arrested Development, and renowned poet, Sonia Sanchez. Kikora&rsquo;s research is focused on developing and codifying the Mojah dance technique, an original style created by her mother, dancer/choreographer, Terrie Ajile Axam. Kikora is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Roots of Life Performing Arts Ensemble, an arts-education program in State College, Pennsylvania.</p>

Arianna Aquino graduated with her BFA in dance from CalArts and is expecting to receive her MFA in dance from The University of Arizona in 2023. Professionally she has performed with various dance companies, has done musical theater off-Broadway, acted on Broadway and in film, and has been in commercials and music videos. For twelve years, Arianna built a dance program at a Title I high school in Brooklyn, NY. Her artistic teaching philosophy is rooted in diversity, inclusion, and equity. Her pedagogical approach is student-centered. Arianna desires to continue building and mentoring artists and programs that are aware and connected to the world and humanity for them and their art to have a lasting impact on all that witness and are a part of the creative experience.

<p>Ariyan Johnson is a dance graduate of La Guardia High School of Music &amp; Art and Performing Arts. She holds a B.A. in Speech Pathology and an M.A. in Applied Theatre. A multi-disciplinary artist and pioneer of Hip Hop dance having worked with LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, and others with Best Actress Nominations for Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., representing Hip Hop female dance duos, and an award winning film-maker. Former company member of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, she&rsquo;s a three-time Artist-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, a community partner with Los Angeles Unified School District, prior Artistic Director/Resident Choreographer of Faithful Dance Company and the 21st Century Research 2020-2021 grant recipient.</p>

Ashley Watts is currently the director of dance at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Akron, Ohio. In addition to her teaching position, she is an active staff member of Akron Public Schools taking on roles in the Discipline Committee and Advisory Committee. She is the Miller South Family Engagement Leader and the Arts Enrollment and Audition Coordinator. Ashley Watts was honored in 2017 as the Summit County Rookie Teacher of the Year for Akron Public Schools. She was also named the Miller South Building Teacher of the Year in 2021. Mrs. Watts is a second-year graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro pursuing a Masters's degree in Dance Education.

Audrey Baran is a Filipina-American dance performer, maker, and educator based in Charlotte, NC. She holds a MFA in Dance from Hollins University and a BA in Dance from UNC Charlotte where she is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance. Baran was a selected choreographer for the Joffrey Ballet Academy’s Winning Works 2022 as well as Charlotte Ballet’s Innovative: Direct from the LAB 2021, and is a Creative Renewal Fellow and recipient of several grants from Charlotte's Arts & Science Council. As the founder and artistic director of Baran Dance, she is dedicated to broadening definitions and accessibility of contemporary dance throughout the Southeast. Also a Registered Yoga Teacher, Baran thrives on sharing her research on movement and mindfulness throughout the Queen City and beyond.

Audrey Mills graduated cum laude from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor of Arts in dance and a minor in health promotion in 2006, receiving the Lucille Murchison and the College of Arts and Sciences scholarships. Entering into her 10th year of education, Audrey has adjudicated, choreographed, and taught both elementary and secondary dance while directing dance teams and student ensembles in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin areas. She is currently the founding Dance Director at The Fine Arts Academy at Brenda Norwood Elementary School in the Mansfield Independent School District, where students engage in fine arts infused core curriculum based on the Studio Habits of Mind (SHoM).

Dr. Ayo Walker is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Austin Peay State University where she continues to develop her practice-based research in the decolonization of the Black (othered) dancing body. As an anti-racist educator and social justice choreographer, her artistic praxis invokes the narratives of the voiceless and challenges the viewer’s comfort level just enough to ignite a shift in thought from culpable to proactive. Produced by her project-based dance company, Ayo & Company, her latest works “Black Phoenix Rising” and “Things Have and Haven’t Changed” were commissioned by the Modern American Dance Company’s (MADCO) 2022 Dare to Dance concert and the 2022 Alabama Dance Festival. When Ayo is not producing her own works, she collaborates/performs with fellow known artist/scholars.

<p>Bailey Peicott is a 2022 Dean College graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in dance with a concentration in education as well as an Associates of Arts in psychology. Throughout her time at Dean, Bailey has had the privilege to work closely with and perform in many concerts choreographed by her peers and faculty. Bailey has also had the honor of choreographing multiple works for the Dean College Main Stage. She has trained in many styles and considers herself to be a versatile dancer. Bailey has a true passion for teaching students and sharing her love of dance with the younger generation. Bailey has taught a wide variety of ages ranging from 18 months old through 18 years old and prides herself in teaching age appropriate lessons and choreography.</p>

<p>Barbara &ldquo;Barbi&rdquo; Powers is a Lecturer of Dance at the University of Georgia where she teaches ballet, contemporary, jazz, yoga, dance appreciation, and Practicing Wellness. She holds a B.F.A. from New York University&rsquo;s Tisch School of the Arts and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington where she first started her fieldwork in wellness. Her wellness research has been presented at the IADMS 2020 iConference, the Healthy Dancer Canada Conference, the Association of Contemplative Minds in Higher Education, and NDEO. She has danced with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular as a Rockette, Li-Chiao Ping Dance, The Catey Ott Dance Collective, and Skybetter and Associates. She holds certifications in vinyasa yoga, restorative yoga, Pilates mat, and meditation instruction, and is the co-founder and co-director of the Art of Wellness Living Learning Community on UGA&rsquo;s campus.</p>

Barbara is Assistant Professor of Dance at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Current teaching includes African Diasporic Jazz Dance, Broadway Jazz, History of Broadway Dance (author), Dance Studies, and Jazz Repertory. She is Artistic Director of Hysterika Jazz Dance. Choreography includes: Josephine Baker-inspired, "eat Crow"; "Hot Miss Lil" (1930s, vernacular/theatrical work grounded in the story & music of Lil Hardin Armstrong); and "Doin’ My Jazz" (JCE Jazz Dance Project, NYC). Performance credits include: AEA musicals; Broadway Backwards, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Celebrating Black Excellence. Current creative research explores the choreographic, artistic, and intersectional race/gender activist contributions of Aida Overton Walker. www.BarbaraAngeline.com

<p>Barbie Diewald (she/her) is Assistant Professor of Dance at Mount Holyoke College, where she has been on faculty since 2017. She previously taught at Keene State College and Smith College. Her primary research is choreographic, and her work has been presented at BAM, Jacob&rsquo;s Pillow, Banff Centre, the 92nd Street Y, and the Center for Performance Research. She is a 2018 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Choreography, a 2021 NEFA New Work New England grant recipient, and an Inclusive Excellence Institute faculty fellow at Mount Holyoke. Her academic research focuses on queer embodiment, equitable pedagogy in teaching anatomy, and retroactive inclusion of lesbian voices in dance archives. She holds a BFA from Millikin University and an MFA from Smith College.</p>

<p>Becky Epstein (MA, BA) is a dance teacher, fitness instructor, worldwide choreographer, and founder of movewithBE. She teaches Creative Movement and Dance for grades 3-5 at a Title I Magnet School in Virginia, a CETA (Changing Education Through the Arts) school that has a partnership with the Kennedy Center. She teaches Modern, Ballet, Jazz and Hip-Hop after school. She works with a non-profit organization to provide opportunities for her students to continue their dance training in middle and high school. She earned her MA in Dance Education from the University of Northern Colorado and earned a BA and teaching license in Dance from James Madison University. She worked for the Virginia Department of Education to revise dance standards, create instructional plans, and conduct a webinar.</p>

<p>Beth Megill, MFA, LOD&reg; Teacher Trainer, teaches a variety of dance styles at Moorpark College in Southern California. She is interested in the role of dance literacy in Higher Education and the presence of dance notation and theory to support dance as an area of research at colleges and universities. She has co-authored the first adoptable online dance appreciation course and continues her work on utilizing LOD for teaching both general education and dance major courses. She enjoys writing about independent dance performances for ladancereview.com and making dances for her modern, jazz, theater fusion company, Megill &amp; Company.</p>

<p>Betsy Loikow, CMA, grew up in Washington, D.C., and began studying dance with NDEO founder Rima Faber, performing with The Primary Movers Performance Company as a child. She continued her dance education at the Washington School of Ballet and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. She continued dancing and choreographing through college and graduated with a B.A. in film and political science from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. She has worked on both local and national electoral campaigns in the U.S. and abroad. She joined NDEO in 2009, combining her love of dance with her passion for advocacy. Betsy continues dancing on a daily basis in the D.C. area as a founding member and Co-Artistic Chair of <a href="http://gladedance.org">Glade Dance Collective</a> and co-founder and organizer of the NACHMO DC annual regional festival.</p>

Betsy Maloney Leaf, PhD, MFA, is Senior Lecturer in the Arts in Education program at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate students. Maloney Leaf's research examines the intersection between dance education, culturally relevant pedagogy, and educational policy. Her work has been published in Journal of Curriculum & Pedagogy, Youth Theatre Journal, Journal of Dance Education, Review of Research in Education, Research in Dance Education, and Arts Education Policy Review. Prior to the U of M, Maloney Leaf taught dance for eleven years in K-12 schools; she holds a Minnesota K-12 Dance & Theatre teaching license.

<p><strong>Bradford Chin (he/they)<br /> Graduate Student Representative<br /> NDEO Advisory Council</strong></p> <p>San Francisco native Bradford Chin (he/they)&nbsp;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.</p> <p>Full bio and additional info available at <a href="https://sites.uci.edu/BradfordChin">https://sites.uci.edu/BradfordChin</a>.</p>

Brandi Coleman (she/her) is assistant professor at Southern Methodist University and was a performing member, rehearsal director, and associate artistic director of Jump Rhythm® Jazz Project, founded and directed by Billy Siegenfeld. She has led more than 40 choreographic and teaching residencies at universities throughout the United States and internationally and she received an Emmy Award for her performance in the documentary, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There. Her writing, “Performing Gender: Disrupting Performance Norms for Women in Jazz Dance through Gender-Inclusive, Human-Centric Choreography” is included in Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Lindsay Guarino, Carlos R.A. Jones, and Wendy Oliver.

<p><strong>Bruce McCormick</strong> is a choreographer, performer, educator and scholar. He earned his BFA from The Juilliard School and&nbsp;his MFA from the University of Washington, where he was also on faculty.&nbsp;He&nbsp;performed in twelve countries on four continents as a member of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Bavarian State Ballet, and the Bern Ballet, where he was a soloist and ballet master. He also served as Assistant Artistic Director of North Netherlands Dance and Guest Rehearsal Director with Ballet BC. McCormick has choreographed throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia for the concert stage, opera, site-specific work and film. In 2018, he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance where he serves as Associate Professor of Practice in Ballet Technique.</p>

<p>Calia Marshall (she/her) is a Teaching Artist/Choreographer (since 2000) and Equity Advocate (since 2019) at National Dance Institute. A dance major from Mount Holyoke College, she danced professionally from 2000-2015 and has been teaching movement practices to children and adults for over 20 years. As an educator, dancer, choreographer, yoga teacher, musician, and activist, Calia strives to create spaces which are community-focused, providing opportunity for connection, healing, and growth. All of her endeavors center diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) as core tenets. As Equity Advocate, her projects have included leading staff workshops on race and gender, implementing racial affinity group spaces, and co-chairing NDI&#39;s DEIA Committee.</p>

<p>Callie Rekas is a dance and drama educator and artist. She recently completed graduate school at NYU, receiving her M.A. in Dance Education with an emphasis in Ballet Pedagogy. Callie grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, and received her B.A. in Theatre &amp; Drama from Indiana University. After building an extensive theatre resume, she moved to Los Angeles to focus on on-camera technique and joined SAG-AFTRA in her time there. Callie is an American Ballet Theatre certified teacher (Pre-Primary-Level 5) and has taught students of every age and skill level. She is passionate about bridging technique and performance, as her two greatest loves are ballet and musical theatre. As of fall 2023, Callie is pursuing her doctorate in Arts Education at Indiana University and teaching there as an Associate Instructor.</p>

<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-size:11pt;">A graduate of William Smith College (BA, Dance) and Temple University (EdM, Dance), Cara believes the arts are a vehicle for self-discovery as well as a window into diverse perspectives and experiences. She works to build a performing arts program that values individuality and community. Cara was the Dance Director at The Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, PA for eight years. Currently, she teaches dance at The Galloway School in Atlanta, GA. At Galloway, Cara aims to highlight the many talented dancers, with a variety of dance backgrounds, by fostering an environment of inclusion and belonging, regardless of where a student is on their dance journey.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-size:11pt;">An elected representative from the Southeast region, Cara serves on the Board of Directors for the National Dance Education Organization (ndeo.org). Cara is also passionate about working with her local state affiliate, Dance Educators of Georgia Society (degasteachers.org). As the Director of Communications, Cara boosts the visibility of the organization by maintaining the website, streamlining branding, creating and distributing newsletters and promoting the events and initiatives of the DEGAS team.</span></p>

<p>A strong advocated for the arts, <strong>Carlos R. A. Jones</strong> has enjoyed a vibrant career as educator, performer, director, choreographer and scholar.&nbsp; He is professor of dance and department chair &nbsp;at Brockport State University.&nbsp; Prior to arriving at Brockport, Jones held tenure at Buffalo State where his held several including Interim dean of the school of Arts and Humanities, coordinator of Africana Studies, and associate dean of a merged School of Arts and Sciences.&nbsp; Professor Jones has also served on the faculty at Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University, UCLA, St. Cloud State University, and University of California- Irvine.&nbsp; His teaching has reached K-12 students at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, Tapestry Charter School, M.U.S.E., and Bethune Theaterdanse/Infinite Dreams, a California based not for-profit dance company specializing in dance classes for youth with accessibility needs.&nbsp; In the private sector, Jones founded and directed the Los Angeles dance training facility Academy 331 Fine Arts Center.&nbsp; He was founding artistic director of Teen Dance Company of the Bay Area, artistic advisor to In-sync Youth Dance Theater, and a resident artist for Pliein children&rsquo;s dance company.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Jones&rsquo; research and scholarship is in Black American dance with a focus on the jazz dance continuum. This has been realized in a number of dance compositions and in two groundbreaking books. His writing can be found in <em>Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches</em> and in the award winning <em>Rooted </em><em>Jazz Dance: Africanists Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century,</em> of which he was also co-editor.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Mr. Jones spent his early career working as performer, director and choreographer in concert dance, musical theater, television and film. He landed in the movies<em> I&rsquo;ll Do Anything, Dance With Me, </em>and <em>Uptown Girls </em>and was featured on the television series <em>Cybill</em>, <em>Howie</em>, the <em>Nanny</em>, and the <em>Drew Carey Show</em>. Among his theatrical credits are <em>Some Like it Hot, Man of La Mancha, It&rsquo;s a Pretty Good Life and Sesame Street Live</em>, to name a few.&nbsp; Theatrical directing and choreography credits include: <em>Hairspray, The Magnolia Ballet, Beehive, Don&rsquo;t Bother Me I Can&rsquo;t Cope, Camelot, Four Guys Named Jos&eacute;</em>, <em>American Rhapsody, History of White Music</em>,<em>Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens</em>, <em>West Side Story</em>, <em>Black Nativity</em>, <em>She Hysteric</em> a one woman show with SNL veteran Ellen Gleghorne, <em>Once Upon a Mattress</em> under the direction of television icon Carol Burnet and <em>Hair</em>directed by Broadway legend Andr&eacute; DeShields.&nbsp; In addition, he has created dance segments for television and film; including the award winning film short, <em>Insurance Inc</em>.&nbsp; Jones has created concert dance works that can be seen in the repertoires of <em>Rhythmically Speaking, Jazz Antiqua Dance and Music Ensemble</em>, <em>Movement Source, Dance Spectrum Alaska, Adage Repertory,</em> and his self-named<em>, Carlos Jones and Company.</em></p>

Caroline Sutton Clark, Ph.D., M.F.A. in Dance, comes from a wide range of experience in modern dance, butoh, ballet, and many forms of social dance. Clark’s research centers in oral history interviewing with dancers. Her credits include the 2015 Texas Woman’s University Graduate Award for Excellence and Creativity in Research, the 2017 Caroline Plummer Research Fellowship in Community Dance in Dunedin, New Zealand, and NDEO’s Top Paper Citation for the 2015 and 2018 conferences. Recent publications include chapters in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Dance and Philosophy, Rebecca Farinas and Julie Van Camp, eds., and The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet, Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel and Jill Nunes Jensen, eds.. Clark teaches studio, history, and theory courses to diverse populations.

<p>Cassie received Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of North Texas in dance and English literature with a teacher&rsquo;s certification in dance education. Since then she has honed her skills in the classroom through experience and professional development with an emphasis on Positive Youth Engagement and equity. At Colorado Ballet, Cassie teaches and manages school programs working to break down barriers to dance education. She is driven to support the whole student and provide opportunity for creative expression. In addition to her passion for dance, Cassie is an avid mountain explorer and traveler. She brings her various travel experiences into studios and classrooms in order to relate to a variety of backgrounds and cultures.&nbsp;</p>

Charlotte Griffin choreographs for live performance, screendance, and multimedia environments. The Cambrians, American Dance Festival, The Juilliard School, The Hartt School Dance Division, BJM Danse in Montreal, Danza UDLAP, Barcelona Institut del Teatre, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and more have commissioned her concert repertory. She created ballets for The University of North Carolina School of the Arts Choreographic Institute, The New York Choreographic Institute with the New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet, at the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive in Austin, and for Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech Kids Dance. She has been a guest artist at ArcDanz, Lux Boreal, Springboard Danse Montreal, Korea National University of Arts, The Yard, and more.

<p>Chell Parkins is the inaugural Arnhold Director of Dance Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research explores the experiences of Latinx communities engaged in culturally relevant and sustaining dance programs. Throughout her 32-year career as a dance educator, advocate, performer, and choreographer, she has taught music, theater and dance in private and public sectors from preschool through college levels. Parkins recent projects have included Consultant to the Community Outreach Coordinator and Scholar in Resience at Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico, participating as a panelist in the Shirley Hall Bass Educators Forum, and teaching ongoing workshops to the child and adolescent psychiatry fellows at Oregon Health and Science University.</p>

<p>Dr. Christi Camper Moore is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Ohio University and also heads the Master of Arts Administration program. Christi&rsquo;s scholarship focuses on pedagogy; exploring how dance training, curriculum, and community shape a student&rsquo;s identity within the context of their studies. She is published in a variety of outlets including Research in Dance Education, Journal of Dance Education, Dance Teacher, and NDEO&rsquo;s Behind the Curtain blog. Christi recently received the prestigious University Professor Award (2022-2023), which recognizes outstanding undergraduate teaching. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, Graduate Certificate in Women&rsquo;s and Gender Studies, M.A. and M.Ed. degrees, and a B.F.A. in dance performance and choreography.</p>

Christina Johnson performed professionally with Boston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, and Ballett Basel. She was a featured guest artist for companies, including the Royal Ballet of London, where she and Ronald Perry were the first African American couple in its history to perform with the company. Christina was Rehearsal Director for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Washington Ballet, Armitage Gone! Dance, Trey McIntyre Project and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She is sought after as a master teacher, coach, and judge. Christina holds an MFA in Dance from Hollins University in collaboration with the American Dance Festival, The Forsythe Company and Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany.

Jessica "Jessi" McPherson began teaching dance at the age of 16 and graduated with a BFA in dance performance from Chapman University in Orange, California. While attending Chapman, McPherson performed in the Musco Opening Gala, "American Celebration" fundraising events and dance department spring concerts. She also danced locally in Los Angeles in choreography showcases and musical productions such as "Singing in the Rain." McPherson moved to New York in 2019 to further develop her craft and performed in commercial work. Currently, McPherson is the dance director and arts integration teacher for the Alma Martinez Intermediate Fine Arts Academy in Mansfield, TX. She continues to fulfill her passion for choreography and dance education as a traveling clinician and guest instructor.

Colleen Barnes (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Dance-Ballet at the University of Akron, and she also works for the Joffrey Ballet School (NY). Past affiliations include the University of Georgia’s Department of Dance (19-21), Ballet West Academy (17-19), and Allen Ballet School (China, 2009), among others. Colleen danced professionally with the Dayton Ballet, Ballet Pensacola, and Dance Now! Miami, touring both domestically and abroad, in addition to free-lancing with the late David Holmes in British Columbia. She holds a BFA in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati, an MFA in Ballet from the University of Utah, and completed one year of graduate coursework in dance at NYU Tisch. At present, she is pursuing a graduate certificate in Women's Studies at the University of Akron.

Courtney World is associate professor and director of dance at The University of the South, where she developed a minor in dance. She performed for many years with Bill Evans Dance Company/Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble, and BIODANCE, under artistic director Missy Pfohl Smith. World performs tap and modern dance with companies and independent artists on a project basis and her choreography has been performed nationally at theatres, festivals, and universities. She holds a BA from The University at Buffalo, an MFA from The College at Brockport, and is a Certified Evans Teacher. World serves as assistant director of Nashville based Faithful Rhythm Productions and served on the board of directors of Tennessee Association of Dance for many years, including in the role of president.

Cristin Carole began her dance training at the Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre in Chicago. She is a former lecturer at the School of Education at The University of The Bahamas and served for ten years as adjunct faculty for Columbia College Chicago’s Graduate Program in Education. Cristin has choreographed for various organizations in The Bahamas including the National Dance Company. She served as the Education and Community Engagement Manager for the Joffrey Ballet and was instrumental in the creation of its Bridge Program for children of color in Chicago. She has led numerous professional learning workshops on the implementation of movement across the curriculum. As co-founder of the Shirley Hall Bass Foundation she advocates for quality performing arts education.

Cristina Marte is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Dance Department, Rutgers University, where she is the Interim Director of the Ed.M. Program in Dance Education and coordinator of the Rutgers Community Arts Summer Conservatory. Her career has encompassed roles as an educator, choreographer, administrator, and advocate. Cristina serves as the Board President of Dance New Jersey and is a member of the Arts Ed NJ Steering Committee. She has developed and implemented dance curriculums for all grades during her time as a New Jersey K12 dance educator. Cristina received her B.F.A. in Dance from Montclair State University and her M.A. in Dance Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.

Artist, academic leader, and educator, Cristina Goletti is the Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts at the University of Northern Colorado. Previous appointments include: Associate Professor and Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department at the University of Texas at El Paso, and full-time professor and Chair of the Arts Department at Universidad De Las Americas Puebla, Mexico. She served as President for the World Dance Alliance Americas until 2021 and co-directed Legitimate Bodies Dance Company and I.F. O.N.L.Y. Dance Festival (Ireland), Performatica Forum (Mexico), and was a finalist in the 4x4 Tijuana choreographic contest. Cristina has presented her creative and scholarly work at several conferences and universities in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America.

<p><strong>Crystal U. Davis, MFA, CLMA </strong>is a dancer, educator, movement analyst, and critical race theorist with twelve years of experience teaching in P-12 education and seven years supervising dance educators. Her work has been published in the&nbsp; <em>Journal of Dance Education</em>, <em>Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education</em>, and in her book, <em>Dance and Belonging: Implicit Bias and Inclusion in Dance Education</em>. As an artist, her performances span from Rajasthani folk dance to postmodern choreography examining incongruities between what we say, what we believe, and what we do. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance Performance and Scholarship at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches anti-racist pedagogy for dance and theater, modern technique, somatics, and movement analysis.</p>

<p><strong>Dagmar Spain</strong>, born in the Czech Republic, is a dance educator and dance artist collaborating with filmmakers, visual artists and writers at different institutions around the world; currently at the University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic where she designed the course&nbsp;<em>The Power of Words,&nbsp;</em>teaching the art of monologue writing; DanceWorks Berlin, Germany, a BFA dance program, where she teaches modern/ contemporary dance and designed the course &ldquo;Applied Learning&rdquo; for pre-professional dancers; and previously at the National Czech/Slovak Museum &amp; Library (NCSLM) in Iowa, where she developed a program with the focus on&nbsp;<em>embodied</em>&nbsp;democracy. Spain specializes in interactive dance movements in conjunction with film, theater and literature, and conducts experiential workshops for all populations to unleash the healing power of embodied expressions with a dialogic approach, most recently at the Transformative Learning conference, July 4-7, 2023, in Patras, Greece and the Ikeda/Soka Studies in education conference at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. In the U.S., she taught as a dance artist and visiting professor at Brown University, PennState University, Montclair University, and for eight years at the 92nd St. Y, Harkness Dance Center in New York City. Spain received her BFA in dance at the College for Dance and Performing Arts, Frankfurt, Germany, and her MFA in dance and choreography at Tisch School of the Arts, N.Y.U., New York. She is a doctoral candidate in dance education with a holistic focus on dialogic research &amp; pedagogy at Teachers College/Columbia University. Dagmar lives in Berlin, Germany.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Dale Merrill (MFA) is the Dean and Professor of Dance at The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Prior to joining The Hartt School, he was the Dean for the College of the Arts at California State University, Fullerton and Chapman University. Dean Merrill, originally from Seattle, was the Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater, a professional dance company and community arts organization. He received recognition for his community leadership, including the prestigious Corporate Council for the Arts Unsung Hero Award in 2002 and a national service award from Safeco Insurance. He currently serves as a site-evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance and served on the Visual and Performing Arts Standards Advisory Committee for the California State Board of Education.

<p>New York City dance artist and educator <strong>Daniel Gwirtzman </strong>is known for his blend of innovative choreography and charismatic performance. He celebrates twenty-eight years as a New York City choreographer and company director. He danced with Garth Fagan Dance and Mark Morris Dance Group before co-founding Artichoke Dance Company in 1995 and Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company (DGDC), a performing and teaching nonprofit, in 1998. His repertory has earned praise for its humor, musicality, stylistic diversity, and accessibility. DGDC has been committed to education since its inception, operating with the philosophy and programming that everyone can join the dance. He has been awarded commissions, residencies and fellowships nationally and abroad. <em>Dance With Us</em>, a digital educational resource received leadership support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The online platform showcases his decade-long practice as a filmmaker working in the dance for camera genre. His latest production, <em>e-Motion</em> premiered in the spring of 2023 and is featured in the August issue of <em>Dance Magazine</em>. The dance-theater work delves into the concerns of artificial intelligence. &ldquo;Mr. Gwirtzman does know that in dance less can be more&rdquo; writes <em>The New York Times, &ldquo;he can evoke strong feelings with a few gestures.&rdquo;</em> <em>The New Yorker</em> describes him as a choreographer of &ldquo;high spirits and skill.&rdquo; <em>The Village Voice </em>has written, &ldquo;an abundantly inventive artist with a subtle defiance of gender roles.&rdquo;</p>

Daniel Burkholder choreographs, improvises, performs, teaches dance, and practices the Feldenkrais Method and mindfulness. His choreographic/improvisational work spans theatrical performances, site-specific events, immersive media, and screendance, and has been presented at numerous venues throughout North America and internationally. His current work includes: “On-Site”, a series of embodied screendance experiments; “Embodied Truth: finding ways to move together”, a collaboration with Kimani Fowlin examining race and gender through the lens of parenting; and, “act/re/act”, a podcast exploring improvisation through conversations with remarkable artists. Daniel is currently an Associate Professor of Dance at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the director of the MFA in Dance program.

<p>Danielle Staropoli (MA, BA) teaches K-8 dance at Bay Ridge Preparatory School and is the advisor for the middle school&rsquo;s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA). She is also the dance specialist for Summers at LREI and the Director of Conferences for the New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA). Danielle is an ABT certified teacher in Pre-primary through Level 3 of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum. Danielle has been a guest speaker for professional development trainings at the 92 Street Y and a guest lecturer at New York University, Steinhardt and at William Paterson University. She has been a member of NDEO since 2015 and served as the co-chair of the New York University Student Chapter. She has presented at NDEO in 2022: &ldquo;Like a Dandelion: Exploring Cultural Assets for Dance-Making in Early Childhood,&rdquo; in 2021: &ldquo;I Am Enough: Using Social-Emotional Books To Inspire Dance Making In Early Childhood,&rdquo; and in 2019: &ldquo;Incorporating Multicultural Children&rsquo;s Games Into Your Dance Curriculum.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Daria Fitzgerald (M.A., Dance Education, New York University, Professional Dance Teacher Certification, New York State) teaches dance classes and facilitates teacher trainings at DEL 92NY. Daria is the assistant director of Kids Do Dance at The Yard and was the lead curriculum designer for The Yard&rsquo;s Making It program. She has guest lectured at New York University and is an associate director of the Arnhold NYU Steinhardt/Global Visiting Scholar Summer Workshop. Daria has presented her research through NDEO, Dancing Classrooms, and The Lawrence Arts Center. Daria served on NDEO&rsquo;s board as the Graduate Student Representative and on NDEO&rsquo;s Development Committee. Daria recently returned from her third trip teaching and learning in Uganda. Follow her instagram&nbsp;@booksfordancing</p>

<p>Darrah Carr is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College. She holds a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman&rsquo;s University, an MFA from NYU&rsquo;s Tisch School of the Arts, and a BA from Wesleyan University. She is the Artistic Director of Darrah Carr Dance, a Bessie-Award nominated Irish dance company that specializes in ModERIN - a unique blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. Committed to Arts in Education programs, the company uses the choreography&rsquo;s Irish elements as a teaching tool in order to illuminate the dance&#39;s connection to Irish society, history, and related art forms. Darrah Carr Dance frequently performs in schools, colleges, and community centers through the rosters of Siegel Artist Management and Young Audiences New Jersey.</p>

David Olarte (MFA, BS) is a social Latin dancer who performed and taught salsa for 20 years worldwide with Seaon ‘Stylists’ Dance company and as director & founder of Stilo Dance. As an ASU grad student, he created a unique Latin fusion style, researching pedagogical frameworks that investigate transformative community practices. Stilo Dance recently performed at Jacob's Pillows Inside Out festival work that integrates a multidisciplinary approach towards social performance while bridging various communities. He is a Clinical Associate Professor at ASU, teaching Latinx social dance forms and supporting the student goals towards developing the salsa community on campus and pursuing a PHD in Theatre Performance of the Americas, researching where social dance lives within our communities.

<p><strong>Dawn DiPasquale (MA Dance Education, NYU) is a NYC based teaching artist, dancer and choreographer. She teaches residencies in creative dance 3-K-Grade 5 for 92nd Street Y Center for Arts Learning and Leadership, NY City Center and Together in Dance. For 92nd Street Y Dance Education Laboratory, Dawn is a curriculum developer and facilitator for the NYC DOE Create Professional Learning series for Pre-K classroom educators. Dawn is project manager and a curriculum writer for DEL&rsquo;s&nbsp; Tracing Footsteps: Honoring Diverse Voices Through Dance History in NYC,.&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>Choreography: Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Music Theatre of Wichita, Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera,&nbsp;The College of Charleston. Her work has also been staged at the University of Michigan, Music Theatre West, and the Folly Theatre of Kansas City.&nbsp;Performance: DTW, PS 122, Riverside Church, Green Space, BAX, Manhattan Movement and Art Center, NYC Fringe Festival, Strada Facendo (Pisa, Italy). She is a grant recipient from The Kansas Cultural Trust/ Koch Foundation and is a proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society).</strong></p><p><br />&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Dawn Schultz is a multidisciplinary artist and educator who holds an MFA in Choreography and is presently a Ph.D. of Art and Design scholar.&nbsp; Her current research aims to investigate methods that explore movement possibilities through merging visual art with the process of creating choreographic works through Score reading and improvisational movement tasks. Analyzing various modalities one can engage with to design works, Dawn empowers movers in celebrating their ideas to explore personal creative voice cultivating confidence and community, harnessing the power of moving together to bridge disconnects between people bringing attention to our shared humanity.</strong></p>

<p>DEA RESPONDOWSKA (MA, MS) is an Adjunct Instructor in Dance at Naugatuck Valley Community College and full-time Dance Teacher at Waterbury Arts Magnet School. She also serves as a Mentor in the CT Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. Dea holds an MA in Dance Education from the University of Northern Colorado, an MS in English from Southern Connecticut State University and a BA in English &amp; History from the University of Connecticut. She has teaching certifications in Dance, Theater &amp; Drama, and English. Dea is co-founder of Dance Theater Lab, a choreography workshop in New Haven, CT; her research on the teaching of choreography has been presented at NDEO conferences in 2017 and 2019. Dea continues to collaborate with other dancers and filmmakers and has shown work at venues in CT and NYC.</p>

Now in his 22nd year at DeKalb School of the Arts, Dean Williams is the director of the DeKalb School of the Arts Dance Department and the dance touring company Dance Repertory Company (DRC). He has choreographed over 45 works for DRC and the annual Dance Concert. He has also provided choreography for DSA’s show choirs; HighLeit and ProArté. Since 2001 he has choreographed the musicals for DSA and was lead director for West Side Story Chicago and On Your Toes. He received his BA in dance from the University of Iowa and moved to Atlanta to join the Carl Ratcliff Dance Theatre. Williams has been a part of the Atlanta Dance Community since 1987. Other performance credits include the Atlanta Ballet, the Atlanta Opera, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Deanna Brennan is an Early Childhood Dance Educator from New Jersey. She studied dance and dance education at Rutgers University, obtaining her BFA and EdM. She has been working in a large urban public school district for the past five years where she enjoys teaching dance to over 400 students every week. She also has experience teaching a variety of ages in the private dance studio sector. Some things that interest her in the dance classroom include creating a positive learning environment for all students, interdisciplinary and cross-curricular concepts, play-based learning, and exploring the world through the lens of dance. When Deanna isn’t teaching, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and spending time with her dog.

<p>Established in 1932 by legendary dance educator Martha Hill, Dance Education at NYU Steinhardt is one of the oldest and most prestigious in North America. Multiple master&rsquo;s degree tracks provide high quality professional development in the theory and practice of dance education for teachers, administrators, performing artists, and research scholars. Join our passionate, inclusive community and become a dance teacher and leader, in the field of schools, studios, colleges, and community settings worldwide!</p>

Dr. Deepa Mahadevan is the founder, artistic director and resident choreographer of Tiruchitrambalam school of dance (Estd. 2004- present) where she teaches Bharatanatyam dance and critical dance theory. Dr. Mahadevan's research traces the history of rupture, loss and reconstruction of Bharatanatyam dance aesthetics and its transmission in the wake of nationalism, globalization and neoliberalism from early twentieth century to present times. She especially examines the role of caste, class, sexuality, gender and religion in the practice and transmission of dance. Her current works engage in working with both western academia and practice to include and synthesize aspects of Indian dance and theatre. She appeals with rhythm and emotion in performance to transcend socio-cultural barriers.

Delia Neil is an Associate Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Ms. Neil holds as BA degree from Butler University and an MFA degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher and a Certified Pilates Mat Instructor. Her professional training included scholarship study at the Harkness House for the Ballet Arts (NYC) with David Howard and 10 years of study with renown teacher Gabriella Taub-Darvash. Ms. Neil is an award winning professional choreographer receiving numerous grants from the North Carolina Arts Council and various research grants from her university. She choreographs classical and contemporary ballet works as well as choreography for theatre.

Demiana Agaiby is a Sport and Performance Psychology Consultant and Dance Educator based in Chicago, IL. Throughout 20 years of dance training, Demi has been immersed in both concert and commercial dance realms. With a B.A in Dance and B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago, Demi was convinced that the intersection of psychology and dance had powerful implications. This inspired Demi to pursue a M.S in Sport and Exercise Psychology from California State University, Long Beach. In continuing her commitment to dance health and wellness, Demi founded Beyond Horizons Performance in 2021. From building confidence and community to navigating perfectionism, her mission is to equip, empower and educate individuals to reach personal excellence through psychological skills training.

Derreck Williams, a native of Mobile, Alabama, is a Dance MFA candidate at the University of Alabama where his research centers on the ways in which societal gender roles have impacted the perceptions of underground dance forms, like majorette dance. He earned his BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi. Williams has served as a dance educator in the Mobile County (AL) Public School System and was selected to lead the development of a dance program for one of the system’s schools. Williams’ choreography has been presented at the American College Dance Association and the Alabama Dance Festival. In June 2021, Williams was selected as a guest artist for the Ten Tiny Dances concert in Birmingham, Alabama.

Diane Duggan, PhD, BC-DMT is a licensed psychologist, board certified dance/movement therapist and dance educator. Since earning an MS in Dance Therapy in 1973 she has created and taught dance programs for students with emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, multiple disabilities, intellectual disabilities and autism, primarily in NYCDOE special education programs. She taught in the Hunter Dance Therapy MS program for eight years and has taught in the Dance Education MA program at New York University since 1994. She has taught at the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and 92Y Dance Therapy programs since 2006. Co-author of Dance for Diverse Learners, she is a member of the Dance/NYC Task Force on Dance and Disability. Diane received a Lifetime Achievement Award from NYSDEA in 2016

<p>Diane Cahill Bedford serves as Clinical Associate Professor and Section Chair of Dance, Music, and Theatre Performance in the School of Performance, Visualization, and Fine Art and Dance Science Program at Texas A&amp;M University. She holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography (2010) and a BFA in Dance and English Literature, Magna Cum Laude (2003) from Florida State University. She also earned her 200 hour Yoga Teaching Certification in 2021. Diane has presented on various aspects of dance and pedagogy at conferences for NDEO, IADMS, CORPS de Ballet International, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, National Dance Society, and TAHPERD. Diane previously taught dance and directed Outreach Programming for Fort Wayne Ballet and Charleston Ballet Theatre. Additionally, she served as Professor of Dance at San Jacinto College South where she directed the San Jac Dance PAC.</p>

DIANE WAWREJKO (PhD, MFA) is an adjunct dance & humanities faculty at the College of DuPage. She performed with Perceptual Motion, Habatzarim, Laurie Eisenhower and Dancers, Dance Alloy (apprentice), Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre, Erie Ballet, her own Dances Wawrejko, and guest spots with Repertory Dance Theatre of Salt Lake and Central Ballet of China’s first US tour. She holds a PhD in dance studies from University of Surrey UK, MFA in modern choreography and performance from Arizona State, and BA in classical ballet and French from Mercyhurst. Her dance career has taken her to many countries including Bulgaria as a Fulbright Senior Scholar & as the sole recipient of Chicago’s artist exchange to Switzerland. She was Executive Director of the National Dance Association, assistant pro

<p><strong>Diane Smagatz-Rawlinson MFA,&nbsp;E-RYT</strong>-Dance Ed/Ohio State, MFA/UW-Madison, former faculty Northwestern, UW- Stevens Point, University of Akron.&nbsp;&nbsp;She recently retired after 30 years as the dance, yoga, and Orchesis teacher at Wheeling HS (IL).&nbsp;&nbsp;Diane was one of the first certified InterPlay leaders and is coordinating the InterPlay in Education Training Track.&nbsp;&nbsp;A writer/editor for Dance Spirit/Dance Teacher magazines from 1997-2019, she was named Illinois Teacher of the Year (Meritorious), NDA Midwest Dance Educator, UW-Madison School of Education Distinguished Alumni, and Chicago&rsquo;s Ruth Page Award. InterPlay workshops include: International InterPlay, Illinois Theatre Festival, National HS Dance Festival, Dance Teacher Magazine, NDEO, Bill Evans, Hubbard Street. https://dianerawlinson.com</p>

Dr. Donna Davenport, Professor of Dance at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, is a performer, choreographer, writer and yoga teacher who lives in Rochester, NY. She served four times as Chairperson of the Dance Dept.; coordinated Social Justice Studies since its inception at HWS; appointed Associate Dean of Faculty 2007-2010; Dean of Faculty for St. Peters Community Arts Academy (SPCAA) 2016-2020 and was honored to work with an endowed professorship 2013-2018. With NDEO she is a frequent conference presenter; co-leader of Dance 2050; first Book Review Editor and founding member of the editorial board for the Journal of Dance Education. Among several publications, Donna published “Deconstructing the Choreographic Approach of Pina Bausch” for Tanz, a Bulgarian performance art journal (2021).

Douglas Scott (Founder/Artistic/Executive Director), discovered dance upon entering Western Kentucky University to earn a B.F.A. in Performing Arts. A respected teacher for over thirty years, Douglas has extensive experience in teaching classes and workshops in modern and modern-based physically integrated dance for numerous schools, organizations, and conferences locally, nationally, and internationally, most recently in Spain and Germany. In 2014, Douglas was honored by Governor and Mrs. Nathan Deal with the prestigious Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities. He was cited as “a respected leader in modern dance” and for expanding “the definition and reach of modern dance by creating opportunities for dancers with and without disabilities."

<p>Edwin Brathwaite is a certified science and dance educator teaches at Meyer Levin Performing Arts School, IS 285, for the past 20 years. A native of Barbados, West Indies, He facilitates New York Citywide Dance professional development, Arts Monday and workshops for Dance Educational Laboratory (DEL).</p> <p>He is currently facilitating professional development for Connected Arts Network (CAN). Edwin has published several dance unit studies in the annual New York City Department of Education (DOE). He authored and presented a unit entitled Roots of Tap Dance: Soul Rhythms in The Dance Educational Laboratory (DEL) Tracing Footsteps: Honoring Diverse Voices Through Dance History in NYC, grades 6-8 Curriculum - Module 2, funded by The New York Community Trust and the New York City Department of Education. In January 2022, Edwin coauthored and presented Hip Hop: Cultivating Vision and Voice for the Tracing Footsteps Curriculum series two, Grades 6-8 curriculum - Module 2.</p> <p>He has been honored in his community with several awards. One of which is the Meyer Levin Intermediate School 285 Distinguish Educator Award, and a Citation from Senator Roxanne J. Persaud of the 19th Senate District, honoring and recognizing his exceptional contribution to the community he services. Edwin has perform with Passing Ancestral Knowledge Along Dance Company (PAKA), and in works choreographed by Elissaveta Isordanova, and continues to explore his own creativity within the community. Edwin uses formal assessment to support equity and assess to engage students in the art of dance through student voice and agency.</p>

<p>Elisa De La Rosa, daughter of migrant farmworkers, and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants; a first generation college graduate is originally from a small border town located in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Elisa De La Rosa, Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman&rsquo;s University, is a choreographer, performer, dance educator, and the founding artistic director of De La Rosa Dance Company. De La Rosa&rsquo;s current research is focused on Dance of the Latinx Diaspora: Pre-Hispanic Indigenous, Mexican, and Tex-Mex dance forms. Prior to teaching at Texas Woman&rsquo;s University, she was a dance educator for 14 years in public schools. De La Rosa received a BA in Dance with Secondary Teacher Certification from Texas Woman&rsquo;s University, and an MFA in Dance from Montclair State University.</p>

<p>Elizabeth McPherson is a Professor, Dance Division Director, and MFA Dance coordinator at Montclair State University. She is the author of <em>The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, </em>co-author of <em>Broadway, Balanchine and Beyond: A Memoir</em>, and editor/compiler of <em>The Bennington School of the Dance: A History in Writings and Interviews</em>. Her newest book <em>Milestones in Dance in the USA</em>, an edited collection designed for dance history courses, is a 2023 recipient of NDEO&rsquo;s Ruth Lovell Murray book award. Executive Editor of the journal <em>Dance Education in Practice</em>, she has also written numerous articles and reviews for a variety of publications. Elizabeth received her BFA from Juilliard, an MA from The City College of New York, and a PhD from NYU.</p>

<p>Elizabeth Stich is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Georgia specializing in aerial and contemporary dance. She holds a certification in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis, an MFA from the University of Utah, and is a graduate of the professional training program at New England Center for Circus Arts. A versatile performer, she is equally at home on the concert dance stage and in less conventional settings—soaring over water in Sea World’s Cirque de la Mer, dodging BMX riders in All Wheel Sports Extreme, and suspended from Corona Arch at sunrise. Elizabeth’s research focuses on somatics and aerial dance and the application of these practices to dance performance and pedagogy. Her articles on aerial arts have recently been published in the Journal of Dance Education, Theatre Dance and Performance Training, and Performance Research.</p>

<p>Elizabeth Lentz-Hill has over twenty years experience performing, teaching, choreographing and promoting dance. She toured France, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S. with companies and independent artists while based in Chicago, Seattle, Nashville, and the booming metropolis of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Lentz-Hill co-founded two dance companies and two dance festivals and from 2010-2018 was Associate Professor of Dance at University of Southern Mississippi, teaching in both the Performance/Choreography and Dance Licensure tracks. Lentz-Hill grew up in Hawaii and moved back in 2018, where she is now an independent artist, educator, and administrator. She holds a BA in Religion with a Concentration in Women&#39;s Studies from Carleton College and an MFA in Dance from University of Washington.</p>

Elizabeth Osborn-Kibbe, MFA, is originally from Rochester, NY. She holds a BA in Dance and History from the University at Buffalo and an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from SUNY Brockport. Liz has studied with Bill Evans, Mariah Maloney, the Limon Dance Company, and many others. After nearly a decade teaching and choreographing at the university level, she is now Director of the Dance Program at Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy in northeast Georgia. Liz is currently a PhD student studying learning and leadership in the College of Education at the University of Georgia. Her research explores access and inclusivity through the lenses of narrative and embodied learning.

Elizabeth Kattner Ph.D. is a dance educator, scholar, and choreographer. She serves as Assistant Director of SMTD for Assessment and as Associate Professor of Dance at Oakland University. She coordinates the Dance Education program at OU and has given professional development workshops for K-12 teachers at Michigan Dance Festival, SHAPE Michigan, Baltimore County Schools, and for the Detroit Public Schools Community District. She has published in Ballet Review, Dance Research Journal, Journal of Dance Education, and the program notes of the Grand Rapids Ballet, and the State Ballet Berlin. She serves on the editorial board of Dance Education in Practice and International Journal of Education and the Arts.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Eppes, Visual and Performing Coordinator for Fulton County Schools, is an arts educator with over 25 years of experience. Betsy attended the University of Georgia where she earned her BFA. She holds a master’s in art education from the University of South Carolina and has earned National Board Certification. Betsy taught art in South Carolina for 8 years before teaching in metro Atlanta for 10 years. Her students were widely recognized for their accomplishments at the local, state, and national levels. She served as an arts supervisor in DeKalb County Schools and Atlanta Public Schools before assuming the role in Fulton County Schools. Betsy was named Teacher of the Year, the Woodruff Salutes Honoree for Arts Education Leadership, and the NAEA School for Arts Leaders.

<p>Ella Rosewood (she/her) is the Founder &amp; CEO of Crelata&reg;, an on-demand dance education platform for K-12. Crelata is designed to make access to dance education more equitable since only 3% of students in the USA participate in dance classes in school. Rosewood is a middle school dance teacher in Brooklyn, NY by day and has been teaching in various settings for the past 18 years.&nbsp;She holds dual Bachelor&rsquo;s Degrees in Dance and Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master&rsquo;s Degree in Dance Education from the Inaugural Cohort of the Lincoln Center Scholars Program in partnership with the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College.&nbsp;She helped revise the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance and actively preserves historic solo dances for performance and educational purposes as well as performing her own work.</p>

Ella-Gabriel Mason (they/them) wants to understand who we are, how we got here, and how we’re all thinking and feeling about that. An artmaker, educator and bodyworker, they combine rigorous academic research with lived experience, words with dance, brain with body, living in the tension between ways of knowing and methods of being. Over the past decade Mason has created 7 evening-length performance works and a number of installations, video pieces, and short movement works. Their works have been presented at the New Hazlett Theater (PGH), Kelly-Strayhorn Theater (PGH), vox populi (PHL), wild project (NYC), WOW Café Theater (NYC), and BAAD! (NYC). In addition to their work as a creator and performer, Mason is a licensed massage therapist specializing in trauma-sensitive bodywork.

<p>Ellen Tshudy is the Dance Director at Brookwood High School in Snellville, Ga and is humbled to serve as the Lead Teacher for Dance in Gwinnett County Public Schools. Ellen is a founding member of the Dance Educators of GA Society, Inc., the Georgia state affiliate of the NDEO. She serves as the Director of Professional Development and is currently the President-Elect. Her term as president will start in July 2022 and run through July 2024. Since 2019, Ellen has been doing contract work for the Georgia Department of Education Fine Arts, creating instructional resources for Dance teachers all over the state. This spring, she will serve as Project Manager and oversee a team of teachers writing instructional resources. She is a candidate for a Masters of Arts in Dance Education at UNCG.</p>

<p>Emily oversees the Education &amp; Community Engagement Department at Colorado Ballet pursuing its mission of Every. Body. Dance. as a teacher, trainer, and manager through the lens of equity and access. Her role includes bringing the strategic plan to life through a lens of equity and access in addition to teaching, providing training, and managing programs.&nbsp;Supplemented by higher education, training, and experience as a professional dancer, her passion for expanding inclusivity in the fields of dance and dance education has shaped her work. She uses arts integration to inspire students of all ages to explore social and emotional skills or language, math, and sciences on a deeper level using movement. Beyond dance education, Emily approaches leadership with a people-first perspective, is a three-time presenter at NDEO&rsquo;s annual conference, a certified Pilates instructor, and enjoys traveling, yoga, and outdoor activities.</p>

<p>Emily Stein is a veteran of Chicago&rsquo;s dance scene, dancing, choreographing, and teaching. She teaches ballet technique, anatomy, and Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement&reg; at the Dance Center of Columbia College, and is on faculty at the Joffrey Academy. She danced and choreographed with Zephyr Dance, presenting work locally and nationally. Her ongoing interest in the evolution of ballet inspired her choreographic series &ldquo;Secret Experiments in Ballet,&rdquo; which plays in the intersection of ballet and improvisation. In 2012 she co-founded BalletLab Chicago with Paige Caldarella, to share their research and dialog with the broader dance community. She holds BA from the University of Iowa, an MFA from Smith College, and is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner.</p>

Teacher/dancer/choreographer Emily Morgan is interested in community-based and participatory dance in traditional and nontraditional spaces. She has presented her work throughout the US, and in Norway, Austria, Barbados, and Mexico. She is Director of Dance/Associate Professor at Colorado State University and taught at Winthrop University, University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso Community College, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Elon University, North Carolina Governor’s School, and at a public magnet arts high school in Winston-Salem, NC. She holds an MFA in dance from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, a BA in dance from Denison University, and is a doctoral candidate in dance, working on her dissertation on community dance practices, at Texas Woman’s University.

<p>Dr. Enloe graduated from USC-Columbia with her BA in Dance Education in May 2010. She has taught middle and high school dance in South Carolina since graduating in 2010. Additionally, Enloe&rsquo;s work as the graduate mentor for the Dancers Connect program at USC-Columbia earned her the 2012 NDEO Elsa Posey Graduate Student Scholarship. She is also the Past President for both SCAHPERD and SCDA and has taught in the master&rsquo;s program for dance education at UNCG. Enloe earned her MEd in 2013 from USC-Columbia in Early Childhood Education and graduated with her EdD in Leadership from Charleston Southern University in 2022. Her research interests include whole child development particularly of adolescents, pedagogy and curriculum, somatics-based dance approaches, and culturally responsive pedagogy.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Enya-Kalia Jordan is a choreographer, researcher, scholar, and teaching-artist, from Brooklyn, New York. Currently, She is&nbsp;Manager of Dancer Development &amp; Diversity for the Radio City Rockettes at MSG Entertainment.&nbsp;She&nbsp;artistically directs a movement-based artist collective, Enya Kalia Creations, and co-produces a collaborative performance project, Bashi Arts, with Rachel DeForrest Repinz.&nbsp;She received a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Buffalo State and a Master of Fine Arts from Temple University.&nbsp;In 2020, she began her doctoral studies at Texas Woman&#39;s University, researching the decolonization of dance,&nbsp;Black embodiment,&nbsp;and equitable&nbsp;dancer&nbsp;development.&nbsp;She&nbsp;presented her research twice at the Collegium of African Diasporic Dance at Duke University, five times at the National Dance Education events,&nbsp;thrice at&nbsp;Dance&nbsp;For&nbsp;the Child International conference,&nbsp;and the Decolonizing Tertiary Dance Education conference hosted by Stockholm University.&nbsp;In addition, she&nbsp;has conducted ethnographic research&nbsp;in&nbsp;Tokyo, Japan; Guimaraes, Portugal; Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands; and Paris, France.&nbsp;Enya-Kalia is&nbsp;a&nbsp;teaching-artist with&nbsp;Dancewave, Amanda Selwyn&#39;s Notes in Motion Outreach Theatre, Abron&rsquo;s Center for the Arts, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music&#39;s Dance Africa program.&nbsp;She&nbsp;has also been invited to teach&nbsp;at Bates Dance Festival, been an assistant professor at SUNY Erie, and lecturer at&nbsp;the&nbsp;University of&nbsp;Virginia. Enya believes in the multiplicity of dance and being, meaning in everything she does, there is a dance.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Erica Lynette Edwards is an accomplished dance educator who champions change to advance the art of dance. She enjoyed a rewarding 15-year career as a ballerina with The Joffrey Ballet and was the company’s Director of Community Engagement for 5 years. In this role Erica was responsible for leading all Joffrey dance education programs through Chicago Public Schools and Chicagoland to increase access, awareness, and appreciation for the art of dance. After 20 years at The Joffrey Ballet, she founded Cultivating Better Tomorrows. Through this consulting company Erica reshapes the dynamics of dance communities to produce environments where all can thrive. Highly skilled in delivering effective change, she is passionate about facilitating sessions focused on reflection and knowledge building.

Erin is a graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Science in Dance Education and holds a license by the state of New York for K-12 Dance Education. She will be graduating from Stonehill University in May 2022 with a Masters in Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity in education where her studies have been primarily in social justice education, gender/sexuality inclusion, and ableism. She is currently an early childhood educator for the Lawrence Public Schools in Massachusetts. Previously, she was an elementary dance educator for the New York City Department of Education in Brooklyn from fall 2019-spring 2020. She is currently on the board of MADEO where she stands as the Co-State Education and Professional Development. Erin is passionate about inclusive dance education.

Erin is the Director of DEL at 92Y. For over fifteen years, Erin has taught dance in a variety of settings, sharing her love of dance with children. At Luna Dance Institute she was the Family Services Manager, specializing in family dance classes, working with families in the reunification process. Erin was the former Education Director of RIOULT and founding member and Dance Specialist at Bronx Arts in the South Bronx, where she created the dance curriculum and taught grades K-5. Erin was a teaching artist for New York City Center, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Hispanico, and American Repertory Ballet Company. She received the 2021 Outstanding Leadership Award from NYSDEA. At 92Y, she teaches weekly dance classes in the Nursery School and family dance in the Parenting Center.

<p>Eryn Cade is a cum laude and Blount Honors graduate from the University of Alabama (UA) Tuscaloosa, AL where she earned her bachelor&#39;s degree (BA) in dance. She is currently a second-year MFA Dance candidate at UA. In addition to being a performer, educator, and researcher interested in understanding the psychological impact of the hyper-sexualization and objectification of her own body as an African American woman, Eryn teaches jazz technique to non-dance majors at the University of Alabama.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Evelyn Sanchez has a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Teaching Degree from the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. She is a former company dancer of Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, where she performed national and internationally. Evelyn has more than 10 years of experience in the Chicagoland area as a teaching artist. She began working at The Joffrey Ballet as a Community Engagement Program Coordinator in 2015. She conducted various professional developments on creating an anti-racist learning environment at the Ingenuity Summit and National Dance Education Organization for arts educators. With a partnership with Autism Speaks she created Joffrey’s first Sensory Friendly Performance “Journey with Joffrey.” Evelyn continues to be an advocate for arts education, as well as an artist.

<p>Dr. Faith Butler, McGill University graduate, and Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of The Bahamas has served in leadership as member of the research management team, Head of Department of Music and Art, Academic Senate Chair, and Coordinator of the Masters of Reading with Inclusive Education Program. She has participated as lead program coordinator of the Indaba Project Afterschool Program and the Island Stewards Camp initiative in which marginalized and culturally diverse students were immersed in experiential learning experiences in New Providence and the family of islands. As co-founder of the Shirley Hall-Bass Foundation, she acts as liaison with the University of The Bahamas and Ministry of Education to advocate for quality performing arts education.</p>

<p>Franchesca Marisol Cabrera (MA, BA) is a performing artist, dance educator, arts administrator and advocate for community engagement and arts accessibility. Her performing career has taken her around the globe in the styles of Flamenco, Classical Spanish, Baroque and Mexican Folklorico. She has over 10 years of teaching experience in a pre-professional dance school working with ages 5-18 in Flamenco and Spanish Dance. She is a co-founder of ColectivXs, an interdisciplinary collective working to embody, honor and challenge space for Latinx identities. As a teaching artist located on the West Coast, she explores themes central to her Mexican-American family&rsquo;s 40 year old cultural dance legacy, examining the intersections of traditions, immigration, community, spirituality and identity.</p>

<p>Frederick Curry is an Associate Professor in the Dance Department at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. At Rutgers, he has served as Interim Chair of Dance, Director of the EdM Program in Dance Education, and Director of the Polestar Pilates Teacher Training Program. His scholarship focuses on dance pedagogy, Laban/Bartenieff studies and somatics. He has led workshops and presented at conferences internationally including in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, South Korea, Switzerland, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. He is on faculty at DEL at the 92nd Street Y and is Assistant Editor for Dance Education in Practice journal. Frederick served on the Board of Directors of NDEO and was a founding member of the NDEO IDEA Committee.</p>

Gabrielle A. Tull is an assistant professor of dance and coordinator for dance education at Winthrop University. She is a 2020 MFA dance graduate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As a previous high school dance director and curriculum curator, she received a Masters in Education in Divergent Learning at Columbia College, SC. Artistically, she has performed and collaborated with professional companies and artists including BJ Sullivan, Janet Lilly, Brian Sanders, City Modern Ensemble, The Power Company, and Terrance Henderson Dance Inc. Her recent scholarship in the Afro Diaspora foundations in jazz technique and performance was awarded a VA Artist Express Grant; including a lead presentation at the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance Conference at Duke in 2022.

Gabrielle holds a B.F.A. in Dance Education and a master's degree in Educational Administration, both from The Ohio State University. She is a long-standing board member of OhioDance, a partner of Columbus Dance Alliance, and serves on the education committee at BalletMet. She has written model curriculum for the Ohio Department of Education and has worked on revising the State of Ohio Dance Standards. She a co-founder of Columbus Moving Company and has choreographed many musicals for Columbus Children's Theatre, Imagine Productions, Gallery Players, Butterfly Guild, and Red Herring Productions. She is in her thirteenth year of teaching dance in Columbus City Schools and has been the department chair of the arts department at Fort Hayes High School for the last three years.

George Berry is a second-year MFA candidate at the University of Alabama. After graduating with his BA, he worked with Proia Dance Project in Atlanta, GA, and then danced for Roxey Ballet in Lambertville, NJ, for two seasons. His choreographic works have been featured at the Young Choreographer’s Festival, Broadway Dance Center, Benjamin Briones’ The Round Table, and the Alabama Dance Festival. In collaboration with Brandon Hall, Fragile, his dance film was featured in the American College Dance Association’s Screendance Festival Final Night Gala. His passion for exploring marginalized stories on stage and screen pushes him to continue to innovate within his subject areas, including gender performance and queerness. Education is his passion, and inclusivity is his mission.

<p>Gerald Casel (he/they/siya) is artistic director of GERALDCASELDANCE. Their choreographic work complicates and provokes questions surrounding colonialism, collective cultural amnesia, whiteness and privilege, and the tensions between the invisible/perceived/obvious structures of power. The company has been presented at Bates Dance Festival, La MaMa, New York Live Arts, Danspace Project at St. Mark&#39;s Church, CounterPulse, ODC Theater, Asia Pacific Dance Festival, and at festivals in South Korea, Taiwan, the U.K., and France. Casel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Dance at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. A graduate of The Juilliard School, with an MFA from UW Milwaukee, they received a Bessie award for sustained achievement. Casel is the founder of Dancing Around Race, a community-engaged participatory process that interrogates racial inequities in dance. www.geraldcasel.com</p>

<p>Hannah Andersen (MFA, NCPT, FMT), Assistant Professor of Teaching, Wayne State University, teaches in the BS/BFA Dance Programs, MA-Teaching Artistry, and manages the Pilates Mentorship Program. Her research and teaching intersect dance science, somatics, pedagogy, and technique. Hannah’s journey as an artist, pedagogue, and researcher is represented in local and regional performance venues and inter/national conferences and journals. She received the 2017 Doug Risner Prize for Emerging Researchers in the Journal of Dance Education.</p>

Heather Trommer-Beardslee, MFA, is the Coordinator of the Central Michigan University Dance Program. Her concert dances and dance films have been performed / screened nationally and internationally. Heather has had articles published in the Journal of Dance Education, Teaching Artist Journal, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, and Dance Education in Practice and her current book project, Removing the Educational Silos: Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Education will be released in Fall 2022 (Intellect). For ten years, she worked for the Emmy-Award winning, Chicago-based dance company, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project as their Booking Manager and Executive Director. Heather drew from many of these experiences in writing her textbook, Dance Production and Management (PBC, 2013)

<p>Heather Warfel Sandler is a dancer, educator, artist, and arts advocate in Jersey City, NJ. She is the recipient of the 2023 NJ Governor&#39;s Award for Excellence in Leadership in Dance Education. Heather founded a progressive dance program within Hudson County Schools of Technology and has taught for over 20 years with a focus on creative process and cultural and social responsibility. Ms.Warfel and her students have been recognized locally and nationally. She has served as an NHSDA adjudicator, and on the JDEI Workgroup. Her workshops have been presented at conferences including NDEO, Dance NJ, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Ms.Warfel was an Adjunct Professor at NJCU for over 10 years, and she creates work across many genres of performing and visual arts. She is a founding board member and former Chair of the Jersey City Arts Council, and works within her community to advocate for equitable access to the arts.</p>

HEATHER DOUGHERTY is a dance artist and educator hailing from Pennsylvania. Dougherty has mentored a broad range of dance students at independent dance studios and in college and university dance programs. She has also been a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education since 2013. Dougherty earned a BS in Dance and Dance Education from NYU and an MFA in Theatre Arts and Dance Choreography from The University of Arizona. Dougherty is currently a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. 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.

<p>Helen serves as the Fine Arts Education Specialist for the state of Ohio. An active leader in arts education and policy, Helen serves on the Board of Directors for the NDEO, as the Vice President of SEADAE, and on the NCAS Council.&nbsp;She has 20+ years of combined experience teaching dance in K-12, higher education, the independent sector. She is a Ph.D. student studying Educational Policy (OSU) with a focus on arts education policy and educational equity. She holds an MFA in Dance (ASU), MEd in Educational Foundations (NAU), is an RSDE, RYT200 and STEAM Certified Educator/Administrator. Helen's research and in-practice work on pedagogy and curriculum has been published in <i>JODE</i>, <i>DEiP</i>, <i>JDSP</i>, and <i>JMD</i>. Helen is passionate about ensuring all students have access to well-rounded, high-quality dance education.</p>

Hetty King - BFA, MFA, MA, CMA, RSDE, TT®, RYT200, NYS PreK-12 Dance - is a native New Yorker. Hetty is a performer, choreographer, dance educator, and scholar. Her work has been presented in NYC and across Canada. As a performer, she danced in the companies of Ralph Lemon and David Dorfman to name a few. Working in the field of dance education since 2000, first as a teaching artist and then as a licensed NYS Dance Educator she has worked in public and private schools primarily with grades PreK-5. A student of the late somatic movement pioneer Nancy Topf she has completed Topf’s posthumous manuscript – ‘A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice - The Anatomy of Center’ available July 2022 through the University Press of Florida. Hetty is a EdD student in Dance Education at Teachers College.

Ilana Puglia graduated from James Madison University in 2009 with a double major in Dance and Media Arts and Design. She worked in marketing at Richmond Ballet until returning to graduate school to earn her Masters in Dance Education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2015. Ilana has been the dance teacher and Specialty Center Dance Company director at Thomas Dale since 2014. She is also part-owner, teacher and Ensemble Director of a private studio, 804 Dance Place, and she also performs professionally for Dogwood Dance Project. Ilana has served on the VDOE Dance Standards revision committee, is a University Supervisor for the James Madison's Dance Ed licensure program, and is the 2019 recipient of the RVA Dance Award for Best Contemporary Choreography.

Dr. Jackie Beth Shilcutt has performed, collaborated, taught, and choreographed with various dance projects both stateside and abroad in venues from Texas to New York to Brazil and Kenya. Jackie Beth completed her PhD in Kinesiology at New Mexico State University with an emphasis on dance pedagogy. Her research focuses on implementing an Activist Approach to teaching in multiple dance settings including after-school dance clubs for middle school youth, dance content courses for physical education teacher candidates, community recreational classes, and university-level dance coursework. Jackie Beth is also involved in Youth on the Move, a program initially funded through Paso del Norte Health Foundation geared towards engaging disengaged youth in physical activity.

<p>Jade Treadwell - Assistant Professor &amp; Director of Dance at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the NDEO Research Committee in which she, alongside her colleagues, advocates for advancing dance education research.&nbsp;She received BFA and MFA dance degrees from Florida State University where she performed with Dance Repertory Theatre working with Lynda Davis, Dan Wagoner, Tim Glenn, Gerri Houlihan, Susan Marshall, Alex Ketley, and Jawole Zollar. She performed with StaibDance, ClancyWorks, Duncan Dance South and freelanced in Atlanta, TN, FL and the DMV area.&nbsp;Choreographically, she is&nbsp;inspired by African American culture, music, and spirituality. She has a Master of Science degree in Exercise Science informing her research interests in injury management to promote dancer wellness.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>James W. Robey</strong>&nbsp;is professor and chair in the department of dance at Radford University, where he served as interim dean of the College of Visual &amp; Performing Arts, as executive director for the Summer Residential Governor&#39;s School for the Visual &amp; Performing Arts and Humanities, and received the Outstanding Mentor Award in 2023. James currently serves as a visiting evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance and on the Cultivating Leadership Committee for the National Dance Education Organization.</p> <p>Prior to joining Radford University, James served as chair of the department of dance at Webster University, where he received the Messing Faculty Award, wrote the textbook&nbsp;Beginning Jazz Dance, received a certificate of graduation from the Global Leadership Academy, served as Founding Team Member for the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation, and created an 8-week study abroad program in Geneva, Switzerland.&nbsp;</p> <p>As a professional performing artist, he danced for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, GroundWorks Dance Theater, Connecticut Ballet, New York Dance Theater, Ohio Dance Theater, Off Center Dance Theater, Cleveland Opera, Covenant Ballet Theater of Brooklyn, CelloPointe, Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and Busch Gardens. He founded the Bare Bones Dance Project (NYC), later James Robey Dance (CT), receiving grants and commissions from the Connecticut Dance Alliance, the Connecticut Choreographers Forum, the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis, and a Webster University Faculty Research grant. In addition to his own company, James created original works for&nbsp;&nbsp;Connecticut Ballet, Modern American Dance Company, Missouri Ballet Theatre, Full Force Dance Theatre, Ohio Dance Theatre, CelloPointe, Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Tennessee Williams Play Festival, Jazz Dance World Congress, Consuming Kinetics Dance Company, and SKIP Entertainment Company in Guam.</p> <p>Other past appointments include the national board of directors for the American College Dance Association, executive director of the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, board of directors and the advisory committee of the Connecticut Dance Alliance, Connecticut Ballet&#39;s Danbury Dance Initiative Task Force, director of the Modern and Jazz programs at Eastern Connecticut Ballet, director of the dance program at Western Reserve Academy, and the founding creative team behind the Young Choreographer&#39;s Festival in Stamford, CT.&nbsp;</p> <p>His presentations include the keynote speech,&nbsp;<em>Leadership and Innovation in Arts Education</em>, for the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation in Switzerland; presentations on&nbsp;<em>Leadership Jazz</em>&nbsp;in collaboration with Oxford University&#39;s Dr. David Pendleton at both the Henley Business School at Reading University and the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival in the UK; and a guest lecture,&nbsp;<em>The Creative Process</em>,&nbsp;at Webster University&#39;s President&rsquo;s Faculty Dinner. His research, Dance Movements: Traditionalism to Postmodernism and Beyond&mdash;Applying the Gravesian Framework to Contemporary Dance,, has been presented&nbsp;at the Arts in Society Conference at San Jorge University in Zaragoza, Spain; Performing Arts Between Tradition and Contemporaneity in Ragnitz, Austria; the National Dance Education Organization National Conference (NDEO); Hawaii University International Conferences on Art and Humanities; American College Dance Association conference (ACDA), International Dance Entrepreneurs Association, Fontbonne University, and for the symposium&nbsp;Transmodern: Integrating the Art and Science of Movement&nbsp;at the University of Milwaukee, WI.&nbsp;</p> <p>Education<br /> <strong>University of Akron</strong><br /> BFA in Dance</p> <p><strong>University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee</strong><br /> MFA in Dance</p>

<p>The vision for the dance program at Estrella Mountain Community is&nbsp;<em>individual expression through creative collaboration.&nbsp;</em>This&nbsp;philosophy<strong>&nbsp;</strong>provides all dance students with an educational experience that is inclusive, supportive and enriching. Dance can be a powerful force for social awareness and community engagement is an integral part of student performance opportunities. The performing company, DancEstrella, does not require an audition to participate&nbsp;and the focus is on student&nbsp; and collaborative work, providing a rich source for choreography that&nbsp;reflects diverse&nbsp;approaches, movement styles, backgrounds and lived experience. The curriculum is foundational, preparing students to transfer or move into the professional world, with an&nbsp;approach<strong>&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;that is comprehensive and cohesive, reinforcing course content throughout the degree Pathway.</p><p>Janaea Lyn McAlee (aka Janaea Rose Lyn) is Residential Dance Faculty (Appointive) at Estrella Mountain Community College and Artistic Director of DancEstrella, the student performing company. A dance artist and educator with a particular a focus on creating and facilitating collaborative work, her most recent article Collaborative Dance Making: Philosophy and Practice was published in the Dance Education in Practice journal (March, 2020).&nbsp;&nbsp;Conference presentations include Creating Across Disciplines: An Integrative Approach To Performing Art Education and Calling as Career: The Intersection of Life and Learning in the Performing Arts.&nbsp;&nbsp;Prior to this position she was Assistant Professor of Dance and Performing Arts Program Coordinator at Cecil College in Maryland.&nbsp;Janaea was Artistic Director of Dance Matrix and Convergence Dancers &amp; Musicians from 1998-2004, and received an Individual Artist Award in Choreography from the Maryland State Arts Council in 2001. She has performed and/or presented her choreography in modern dance at such venues as the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland; the Biennale of Contemporary Dance in Poznan, Poland; Akademia Raymond Duncan in Paris France; Victoria Theatre in San Francisco; St. John the Divine and St. Marks Church in NYC; Painted Bride, Merriam Theater, Wilma Theatre and Academy of Music in Philadelphia; and Dance Place in Washington, DC.&nbsp; Janaea is also active as a specialist in the work of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan as a third generation Duncan dancer, historian and co-chair of the Isadora Duncan Archive. Other styles she has studied and performed include Flamenco and Middle Eastern dance. She received her Master of Arts in Choreography/Dance from the Goddard Graduate Program/Vermont College of Norwich University and her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts/Dance from Sonoma State University. Mentors include Mary Anthony and Bessie Schoenberg.</p>

<p>Trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, and Modern, and African dance, Jazmine Freeman is a performer, educator, and dancer from Atlanta, GA. Before Covid-19, she danced w/the Mills College Repertory Company in Oakland and the Adinkra Dance Project in Atlanta. Prior to the Bay Area&rsquo;s shelter-in-place mandate, Freeman also taught students at Oakland&rsquo;s HEAT Danceline, where she served as the head jazz instructor. Before coming to Mills to pursue a Master&rsquo;s in Fine Arts in the College&rsquo;s graduate dance program, Freeman captained the Morehouse College Dance Team, Mahogany N Motion, and completed her BA in Drama &amp; Dance from Spelman College, where she choreographed the Miss Spelman Pageant, the 2018 Homecoming Step-Show, several pageants, and competitive routines for several small companies.</p>

<p>The Pearl-Cohn &nbsp;Fine Arts&nbsp;Mission is to provide students with opportunities to express themselves through a variety of visual and performing outlets including dance, music, theater, and visual art. While experiencing self-discovery, culture understanding, and fostering an appreciation for different forms&nbsp;of&nbsp; artistic expression.</p><p>Through our Fine Arts Program, we strive to mentor, build, and equip young entertainers, and performers&nbsp;how&nbsp;to be prepared mentally, physically, emotionally, and some spiritually as well as professionally for the next level in this industry as well has in everyday life.&nbsp; We also recognize, applaud, and highlight our scholars on their academic success and their educational endeavors.</p>

<p>JC De&rsquo; 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 &amp; CFO of the Dare 2 D.R.E.A.M. Foundation 501c3 Nonprofit Organization. He received a Masters in Education in Curriculum &amp; 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.</p> <p>March 2023 became Adjunt Faculty for Tennessee State University Human Performance &amp; Sport Sciences teaching Dance.&nbsp;</p>

Jennifer Cafarella Betts is a graduate of Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts. Her career spans Ballet de Cali, Colombia, Granite State Ballet, Northern Ballet Theater, Portland Ballet, Ballet New England, and Jose Mateo's Ballet Theater. Residing in Phoenix, she has performed with Center Dance Ensemble, the inaugural season of Ten Tiny Dances. Ms. Cafarella Betts is founder and School Director of Ballet Theatre of Phoenix and is Artistic Director for Convergence Ballet. She holds a BS in Business Administration, an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Power Pilates Certification and ABT National Teacher Training Certifications. She has presented her research Bill Evan’s Somatic Conference and three times at the NDEO.

Jennifer Weber holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and a BA in Mathematics from UNO. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Utah Tech University. She danced professionally with Omaha Theater Company, Ballet Quad Cities, and Ballet Nebraska. Ms. Weber’s choreographic and scholastic work has been presented internationally and nationally; spanning conferences such as CORPS de Ballet International, World Dance Alliance Americas, and Royal Academy of Dance. Her research engages critical approaches to existing codified dance techniques to reimagine the ways in which the various training methods, practices, and genres of dance can be in conversation. The direct areas she investigates are dance pedagogy, creative process, the individual artist, and anti-racist practices.

Jennifer Sommers holds an MFA in Dance, Performance and Choreography from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She has performed with Laura Dean Musicians and Dancers and the Albany Berkshire Ballet, where she also served as Ballet Mistress. Her dance honors include a scholarship to Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Workshop, a Durham Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant, and a Lake Region Arts Council grant in support of new work. She was the Associate Director of Raleigh Dance Theater and Founding Dance Educator at KIPP Sharpstown College Prep before joining the Houston Ballet Education & Community Engagement department. She currently serves as Director of the Houston Ballet Academy, overseeing all educational programming. She has also served on the faculty of and choreographed for t

Jenny Bopp has been teaching ballet and modern dance to all ages from preschoolers to adults since 2010 in both scholastic and studio settings. In 2014 Jenny graduated with an M.A. in Urban Studies with a concentration in Community Arts from Eastern University, where she focused on trauma-informed, arts-based practices for affecting change in communities both locally and globally. Jenny has also done work as a teaching artist in a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, she served as a leader for her church’s dance ministry team, and is a contributor to and co-editor of a book called HEALING THROUGH THE ARTS FOR NON-CLINICAL PRACTITIONERS (2019).

Jesse Katen is the owner of a private dance studio in Windsor, New York and teaches in the English Department at SUNY Broome Community College in Binghamton, New York. He publishes on the intersections of teaching writing and teaching dance, specifically through the lens of performance. He has published in Dance Education in Practice, Journal of Dance Education, and serves on the editorial board of Dance Education in Practice. He serves on the Independent Sector Committee of the National Dance Education Organization and the Committee for Community Colleges of the Modern Language Association (MLA). He is the recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Judge Award of the Association of Dance Conventions and Competitions and the 2019 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

<p>Jessica Moore is a dance artist, teacher, and choreographer based in Columbia, SC. She is the Dance Education Specialist at Columbia College, where she oversees the development, instruction, and mentorship of rising Dance Education majors. She earned her MFA degree in Dance, Performance, and Choreography from SUNY Brockport and her BA in Dance Education from Columbia College. Jessica has received several grants to pursue and further her research on Native American dance and cultural traditions; presenting this research at Dance Studies Association, South Carolina Dance Association, and NDEO conferences among others. As a member of the Waccamaw Siouan Indian tribe, she continues to compete in powwows, hone her craft and spread knowledge of Native American customs, representation, and embodiment across the country. Her creative work integrates contemporary/modern aesthetics with cultural forms, while her academic research interests include cultural representation, cultural appropriation, and increasing diversity in dance/dance education. Building a community amongst students, performers, teachers, and artists by sparking a dialogue to create awareness remain at the heart of Jessica&rsquo;s approach.</p>

Currently a Visiting Lecturer in Dance at St. Lawrence University, Jessica began her training as an educator at Slippery Rock University, earning dual degrees in dance and elementary education. From there, she started her career in Chicago where she worked for five years as a Teaching Artist for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in their Education, Youth, Community, and Adaptive Dance Programs, receiving the company’s first ever Teaching Artist Fellowship in 2014-2015. She returned to academia in 2018 to pursue her Master of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Choreography at The University of Iowa, which she completed in 2021. Jessica’s research is focused on the body as a site of embodied memory and experience, investigating and employing dance as a catalyst for human connection and empathy.

<p>Jessica Rajko is an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University in dance and big data analytics. Her creative research and critical scholarship explore what we learn pragmatically, aesthetically, and ethically, when researchers cultivate spaces of methodological plurality and generative tension between dance and computing fields. Her most recent work deconstructs the effects of normalizing computing research with EuroAmerican concert dance artists by analyzing the western embodied aesthetics normalized through recurring reproduction and representation. Jessica has presented her research at Harvard&rsquo;s Digital Futures Consortium, UPenn&rsquo;s Price Lab for Digital Humanities, and University of New Mexico&rsquo;s ART Lab. She was the opening keynote for the International Conference on Movement and Computing&rsquo;s (MOCO) extended format converence SloMoCo. She&rsquo;s also presented interactive/performative artworks at CHI, Digital Humanities Summer Institute, Electronic Literature Organization Conference, Amsterdam&rsquo;s OT301, Currents New Media Festival, and the Heard Museum. She is currently conducting research within Dance Computing Studies &ndash;an emerging research area and international community of artists/scholars concerned with the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of movement analysis and representation. She&rsquo;s published in the <em>Journal of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training</em>, <em>Politics of the Machine</em> conference proceedings with British Computer Society, and <em>MOCO</em> conference proceedings with ACM Multimedia.</p>

<p>Jessie Levey is the founder and director of Barefoot Dance Center in New York&rsquo;s Hudson Valley where she teaches babies to adults and directs a teen dance company. She creates curriculum to educate the whole person through somatics, creativity, and identity. Jessie also works with schools and senior centers as an artist-in-residence and leads workshops for classroom and dance educators. Originally a contemporary post-modern dancer and choreographer from NYC, Jessie taught in the city&rsquo;s public and independent schools, and community organizations. She is a Registered Somatic Dance Educator, Certified Yoga and Childbirth Teacher, and holds an MFA in Dance.</p>

Jill Guyton Nee (BA, BS, MFA) is an Associate Professor and Head of Dance at University of Memphis. Before earning her Master of Fine Arts in Dance from The Ohio State University, she worked full-time at American Dance Festival, performed for various companies in North Carolina. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Meredith College. Her work has been presented throughout the United States and Thailand. Creatively, she has worked with several distinguished choreographers including Mark Dendy, David Dorfman, Bebe Miller, Susan Hadley, Gaspard Louis, Erin Carlisle Norton, and Carol Finley. She choreographs for the Department of Theatre & Dance, and is a free-lance choreographer.

<p>An Associate Professor of Dance at Temple University, JILLIAN HARRIS explores the intersections between dance, film, and new technologies. She has had a distinguished career, touring nationally and internationally with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers.&nbsp; She appeared in the Metropolitan Opera world premiere of &ldquo;Benvenuto Cellini&rdquo; and played the feature role in the PBS broadcast of Della Davidson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Night Story&rdquo;.&nbsp; A youngARTS award winner, Jillian has performed works by noted choreographers such as Doug Varone, Murray Louis, Laura Dean, David Rousseve, and Moses Pendleton.&nbsp; Her choreography has been shown at venues like Joyce SOHO (New York City), Chi Movement Arts Center (Philadelphia), The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (Salt Lake City), and Bravo Caffe (Bologna, Italy).&nbsp; Jillian is the co-producer, featured dancer, and assistant choreographer for <em>Red Earth Calling, </em>a short dance film in collaboration with Flying Limbs Inc. that won the Best Narrative Short award at the 2015 Maui Film Festival (Maui, Hawaii), Best Experimental Short award at the 2015 Toronto Independent Film Festival, and Best Narrative Short award at the Moondance International Film Festival (Boulder, CO). &nbsp;The film (<a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/redearthcalling/202593019">https://vimeo.com/ondemand/redearthcalling/202593019</a>) has also been an official selection of the Athens International Film and Video Festival, Citizen Jane Film Festival, Columbia Gorge International Film Festival, Toronto Independent Film Festival, Action on Film International Festival, Movies by Movers Festival, and Pineapple Underground Film Festival (Hong Kong). Her most recent project is <em>Mud: Bodies of History</em>, an interactive dance film produced in Colombia: <a href="http://www.mudbodies.com">www.mudbodies.com</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Joan Finkelstein (EdD, Dance Education Leadership &amp; Policy: Teachers College, Columbia University; MFA, BFA: NYU Tisch Dance) has been executive director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance since 2014. She has performed in modern, contemporary ballet, and Afro-Haitian companies and on Broadway; choreographed for ballet and modern companies; and taught children, teens, and adults nationwide. As director of the 92Y Harkness Dance Center (1992-2004), she supervised classes, workshops, the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) program, performance festivals, space grants, lectures, and weekly social dances. During her tenure as director of dance for the NYC Department of Education (2004-2014) she spearheaded the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, PreK-12; citywide dance assessments; and dance teacher PD. Joan served on the dance writing teams for the 2014 National Core Arts Standards and the 2017 New York State Learning Standards for the Arts. She was a BESSIES NY Dance &amp; Performance Committee member for 16 years.</p>

Joanna Chocklett is a Richmond, Virginia native who graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. While attending JMU she danced in the Virginia Repertory Dance Company, as well as the Contemporary Dance Ensemble. At JMU she was able to work with guest artists such as Faye Driscoll, Laurie Eisenhower, Derrick Evans, Mark Morris, Monica Bill Barnes, and many more. Joanna has taught dance at Thomas Dale since 2018 and she also coaches the Prancing Knights majorette team. She teaches modern and hip-hop at 804 Dance Place, dances professionally with Dogwood Dance Project and helps support the Dogwood Youth Ensemble.

Joanne Baker (she/her) has been passionately teaching jazz dance since 1992. A member of the Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) organization since 1993, she has held the roles of company dancer, instructor, dance school principal, and arts in ed coordinator. Teaching has taken her across Canada conducting classes, workshops and intensives from coast to coast as well as at home with DJD’s school, intensives, and its Professional Training Program. Joanne has also taught as an adjunct at the University of Calgary. In 2012 Joanne presented at the World Dance Alliance America’s annual conference (Vancouver, BC), adjudicated at the Chilliwack Lions Club Music and Dance Festival (BC) in 2016 and co-presented at the NDEO Special Topics (Jazz Dance) Conference in Newport, RI in 2019.

Originally from southern Virginia, JoBeth graduated Magna Cum Laude from Radford University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. While at Radford University, her choreography was selected to represent the Radford University Dance Department at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic American College Dance Festival. While in college, she served as dance captain and intern for Theatre Arts Center in NYC. After graduation JoBeth performed professionally at the Waterside Theatre in their Tony nominated production of “The Lost Colony. JoBeth currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina where she teaches high school dance for Clover High School in Clover, South Carolina while pursuing a Master of Arts in Dance Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

<p>Juliana Azoubel (Juliana Amelia Paes Azoubel)</p> <p>Dance artist and Professor of Dance at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Juliana is pursuing a Ph.D. in Dance at TWU while serving as the Artistic Director of Grupo Aruanda and teacher/lecturer at the School of Grupo Corpo. She holds a BFA in Dance and an M.A. in Latin American Studies (University of Florida) and is Stott Pilates Certified Teacher. Sharing her career between Brazil and the US, She has been an artist in residence at the University of Florida and has performed extensively in Brazil, Europe, and South America. Blending ethnography, traditional and contemporary dance, social, cultural, pedagogical, community, diasporic, intercultural performance,&nbsp;feminist approaches, and migration aspects of dance-making, her artistic/teaching career and mastering several Brazilian Dance forms connect formal, informal, traditional, and contemporary dance communities. The author of several books and articles, her scholarship, artistic creations, and pedagogical approaches based on intercultural and decolonial practices are present in Brazil&#39;s Elementary, Middle, High School, and Adult Dance Education.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Julie DeGregorio Ohrnberger (BFA) is a dance educator, choreographer, and performer, originally from Northern Virginia. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from George Mason University where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance, and the Excellence in Performance Award. She spent two seasons in Houston, TX dancing with repertoire company, Houston METdance. Julie continues to perform with Dakshina Dance Company, where she toured internationally to perform and teach in India, Italy, and South Africa. She started a standards-based K-12 dance program at King Abdullah Academy. Julie is currently the elementary dance educator for Fairfax County Public Schools, Hunters Woods ES. She is pursuing a Master of Arts in Dance Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.</p>

<p>Kaitlynn is originally from Rochester, NY. As a recent graduate from SUNY Brockport with a degree in Recreation Management, she completed an internship with NDEO during the summer and fall of 2019 wherein she learned the ins and outs of the organization and experienced what it is like to work at a non-profit arts administration organization. While at SUNY Brockport, she coupled her coursework with her long-standing relationship with dance, focusing on Private Sector/Studios with a special interest in Early Childhood and working with students with disabilities. Over the past four years, she taught Strike it Up Artistic Center, a dance studio in Ontario, NY where she’d been training since the age of 11, and she currently teaches in Northern Virginia and Maryland. As a dance teacher herself, she hopes to be able to use her knowledge of the field and her previous experience in customer service to serve the membership. She/Her/Hers.</p>

<p>Kaitlynn is originally from Rochester, NY. As a recent graduate from SUNY Brockport with a degree in Recreation Management, she completed an internship with NDEO during the summer and fall of 2019 wherein she learned the ins and outs of the organization and experienced what it is like to work at a non-profit arts administration organization. While at SUNY Brockport, she coupled her coursework with her long-standing relationship with dance, focusing on Private Sector/Studios with a special interest in Early Childhood and working with students with disabilities. Over the past four years, she taught Strike it Up Artistic Center, a dance studio in Ontario, NY where she’d been training since the age of 11, and she currently teaches in Northern Virginia and Maryland. As a dance teacher herself, she hopes to be able to use her knowledge of the field and her previous experience in customer service to serve the membership. <em>She/Her/Hers.</em></p>

Kara Brems, M.F.A. is Assistant Professor of Dance at Hope College. She has danced professionally with Verb Ballets Contemporary Dance Company in Cleveland, Ohio; SLATE Contemporary Dance Company in Shanghai, China; and Dance In The Annex in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Over the course of her career she has performed pieces by choreographers such as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Alwin Nikolais, and Nacho Duato. Kara’s choreography has been professionally produced and commissioned by studios for national competitions. Kara has taught master classes in contemporary dance and ballet technique both nationally and internationally and is a certified yoga and pilates instructor. Kara presented her research on dance education and pop culture at NDEO's 2018 National Conference.

<p>Karen Schupp, MFA, is the associate director of the Herberger Institute School of Music, Dance and Theatre at Arizona State University where she is also a professor of dance. Her research interests include dance competition culture, dance curriculum and pedagogy in tertiary education, and equity across the spectrum of dance education. Her books include&nbsp;<em>Studying Dance</em>&nbsp;(author),&nbsp;<em>Dance Education and Responsible Citizenship</em>&nbsp;(editor), and&nbsp;<em>Ethical Dilemmas in Dance Education</em>&nbsp;(co-editor with Doug Risner), which won both the Susan W. Stinson Book Award and NDEO&rsquo;s Ruth Lovell Murray Book Award in 2021. Professor Schupp is the Editor-in-Chief of the&nbsp;<em>Journal of Dance Education</em>. For more information, please visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.karenschupp.org/">http://www.karenschupp.org</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Karen Campbell Kuebler (EdD, MA, BFA) loves sharing her passion for Dance Education with children through adults. She teaches Dance Integration in Baltimore County Elementary Schools. Karen returned to Towson University in 2009 and specializes in Dance History, Dance Education, and Intern Supervision. In 2022, Karen was selected to serve as the graduate director of the Interdisciplinary Arts program. Karen has presented her energetic workshops with a variety of organizations in local to international venues.&nbsp; In 2018, Karen presented two interdisciplinary workshops combining French and Dance in Martinique. Karen is a founding board member of the Maryland Dance Education Association (MDEA). She served as secretary and Advocacy Chair.</p>

Kathy Diehl, MFA, MSW began her dance career as a founding member of Rochester City Ballet under the artistic direction of Timothy Draper. Kathy has performed with Bill Evans Dance Company, Present Tense Dance, Biodance, Anne Burnidge and Dancers and several freelance choreographers. She has been a guest choreographer at a variety of universities and has presented work both nationally and internationally. She is a Certified Evans Teacher (CET), Certified Laban Movement Analyst, and Registered Somatic Movement Educator. She has also competed certifications and trainings in yoga, pilates, wellness coaching and Shin Somatics. Kathy is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Colorado Mesa University.

<p>Kathryn Austin is a long-standing member of NDEO with many terms of Board service to her credit. Dr. Austin remains active in service to the organization through committee work and presentations in the areas of Early Childhood education and topics that serve those who teach in the private studio setting. In addition to her teaching and leadership in her studio for 33 years, Austin has 8 years of experience in K-12 dance and nearly 10 years in Higher Education settings.She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the BFA dance program at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Her studio, Centre for Dance &amp; the Performing Arts, located in Oakland, Florida is non-competitive dance studio offering a full dance currilcum ranging from creative process through precollegiate technical progressions and specializing in traditional Scottish Highland Dance. Dr. Austin holds a BFA in Dance from Florida State University, her MA in Dance from University of Hawaii, and a PhD in Comparative Studies of the Fine and Performing Arts from Florida Atlantic University. She serves on the Board of Directors for Dance and the Child International-USA and helped found the daCi Youth Leadership Training program in 2020. She is actively involved in ScotDanceUSA on the Professional Development and Choreography committees and is a Fellow of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing.&nbsp;</p>

Katrina Brown-Aliffi (MS, MA) is a dance educator and teacher-leader at Democracy Prep Charter High School, the flagship school of Democracy Prep Public Schools in Harlem, NY, where she founded the school’s dance program in 2017. Brown-Aliffi is now a doctoral student in Dance Education at Teachers College -- Columbia University. Research interests focus on the intersection of arts education and the charter sector and include effective context-specific pedagogical practices and student access to high-quality arts programming in public schools. Brown-Aliffi earned a B.A. in Human Development and Family Studies from Samford University in 2013, an M.S. in General/Special Ed. from Touro College in 2014, and an M.A. in Dance Education from University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2019.

<p><strong>Kelly Ferris Lester (EdD, MFA, BFA, RSMT, RYT)&nbsp;</strong>is Associate Provost for Faculty Success and Professor of Dance at the University of Southern Mississippi. She&nbsp;earned&nbsp;her BFA in theatre and dance from the University of Memphis, her MFA in choreography and performance from The College at Brockport (SUNY) and her Ed.D in higher education administration at the University of Southern Mississippi.&nbsp;Lester has been an active member of the NDEO Board of Directors since 2011 in multiple roles, including Director of Student Chapter, Policy Board Director, and Treasurer. Lester currently serves as Past-President for NDEO (2023-2024). During her presidency (2021-2022), Lester focused on the JDEI (Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) project and strategic planning for the organization.&nbsp;Lester is a co-founder of Hub Dance Collective for which she regularly performs and shares choreography. Her choreography has been featured at many national festivals including ACD A Galas (20116, 2011), and a tour of <i>The Body Politic </i>with collaborator and dancer Elizabeth Lentz-Hill (2016-2018). Lester's scholarly publications include "Somatics: A Buzz Word Defined" in JoDE, and "Environments for Self-Learning" in <i>Moving Consciously: Somatic Transformations Through Dance, Yoga, and Touch</i> (ed. Sondra Fraleigh).&nbsp;</p>

<p>Kelly Berick is a dance educator and coordinator for the Lorain City School District (OH). She directed the Akron School for the Arts dance program at Firestone High School in Akron for 26 years. She has served on Ohio&rsquo;s Fine Arts Learning Standards and Model Curriculum writing teams for the Ohio Department of Education as well as the boards of Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and OhioDance. She received the Dance Educator of the Year award from OAHPERD in 2001, Contributions to the Field of Dance Education from OhioDance in 2013, and the NDEO President&rsquo;s Award as part of the K-12 Mentoring Committee in 2021. Berick is Georgia-born, North Carolina-raised, and holds B.A. and M.Ed. degrees in Dance from Columbia College and Temple University.</p>

Kelly Ozust is an assistant professor of dance at Winthrop University where she teaches multiple genres of technique across the dance and musical theatre curriculums. She also teaches musical theatre history, and courses in dance education. She has danced with the Van Dyke Dance Group and Sarah Council Dances, and works with independent choreographers around the Southeast. She creates work for concert dance, musical theatre, opera, and film and holds an MFA from the University at North Carolina at Greensboro.

Kelly Buwalda (she/her) is a Teaching Artist/Choreographer (since 2005) at National Dance Institute (NDI). Propelled by creativity and connection, she has enjoyed teaching, performing, and collaborating in NYC for 20 years. Originally from Indiana, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance and Psychology from Hope College (Holland, MI), and a health coaching certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. With NDI, she has co-facilitated Teacher Training and was Artistic Director of the 2018 Event of the Year At the River's Edge. Currently she is a member of the DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) Committee, co-leads affinity meetings, and is the Artistic Director of 2022 Summer Institute. She is also a Teaching Artist for New York City Ballet.

Kevin McEwen (BS, MA) is the founder and artistic director of the Kofago Dance Ensemble, providing training and performance opportunities to young aspiring performing artists. His work highlights topics of social justice, cultural appropriation and ancestral memory, using dance as a creative form of expression. Kevin has presented his research at several conferences, including the Season of Dance in Barbados and the African Theater Associations Annual International Conference in Nigeria. Kevin is a Lecturer of Dance at Queensborough Community College, where he teaches African and Afro Caribbean Dance, Dance Workshop, Dance Video Choreography and Production, Dance Repertoire and Dance History. Kevin is also part of the NYU Dance Education's African Diaspora graduate program.

<p>Kiri Avelar, MFA, is a&nbsp;<em>fronteriza</em>&nbsp;artist-scholar and educator from the U.S./Mexico borderlands of El Paso, Texas/Cd. Ju&aacute;rez, Chihuahua. The movement between her cultures in the borderlands and time lived away from the area have shaped her interest in accessible, inclusive dance practices anchored in Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies, border studies, and interdisciplinary frameworks. Her teaching philosophy employs an intersection of translanguaging,&nbsp;<em>sentipensante&nbsp;</em>(sensing/thinking), and critical dance pedagogies in relationship to <em>testimonio</em>, <em>pl&aacute;tica</em>, and <em>convivencia</em>&nbsp;as critical healing agents traversing insider/outsider environments to facilitate intercultural exchange and produce the potentiality for liberatory student, teacher, administrator, familial, and community experiences.</p> <p>A former Jerome Robbins Dance Division Research Fellow for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and NYU Teaching Fellow for the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, her work engages transnational dance histories of the Latinx diaspora to provoke thought around the border(less) experiences of Latinx artists in/beyond the U.S. and challenge notions of transborder <em>latinidades</em> in historical and contemporary contexts through an in-between space of embodied research and creative practice. Her work has been published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15290824.2022.2053688?journalCode=ujod20" target="_blank">Journal of Dance Education</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eakinspress.com/danceindex/" target="_blank">Dance Index</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hispanicoutlook.com/education-magazine/june-2021-issue#undefined%2F9" target="_blank">Hispanic Outlook on Education&nbsp;Magazine</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://brill.com/view/title/63154" target="_blank">Critical Storytelling from the Borderlands,</a><em>&nbsp;Liberatory Curriculum Design in Dance Education </em>(Spring 2024),<em> </em>and&nbsp;the forthcoming anthology&nbsp;<em>&iexcl;Somos Tejanas!</em></p> <p>The founding director of La Academia de Ballet Emmanuel&mdash;a dance program she established for the Hogar de Ni&ntilde;os Emmanuel orphanage in Cd. Ju&aacute;rez, Chihuahua, Mexico, where she has worked with her family since 1999&mdash;her advocacy continues through scholarly research in collaboration with the Jos&eacute; Lim&oacute;n Dance Foundation, as a member of the Research Committee for the National Dance Education Organization, and through the co-development of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latinxdanceeducatorsalliance.com/" target="_blank">Latinx Dance Educators Alliance</a>. Her co-curated exhibition,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/jose-limon-mestizo-ambassador" target="_blank">The Mestizo as Ambassador: Jos&eacute; Lim&oacute;n and the Transculturation of American Modern Dance</a>&nbsp;for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, will open at&nbsp;<em>Centro Nacional de las Artes</em>&nbsp;in Mexico City, Mexico, in the Summer of 2023.</p> <p>Following her 11-year tenure with Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico in New York City as a teaching artist, dance faculty, choreographer, performing artist, and Deputy School Director, she is pursuing her doctoral studies as a Chancellor&rsquo;s Fellow in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California Santa Barbara.</p>

<p>Kitty Lunn began her study of ballet at an early age, and at 15 she was dancing principal roles with the New Orleans Civic Ballet, where she made her professional debut as Swanilda in &ldquo;Coppelia.&rdquo;&nbsp;Her work in New Orleans led to a scholarship to the Washington Ballet, where she studied and worked with both Mary Day and the great ballet master Edward Caton.</p><p>Numerous ballets in which she danced include &ldquo;Swan Lake,&rdquo; &ldquo;Giselle,&rdquo; &ldquo;Les Sylphides,&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Nutcracker.&rdquo;&nbsp;While in Washington, Lunn worked with such dance legends as Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille, Jos&eacute; Limon, and Erik Bruhn. While preparing for her first Broadway show, she slipped on ice, fell down a flight of stairs, and broke her back.&nbsp;Now a paraplegic using a wheelchair, Lunn works diligently on behalf of performing artists with disabilities. In 1995, she founded Infinity Dance Theater. She is a Registered Dance Educator and a frequent guest teacher at New York University.</p>

<p>Kristi Franks earned her MA in Dance Studies in May 2022 from Texas Tech University, from which she also holds a degree in Communication Studies. She is a full-time instructor of dance at Tyler Junior College in Texas. Kristi was an adjunct instructor for 2 years after undergraduate school, where she was chosen to teach at the South-Central American College Dance Festival. In Lubbock, Kristi was also a member of Flatlands Dance Theatre. Her choreography has been produced at Texas Tech University, with Flatlands Dance Theatre, at Tyler Junior College and in commercial work. Professionally, she spent 20 years in the fitness industry developing programs for children and adults and garnering 3 national awards for excellence and innovation. She was also a 2021 IADMS presenter.</p>

<p>Lakeisha Sharpley, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, is a choreographer, educator, and performer of dance for both the private and public sectors. She&#39;s a graduate of the U of Arkansas at Little Rock with a B.A. in Theater and Dance. . Currently, Lakeisha is the Lead Dance Teacher and Fine Arts Department Chair for Horace Mann Arts/Science Middle School of Little Rock, Arkansas. The curriculum for this public school dance program includes jazz, classical ballet, and contemporary forms of dance. She is also board member for the Arkansas Dance Network, NDEO South Central Region Representative and recently she is the first dance educator ever to be selected as a NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow where she will travel to Peru this summer to do a field study of global education.</p>

<p>Laura Stauderman is the K-12 Dance and Visual Arts Consultant for the NC Department of Public Instruction. She is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and graduate of the University of the Arts and Teachers College, Columbia University. Laura served as the Dance Director at HWB Magnet School for the Arts, FL., Holly Springs High School, NC, and East Millbrook Magnet Middle School, NC, where, in 2005, she implemented the first National Honor Society for Dance Arts in the state of North Carolina. Additional teaching credits include North Carolina Dance Institute, Infinity Ballet, and the former Virginia School of the Arts. Laura is the outgoing President of the North Carolina Dance Education Organization and a doctoral candidate of Drexel University&#39;s&nbsp;Educational Leadership and Management Ed.D. program with a concentration in Creativity and Innovation.</p>

<p>Laura De La Garza Noble is one of two Dance Educators for First Avenue School in Newark, NJ. Furthermore, Laura is a dance teacher for Maywood Dance Center. Laura is a graduate from the EdM in Dance Education program at Rutgers University&rsquo;s Graduate School of Education with her teaching certificate in Dance Education. In addition to her dance education tenure, Laura has created various dance education materials and participated in a wide number of education panels through different partnerships with organizations such as Dance New Jersey and the NYC Department of Education.</p>

Laurel Moore Zahrobsky is a Tennessee native who graduated from Ohio University with a BFA in dance. She went on to Chicago to dance under Michelle Kranicke of Zephyr Dance and to become a founding member of the Dance COLEctive under the direction of Margi Cole. While in Chicago, Laurel’s choreography was seen at Link’s Hall, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Athenaeum Theater. Recently her work has been presented at Barking Legs in Chattanooga, Tennessee and in Atlanta, Georgia, at Emory University. Laurel is currently in her 18th year teaching dance. She is Director of Terpsichord, the high school modern dance company in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She served as a board member of the Tennessee Association of Dance for over a decade and was awarded Outstanding Dance Educator by TAD in 2014.

Choreographer, designer, and artist-engineer: Laurel is a transdisciplinary artist making work which imagines new kinds of experience, reinterprets traditional stories, and questions fundamental assumptions. Her work includes both traditional choreography for disabled and nondisabled artists as well as novel ways of extending and creating art through technology and design. As an artist and researcher with Kinetic Light, Laurel leads research and development creating new techniques and technology for equitable aesthetic accessibility, including design and development of the company's revolutionary equitable audio description app Audimance.

<p><strong>Lauren Connolly</strong> <em>(she/her/hers)</em> is the Business Strategy Coach of Dance Ed Tips and Artistic Director of Connolly &amp; Co. She is invested in the power of movement and how it initiates physical, emotional, and intellectual transformations in time, space and energy. She believes that challenging norms is essential to unlocking the potential in human performance and self-discovery. She is passionate about creating spaces that provide psychological safety and embrace kinesthetic empathy in order to inspire the collective mindset. Throughout her career journey as a choreographer, dance educator, movement coach and HR professional, Lauren has shared this philosophy in various education and corporate settings. She has a multi-industry background, including arts administration, production management, event planning and financial services in Human Capital Management. Lauren has presented on emotional intelligence, movement leadership, holistic wellness, aesthetic development and improvisation on a national level to a wide range of audiences. She currently works as a Lead Project Manager in strategic initiatives for high performance, culture, and engagement.</p> <p>She is the recipient of the 2017/2023 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship Award, the 2017 Dance on the Lawn Emerging Commissioned Choreographer Award and the 2015/2017 Jersey (New) Moves Emerging Choreographers Fellowship. She has shown her choreography throughout New York, Boston, Philadelphia and New Jersey.</p>

Lindsay Guarino (she/her) is a jazz dance artist, educator and scholar. As Associate Professor and Chair of Music, Theatre and Dance at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI she has grown the dance program from a minor to a B.A. focused in jazz and justice. Through NDEO, she developed OPDI’s Jazz Dance Theory and Practice, and co-created and hosted two special topics jazz conferences at Salve Regina. Lindsay’s current creative and scholarly research examines and disrupts the impacts of Whiteness on jazz history, aesthetics and pedagogy. Her passion for jazz dance led her to co-edit and author multiple chapters in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches (2014) and Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century (2022).

<p>Jazz Dance Educator, Choreographer and Scholar</p>

Lisa A. Fusillo (PhD, DipRBS, RDE) trained professionally at Washington School of Ballet and in New York, London, Russia, and Denmark. She earned the Professional Diploma from the Royal Ballet School and certifications from ABT National Training Curriculum and NYCB Education Dept. She was a Fulbright Scholar (Taiwan) and was awarded four NEA grants. Her choreography has been presented in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, England, the Netherlands, Thailand, Taiwan, and at the International Ballet Competition. Publications include articles on Léonide Massine, Charles Weidman, and dance in American musical theatre. She is the founder/artistic director of Dance Repertory Project and was named Phi Kappa Phi Artist 2020-22 and University of Georgia Foundation Professor in the Arts.

Lori C. Teague, CMA, Associate Professor at Emory University. She teaches modern, improvisation, choreography, Bartenieff Fundamatals, LMA, dance pedagogy, contact improvisation, and interdisciplinary courses combining movement and math concepts. As an educator, and choreographer, Teague develops material and improvisational scores that invite play, kinesthetic listening, and choice. Her dances frame the ambiguity and embodiment of self while examining the ongoing relationship gendered bodies have with societal norms, the distinctive manner in which we survive loss, and the relationship we have to the natural world. Her on-going practice of site-specif performance is called D.I.R.T. (dance in real time). She earned an MFA from OSU; certification in Jacob's Pillow Curriculum in Motion.

Louisa Koeppel has been teaching dance at Hutchison School in Memphis TN for 16 years. She teaches JK-8th graders in the academic day, and directs the Creative Ballet Center after school program serving PK-12th graders. She received a dance performance scholarship to The Ohio State University, taught ballet and modern dance for six years at Ballet Memphis School, and was Assistant Director of the Ballet Memphis Junior Company. She has years of experience as a Wolftrap teaching artist in Memphis public schools, and has produced original dance works for 25 years. Louisa has furthered her professional development studying and performing at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy, American University, Presbyterian College, DEL, and Lincoln Center of Arts Education.

<p>Executive Director, Lucy Vurusic Riner, established RE|dance group in 2009 with her creative partner, Michael Estanich. Their creative process embodies rich emotional content and dramatic imagery through the layering of music, text and sculpture.&nbsp; Lucy is a Chicago based artist and teacher who received her BS in Dance Education from Illinois State University and her M. Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from National Louis University.&nbsp;&nbsp;Lucy has been a member of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, RTG Dance and Matthew Hollis&rsquo; &ldquo;The Power of Cheer.&rdquo; Lucy has performed with community casts for both White Oak Dance Project and David Dorfman Dance.&nbsp;&nbsp;She has been teaching in the Illinois public school system for 27 years.&nbsp;</p>

Luísa Righeto (Artistic Associate and Dancer, Infinity Dance Theater) was born in Brazil and graduated from the Martha Graham School in 2016. She has performed with Alison Cook Beatty Dance (as a guest artist), Coyote Dancers, and Ziriguidum Dance Group in New York City as well as with Dance Claudia de Souza and Caleidos Dance Co in Brazil. In 2018, she received The Notable Brazilian Award through the Brazilian Community Heritage Foundation. Luísa performed with Infinity Dance Theater on a shared program of Infinity and Alison Cook Beatty Dance at The Riverside Theatre in June 2019. She was featured in the 2020 installment of Infinity’s “Women’s Stories Project” and is a teaching associate for Infinity's weekly dance classes.

<p>Lynn completed Hartford Ballet&rsquo;s Teacher Training Certificate Program, and earned a BA in Dance at ASU. She has taught dance to all ages, and is a certified Labanotation teacher. She managed an arts-based charter school, developing curriculum, training staff, writing grants, directing school accountability, and teaching dance.</p> <p>Lynn teaches Creative Dance for Early Childhood for NDEO&rsquo;s Online Professional Development Institute. She worked on the writing team for the Arizona Dance Standards, and worked on a team to develop student assessments/SLOs for dance. Lynn worked on NDEO&rsquo;s DELTA writing team. She helped formed the Arizona Dance Education Organization, serving as Secretary, President and Executive Assistant. Lynn served as the State Affiliate representative on the NDEO board.</p>

<p>Lynnette Young Overby, a graduate of Hampton University (BS), George Washington University (MA) and The University of Maryland, College Park, (Ph.D.) &nbsp;is the University of Delaware (UD) Director of The Community Engagement Initiative and Founding Director of the Partnership for Arts &amp; Culture. She is one of the founders of&nbsp; the UD Dance Minor and is the Artistic Director of the <em>Sharing our Legacy Dance Theatre</em>.&nbsp; She also serves as a Fellow in the Arnhold Institute, Teachers College at Columbia University.&nbsp; Her publications&nbsp; are included in <em>The Journal of Dance Education</em> and <em>The Journal of Mental Imagery. </em>She is<em>&nbsp;</em> co-editor of nine volumes of <em>Dance:&nbsp; Current Selected Research</em>, and four authored or co-authored books. Leadership roles in Dance Education have included service as President of the National Dance Association, President of the Michigan Dance Council, President of the Delaware Dance Education Organization and research officer of the dance and the Child international Organization.&nbsp; Overby received the NDEO leadership award in 2004, and the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award.&nbsp; In 2020, she served on the Biden/Harris Agency Review Team in Arts and Humanities.&nbsp; Recently she was inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, and in 2021, she was appointed to serve on the National Council on the Humanities.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Madeleine Trotier is a teaching artist, choreographer, and performer specializing in arts integration and storytelling through movement. She has an extensive training and performing background in ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatic dance, and has choreographed award winning routines for dance studios, competitions and a circus school. As a choreographer, she specializes in dance works based in scientific and historical interpretation. In addition to the performing arts, she has studied dance history, oral history practices/ethics with the National Dance Education Organization and is currently part of the organization's new dance education oral history project. She holds a degree in educational studies with an emphasis in youth and adult development and arts education.

Maddie Kurtz is a dance artist and educator currently based in Tampa, FL, where she is on faculty at the University of Tampa and the Brandon/Bay Area School of Dance Arts (BSDA). Under the moniker MKrep., she continues to create works for the concert stage that contain depth, humor, and the occasional rhinestone. Maddie is also a dance competition adjudicator and her written and choreographic research sit at the intersection of American dance competitions and academia, focusing on the overlaps in training and performance practices within these divided realms of the field. She has presented at NDEO, PCA/ACA, and DSA. Maddie holds a BA in Religious Studies and Dance from Colby College and an MFA in Choreography from SUNY Brockport. For more information, please visit www.madelinekurtz.com.

<p>Madeline Jazz Harvey is a dance educator, choreographer, and performer specializing in classical and contemporary ballet. She began her performance career at age fourteen as an apprentice with Charlotte Ballet and went on to dance as a principal dancer with Hernan Justo&rsquo;s Carolina Ballet Theatre. She became a member of Judy Bejarano&rsquo;s IMPACT Dance Company in May 2020. Madeline has been teaching and choreographing since 2006 in a variety of studio and collegiate settings. Her choreography has been featured in concerts and festivals across the nation. Madeline holds a BA and Professional Training Certificate in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. Human connection and vulnerability drive her creative process.</p>

MADIA COOPER-ASHIRIFI, Liberian dance educator, West African and Social Dance performing artist, choreographer, and scholar, received a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography from The College at Brockport and a B.F.A. in Dance Education from Brenau University. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor and Chair of Dance at Brenau University. As a Liberian-American, Madia shares her culture and knowledge of West African and social dances to all ages at various venues. She is a performer of the Ghanaian dance company Mawre African Dance and Drum, which travels throughout the Southeast performing and conducting residences. Madia’s other company credits include the Bill Evans Dance Company and Sankofa African Dance Ensemble.

Maggie Church is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is majoring in Dance with a concentration in Dance Education. In the spring of 2022, she was a research scholar for the UNC Charlotte’s Office of Undergraduate Research. Maggie’s career goal is to become a dance teacher in the public school system and a dance studio in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. Something that is important to Maggie is how kids are feeling and handling life. It is important to her to know that she is not just teaching a dance lesson, but rather she is using dance as a way to connect with students and help them to develop skills that will be beneficial in their lives.

<p>Mar&iacute;a Daniel is a National Dance Foundation Partner and creator of the copyrighted Hip Hop Experience Dance Class (and Curriculum) which has been featured on CBS, NBC and in various publications. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of&nbsp;iDance&nbsp;Ministry (dba iDance Experience) which serves culturally and economically diverse dancers who seek meaningful experiences in dance and mentoring.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Mar&iacute;a Daniel advances dance&nbsp;education in public schools in New Jersey and in New York. Mar&iacute;a received 5 mayoral proclamations for her work through iDance and a 2023 Joint Resolution by the NJ Senate and Assembly (for her meritorious record of service, leadership, and commitment as a dance educator who &ldquo;leverages the creative arts to benefit those impacted by mental health issues, addiction, and &hellip; disabilities&quot;.<br /> <br /> Two notable programs that have a local, state and international impact are the Hip Hop Experience Dance Curriculum &nbsp;(HHE) and Project BrOKen.<br /> <br /> HHE&nbsp;is a copyrighted curriculum that is implemented with an SEL (social emotional learning) lens and DEIA+ focus. HHE&nbsp;teaches intergenerational Hip Hop authentically, contextually, and experientially. Our program&nbsp;promotes equitable access to dance experiences marginalized&nbsp;and diverse populations.&nbsp;Our HHE programs have&nbsp;transformed communities using culture, community-wide collaborations and connections that promote unity within the community.<br /> <br /> Project BrOKen is a climactic, transformative and evocative curation of workshops, dance performances and expressive dance art that explore mental health, addiction and neurodivergence while also depicting hope, healing and recovery. In addition to hosting Project BrOKen workshops at schools and colleges in NJ and NY, the World Congress of Dance hosted iDance and Project BrOKen in Nassau, Bahamas to work with their urban youth and young boys housed in a detention center. iDance transforms youth through our customized workshops and performances. CBS New York Anchor Cindy Hsu, featured iDance and Project BrOKen live on her &ldquo;Breaking the Stigma&rdquo; series. Project BrOKen was also featured on Eyewitness News in Nassau, Bahamas.<br /> <br /> In addition to teaching dance and providing choreography, Mar&iacute;a coordinates National Dance Week programs, hosts dance workshops, coordinates dancer retreats and hosts teacher webinars.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Mar&iacute;a&nbsp;has received a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Volunteer Service Award, a Professional Business Woman of the Year Award (NANBPWC), a Director&rsquo;s Award (from Dance the World Disney) and an Outstanding Director Award (from Dance Ministry Magazine).&nbsp;Mar&iacute;a Daniel has&nbsp;transformed communities using dance and creative arts.<br /> <br /> Notable choreography credits: Disney World, a Hip Hop Opera, the McDonald&rsquo;s Gospelfest, the Wawa Welcome America Festival, Project BrOKen, an event for New York Fashion Week, a tribute to Mahalia Jackson in Philadelphia, Hershey Park performances, live performances for the Circle of Sisters NY Gospel Showcase, National Dance Week events, Philadelphia Christian Fashion Week and an event at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Publications</strong>:<br /> <br /> 1. The Hip Hop Experience Dance Curriculum 2015-2024 *provided to certified teachers in the HHE curriculum<br /> <br /> 2.&nbsp;The Miseducation of Hip Hop Dance (National Dance Education Organization)<br /> <br /> 3.&nbsp;When Dance became my Medicine&nbsp; (National Dance Education Organization)</p> <p><br /> <strong>Panels/Features:&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>NOTE: Will be hosting a workshop fro the 2024 NDEO Conference titled: Hip Hop Experience: A Masterclass.</p> <p>1. 2023 NDEO National Conference: Hip Hop Dance: A Therapy Session Workshop<br /> <br /> 2. NDEO National Conference: Hip Hop Dance Educator Panelist (PreK to 12th grade)<br /> <br /> 3.&nbsp;Dance NJ Workshop: Culture, Community and Connections through Hip Hop Dance<br /> <br /> 4. National Dance Foundation Feature: Interview on National Dance Week events<br /> <br /> 5. Dance New Jersey Webinar: Miseducation of Hip Hop Dance</p>

<p>M. Gabriela Estrada, Ph.D.</p> <p><strong>M. Gabriela Estrada </strong>is a multicultural dance artist, educator, choreographer, journalist, and filmmaker committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.</p> <p>Dr. Estrada holds a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and a Ph.D. in Flamenco Interdisciplinary Studies from the Department of Sociocultural Anthropology and Philology at the University of Seville, Spain, and&nbsp;is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Houston. Her academic research, publications, and creative work as choreographer, screenwriter, and filmmaker, have specialized in the reciprocal influences between ballet and flamenco derived from interdisciplinary collaborations.</p> <p>Dr. Estrada serves the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) as Advisory Council Research Advisor and is engaged and Chair of NDEO&#39;s Research Committee. She is also a member of the Dance Studies Association&rsquo;s Long Nineteenth Century and the Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Dance Studies working groups, and an active participant in the Studies in Dance Seminars at Columbia University, Sundance Collab, NYWIF, and Mexico&rsquo;s association of women in film (MCYTV).</p>

Dr. Marissa Nesbit is deeply committed to the idea that all children should have the opportunity to attain an excellent dance education centered in the arts. As Assistant Professor and Dance Education Coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Nesbit supports aspiring dance educators to craft rigorous and engaging learning experiences that immerse their students in the creative process. Currently she teaches dance education methods courses, supervises student teachers, and engages in qualitative research projects that investigate aspects of dance curriculum and pedagogy in K12 contexts. Dr. Nesbit is a Language of Dance Master Practitioner and holds a PhD in Art Education from The Ohio State University and MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University.

Martha Eddy, RSMT/E, CMA,dance educator and performer, is also an exercise physiologist, author, researcher and lecturer, named First Geraldine Ferraro Fellow at Marymount Manhattan College. She created BodyMind Dancing in 1982, Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Therapy in 1990, and Moving On Center, bridging somatics with social change in Oakland CA 1994. She co-founded Moving For Life Dance-Exercise for Health in 1999 and established it as a non-profit in 2014 (www.MovingForLife.org). Dynamic Embodiment of the Sun Salutation available since Dec 2021, is full of BMC neuroendocrinology. Eddy maintains a small business that focuses on movement in PreK-12 public and independent schools. Her private clients explore their diverse learning and physical challenges (www.WellnessCKE.net).

<p>Mary Fitzgerald is a professor and the artistic director of dance at Arizona State University. Her research interests include contemporary modern dance choreography, dance filmmaking, and socially engaged arts. She was a member of Kei Takei&rsquo;s Moving Earth for nearly ten years, performing and teaching internationally. She also has danced with A Ludwig Dance Theatre, Fred Darsow Dance, and several independent choreographers in the U.S. Mary&rsquo;s creative work has received funding from such organizations as the Japan Foundation, Ministry of Culture in Mexico, and National Endowment of the Arts. Her articles and book chapter about dance and aging&nbsp;and socially engaged arts appear in Dignity in Motion: Dance Human Rights and Social Justice; Dancing Across the Lifespan: Negotiating Age, Place and Purpose;&nbsp;Journal of Dance Education; International Journal of Arts and Society;&nbsp;and Animated. (maryfitzgeralddance.com)</p>

<p>Mary Harding MAED, BA, has led the dance program at Perpich Arts High School since 1990. She was 2002 National Dance Teacher of the Year. Her research, &ldquo;Peer Coaching in the Arts Classroom&rdquo;, published in the June 2009 edition of JODE, received multiple awards. Her article, &ldquo;Assessment in the High School Technique Class - Creating Thinking Dancers&rdquo;, was published in the August 2012 edition of JODE. Harding was a member of the MN Standards writing team and the NCCAS writing team. She is the dance education specialist at the Perpich Center, supporting dance educators across Minnesota. Harding serves on the NDEO policy board. Her interests lie in K-12 dance standards, equity and access in curriculum development, and supporting emerging K-12 teachers through professional development.</p>

<p><strong>Mary Murphy </strong>earned her <em>BFA</em> in Dance with Special Studies in Ballet, K-12 Teaching Certification in Dance Education and Psychology from Western Michigan University and her <em>MAT in Dance Education </em>from Marygrove College. Mary has studied with Jurgen Schneider formerly of the American Ballet Theatre and with Alonzo King of the Alonzo King Lines Ballet. She has also studied with modern dance choreographers Erick Hawkins and Alwin Nikolais. She has choreographed over 70 musical theatre productions for grade schools, high schools, community colleges, community theatres and universities. She has served as the Director of Dance for the University Liggett Schools in Grosse Pointe, MI and as The Director of Dance for Livonia Public School&rsquo;s Creative and Performing Arts Program (CAPA) for 22 years. She has taught and created curriculum for all levels of ballet, jazz, modern dance, tap and musical theatre and has choreographed and staged numerous concert works. Mary has taught master classes in dance at Michigan State University, Henry Ford Community College, Michigan Youth Arts Festival and various private studios.&nbsp; She currently is a Lecture of Dance Education and Field Coordinator for the Dance Department at Oakland University. She is an instructor at The Dance Centre in South Lyon, MI and choreographer for The Farmington Barn Players in Farmington, MI.&nbsp; She is a member of the National Dance Education Organization, the Michigan Dance Council and the American Psychological Association. Mary serves as the MDC Dance Division and Honors Dance Ensemble Coordinator for Michigan Youth Arts Festival. She also chairs the MDC Secondary Dance Education Cohort. Mary was awarded the 2010 Michigan Dance Educator of the Year.</p>

<p>Mary Ann Brehm, PhD is a dance teaching artist/author focusing on creative somatic approaches to dance. President of Mettler Studios, she co-directs their Mettler-based Dance Teacher Trainings in Tucson and for students in Indonesia and Vietnam via Zoom. She is the author of <em>Foundations of Barbara Mettler&rsquo;s Approach to Dance: Principles and Teaching Guidelines</em> (2021); editor of <em>Barbara Mettler Teaching Dance (2016)</em>, a compilation of lessons and videos of Mettler&rsquo;s teaching; and co-author of <em>Creative Dance and Learning: Making the Kinesthetic Link.</em> (2008, 2015). &nbsp;She has taught dance courses for several universities and offers intensive workshops throughout the United States or on Zoom. Her doctoral researched focused on teaching principles of Margaret H&rsquo;Doubler.</p>

<p>M.F.A., AEA. &ndash; Experience: Eisenhower Dance Ensemble, River North Chicago Dance Company (apprentice), Pittsburgh Opera, Groundworks Dance Theatre, &ldquo;Einstein on the Beach&rdquo; (Olivier Award &ndash; Best Opera), Lucinda Childs Dance Company, among others. Dance Europe Magazine selected him as a &ldquo;Top 100 dancer in the world&rdquo; for 2010/2011 and called him &ldquo;an artist to watch&rdquo;. Pardo is a co-founder and co-director of The Blanket (theblanket.org), a dance-centric production entity. Choreographic and teaching credits include the American Dance Festival, Point Park University, Shenandoah University, Elon University, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, among others. Scholarly research includes work in the Journal of Dance Education. Pardo is an assistant professor at James Madison University (matt-pardo.com)</p>

Matthew Henley, PhD, MFA is Associate Professor of Dance Education and Affiliated Researcher in the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Henley’s research describes the cognitive and social-emotional skills associated with dance education. Henley's interests include enactive cognition in the arts, developmental and neuroscientific approaches to embodied knowing, research methods for pedagogy, and the pedagogy of research methods. Henley danced professionally in New York City with Sean Curran Company and Randy James Dance Works. Henley earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology: Learning Sciences from the University of Washington, and M.F.A. in Dance from the same institution. He is an Associate Editor of JoDE.

<p>Meg Brooker, Professor and Director of The School of Performing and Visual Arts at The University of Southern Mississippi, stages and performs Isadora Duncan repertory and creates new choreography informed by early modern dance practices. Meg has presented scholarship for Dance Studies Association, Society of Dance History Scholars, Congress on Research in Dance, National Dance Education Organization, and Women in Dance Leadership. A former member of Lori Belilove &amp; Company, Meg earned an Advanced Studies Certificate from the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation, is a founder of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium, and directs Duncan Dance South. In 2016, she received an NEH Preservation Assistance grant for her work with Noyes School of Rhythm Archive. Her current scholarship frames Noyes Rhythm as an early 20th century somatic practice and her performance work explores improvisational structures within early modern dance practice with live music. Meg is also a certified teacher of Noyes Rhythm and Zena Rommett Floor-Barre&reg; technique.</p>

<p>MEGHAN MCLYMAN (MA, MFA) is a professor of dance at Salem State University. The University recognized her passion for teaching with the 2017 Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2018, she received the Arts Learning Distinguished Teaching and Arts Advocacy Award. She is also a recipient of a 2020 Whiting Fellowship. Meghan, along with Kristen Duffy Young, are the co-directors of Accumulation Dance, and were 2019 Next Steps artists under The Boston Foundation. She holds degrees from Point Park University, American University, and Hollins University, is a Moving For Life Certified Teacher under Martha Eddy, and a Certified Evans Teacher under Bill Evans. She also serves on the board of the Massachusetts Dance Education Organization.</p>

Melanie Aceto is a dancer, choreographer and educator whose creative interests are in interdisciplinary solo and large group works. Melanie’s choreography has been performed internationally in Toronto, Guatemala City, and Bogotá, nationally at Jacob’s Pillow and at venues in Philadelphia, North Carolina, Atlanta, Virginia, and in NYC at The Kitchen, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Ailey CitigroupTheater, The Duplex Cabaret and John Ryan Theater, among others. Melanie’s research interests include investigating models for teaching dance composition and modern technique. Her work has been published in JODE and Dance Education in Practice. Melanie is an associate professor at the University at Buffalo where she continues her work on Choreographic Lineage http://choreographiclineage.buffalo.edu/

<p>Dr. Meredith Sims is Associate Professor of Dance and Dance Program Coordinator at Coker University in Hartsville, South Carolina. She earned a BA in Dance with a concentration in jazz dance from the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. She earned her MS and PhD in Dance Education through the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Sims is a K-12 certified Dance Teacher and served on the writing team for the 2017 SC Visual and Performing Arts Academic Dance Standards. She is the recipient of the 2017 South Carolina Dance Association&rsquo;s Advocacy Award and the 2018 Palmetto State Arts Education&rsquo;s Ray Doughty Arts Integration Award for her continued dedication to dance education access in all of the state.</p>

Michael Estanich, MFA, BFA is the Artistic Director of RE|dance group and the Chair of the Department of Theatre at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. As a Professor of Dance, he teaches modern dance, improvisation, composition, and movement analysis. Michael’s performance credits include Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, Cerulean Dance Theatre, Rebecca Rosen, Melanie Bales, Bebe Miller, a reconstruction of Mark Morris’ acclaimed choreography All Fours, and Susan Marshall’s seminal duet, Arms. His own work has been presented across the United States, including New York City, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and all throughout the Midwest. He is a graduate of both Denison and The Ohio State Universities.

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Originally from Houston, TX, <a href="https://www.michellemanzanales.com/">Michelle Manzanales</a> is a choreographer, dedicated dance educator of over 30 years, and co-founder of the <a href="https://www.latinxdanceeducatorsalliance.com/">Latinx Dance Educators Alliance</a>. The Director of New York City&rsquo;s Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico School of Dance since December of 2016, Michelle previously led the organization&rsquo;s professional company as Rehearsal Director &amp; Artistic Associate for seven seasons. Ms. Manzanales performed with Luna Negra Dance Theater of Chicago, IL, later transitioning to artistic leadership as Rehearsal Director and ultimately serving as Artistic Director prior to moving to New York City in 2010.&nbsp;</p><p>A member of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, <a href="https://linktr.ee/mmanzanales">Michelle</a> has served on the National Association of Schools of Dance&rsquo;s (NASD) Committee on Ethics, juror for the Nebraska Arts Council - Individual Artist Fellowships, a panelist for Dance/NYC&#39;s <em>#ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers</em> Facebook Live Series: Arts Educators Leading the Charge, adjudicator for the Independent Study in Choreography Showing for Ailey&rsquo;s BFA program, and was honored to be part of a round table planning dialogue supporting Carnegie Hall&rsquo;s education project <em>All Together: A Global Ode to Joy</em>.&nbsp;Ms. Manzanales is currently on the selection panel for 92Y&rsquo;s Future Dance Festival for emerging choreographers and was a past panelist for Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico&rsquo;s <em>Instituto Coreogr&aacute;fico</em> and the Houston Arts Alliance grants program.</p><p>Her current choreography commissions set to premiere in Spring 2022 include new works for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Oregon Ballet Theater, and Montclair State University. Manzanales&rsquo; choreography for Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico, <a href="https://www.ballethispanico.org/company/performances/repertory/Con-Brazos-Abiertos-2017.html"><em>Con Brazos Abiertos</em></a>, described as a &ldquo;savvy but deeply sincere meditation on her Mexican American background&rdquo; (-Marina Harss, New York Times) and &ldquo;an exceptional, heart-tugging beauty&rdquo; (LA Times), premiered in 2017, and has since toured worldwide to critical acclaim including its feature at New York City Center&rsquo;s 2018 Fall for Dance Festival. <em>CautivadX</em>, a screendance she choreographed, edited, and directed for <em>Noche Unidos, A Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico Night of Dance and Unity</em> was presented in June 2020. <em>If by Chance...</em> which &ldquo;unspooled dreamily atop and between the tables&rdquo; (-Courtney Escoyne, Dance Magazine) of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 75th Anniversary Gala was created in December 2019.&nbsp;</p><p>Other acclaimed works by Manzanales include her 2010 homage to Frida Kahlo, <em>Paloma Querida</em>, which was hailed a &quot;visual masterpiece&quot; by Lucia Mauro of the Chicago Tribune and was described by the Chicago Sun-Times as a &ldquo;gorgeously designed, richly hallucinatory, multi-faceted vision of the artist.&rdquo; Her 2007 choreography for Luna Negra Dance Theater, entitled <em>Sugar in the Raw</em> <em>(Azucar Cruda)</em>, was applauded by the Chicago Sun-Times as &quot;a staggering, beautiful, accomplished new work.&quot; Five of her works have been recognized by the American College Dance Festival, of which two were presented at the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), for their National Gala; <em>Pour Me Out </em>in 2006 and <em>The Letting Go</em> in 2008. Manzanales&rsquo; choreography has also been presented by Texas Contemporary Weekend (Houston, TX), Spring to Dance (St. Louis, MO), Festival de Danza C&oacute;rdoba (Veracruz, Mexico), Capital Fringe Festival (Washington D.C), and Fort Worth Dance Festival (Fort Worth, TX).</p><p>As a dance educator, Manzanales is committed to promoting a learning space centering Chicana/Latina Feminist theories, methodologies, and pedagogies of <em>testimonio</em>, <em>pl&aacute;tica</em>, and <em>convivencia</em>. Conferences she has presented at include the New York State Dance Educators Association, ARTs + Change, and the National Dance Education Organization. In April 2022, she is thrilled to announce she will be co-presenting with fellow LXDEA members at <em>Decolonizing tertiary dance education: Time to act</em>.&nbsp;</p><p>Michelle is committed to creating a classroom environment where all students are inspired to explore movement, feel supported in their individual dance journeys, and draw meaningful connections between dance and their lives. A current faculty member of the Ballet Hisp&aacute;nico School of Dance, she has also served on the faculties of the University of Houston, Rice University, Lou Conte Dance Studio (former Home of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago), and the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center.&nbsp;</p><p>She has been a guest artist for the Professional Work Sessions at STEPS on Broadway, the Joyce Master Class Series at Gibney, the Taylor School, New Orleans Ballet Association, the Puerto Rico Classical Dance Competition, Generation Dance Festival Houston, Artisan Ballet Company, Regional Dance America, Festival de Danza Cordoba-Youth America Grand Prix, Houston&rsquo;s Kinder High School for the Performing &amp; Visual Arts, along with numerous other dance studios, schools, and college dance programs nationwide and internationally.</p>

<p>Michelle Isaac was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA in Dance from LIU Post with Honors Recognition in 2015, and later continued her graduate studies through the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College. In 2019, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with her MA in Dance Ed and K-12 NY State Professional Certification. She is one of the Co-Founders of a Brooklyn based dance company called, Ntrinsik Movement and functions as the Artistic Director. With Ntrinsik, she has choreographed several works, taught workshops through the company&rsquo;s Residency Program, Pre-Professional Program and Dance Studio, and has performed in various theaters in and outside of NYC. Michelle is currently in her 7th year of education, and teaches dance full time for Uncommon Schools.</p>

Dr. Mila Parrish, Professor and Director of Dance Education at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She is internationally recognized for her work in dance pedagogy and educational technology. Mila has led over 100 professional development courses, seminars, and workshops worldwide. She has established numerous long-standing service and community engagement initiatives, including the Dancers Connect community dance program and dance pedagogy laboratory. Dr. Parrish is the founding President of NCDEO, the 2011 recipient of the SCDA Dance Advocacy Award, the 2012 Faculty Advisor Award, the 2015 Leadership Award from NDEO, and the 2016 Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award for her research in service-learning and community partnerships.

Milka Trajkova is a Research Scientist at Georgia Tech working in the Expressive Machinery Lab with Dr. Brian Magerko. Milka recently completed her PhD in Informatics at Indiana University with a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction and a minor in Learning Science. Being a professional ballet dancer with the Macedonian Opera and Ballet and a human-centered AI researcher opened the window into a unique perspective on the intersection of movement and computing. Dr. Trajkova’s research explores the way we can design non-invasive AI-based tools to optimize human movement performance towards the democratization of knowledge and learning.

<p>MIRIAM GIGUERE holds a BA in psychology and MS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in dance from Temple University. Dr. Giguere heads the Performing Arts Department at Drexel University. Her work on cognition and social interaction during the creative process in dance has been published in Arts Education Policy Review, Journal of Dance Education, Arts &amp; Learning Journal, Research in Dance Education and the International Journal of Education and the Arts, among others. She is the associate editor of Dance Education in Practice, where she writes the Dance Trends column. Dr. Giguere is the President of the Pennsylvania Dance Education Organization and the author of the textbook Beginning Modern Dance.</p>

<p>Molly Howel (MSc Dance Science and Education, Dance Education BFA) is the Director of Dance at Grayson High School in Loganville, GA. She has been teaching in Metro-Atlanta Dance Studios for 10 years and in public school for 5 years. Molly is a founding member of DEGAS (Dance Educators of GA Society) the Georgia NDEO State Affiliate. She has acted as the Secretary (2018-2020) and President (2020-2022).</p>

<p><strong>E. MONCELL DURDEN </strong>is a dance educator, choreographer, ethnographer, embodied historian, author and associate professor of practice at University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman International School of Dance who specializes in pedagogical practices that prove cultural and historical context in what he calls the morphology of Afro-kinetic memory. A highly sought-after instructor, Durden teaches practical and theoretical classes in the U.S. and abroad; an expert in locking, house, hip-hop, authentic jazz, and party dances from 1900 to the present. He has published articles in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches and the Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America, Rooted Jazz Dance, and the Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance.</p>

<p>Monica Sauer Anthony, Dean of Arts at Arizona School for the Arts (ASA), received a Masters of Music in Flute Performance from Arizona State University in 2007 and has been active in arts education since 2003. Growing&nbsp; up as a classical ballet dancer, Monica has emphasized the symbiotic nature of dance and music through her work with students. Through a close partnership between ASA and the School of Ballet Arizona, Monica has coached dance instructors on integrating and&nbsp; applying the National Arts Standards and Social Emotional Learning Competencies. In addition, she has established a program for young music composition students collaborating with young dance choreographers. She has presented at the National Flute Association Conference, National Horn Symposium, and ESSA Conference.</p>

<p>Nancy Ng is the Executive Director of Creativity &amp; Policy, and Director of Early Education at Luna Dance Institute in Berkeley, California. She is on the Professional Learning faculty at Luna where she facilitates professional development workshops; and mentors and coaches teaching artists, teachers, and social service workers committed to dance education as a way to strengthen communities. As the former co-director and choreographer of San Francisco&rsquo;s Asian American Dance Performances she directed outreach programs, and choreographed dances which delved into Asian female stereotypes, immigration and racism. Ng is co-founder of MPACT (Moving Parents and Children Together), Luna&rsquo;s nationally-recognized program for families in the child welfare system.&nbsp; Ng helped author California&rsquo;s Visual and Performing Arts Pre-School Learning Foundation&rsquo;s, and in 2017-18 served on the state department of education&rsquo;s advisory committees to revise the TK-12 California Arts Standards and Frameworks. &nbsp;Ng&rsquo;s leadership service includes California Dance Education Association&rsquo;s past president, editorial review board member for National Dance Education Organization&rsquo;s journal, <em>Dance Education in Practice; </em>and committee member on NDEO&rsquo;s <em>Justice Equity Diversity &amp; Inclusion</em> project<em>. </em>She is a 2016 Milestone leadership award recipient from the National Guild of Community Arts Education, and currently serves on the Guild&rsquo;s board of trustees as the co-chair of their Racial Equity committee.</p>

Natasha Tyler is originally from Brooklyn, New York and currently teaches middle school dance in Anne Arundel County Public Schools. She graduated from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and received her BA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College, as well as her MA in Special Education from Brooklyn College City University of New York. She was a member of Dallas Black Dance II and Joyemovement Dance Company and has worked with several choreographers including Ronald K. Brown. Natasha has taught dance for over ten years within the New York City and North Carolina Public School Systems. She will complete her School Improvement Leadership Professional Development Certificate with Administrator 1 Certification from Goucher College in the spring of 2022.

Nicole Flinn, M.A. is an Associate Professor of Dance at Hope College. She specializes in dance pedagogy, curriculum development, arts integration, assessment, and advocacy. She developed a K-12 dance program and worked as a public-school teacher for 15 years. Nicole is the director of StrikeTime Dance Theatre, a pre-professional student company that promotes dance outreach for children, engaging over 10,000 youth each year. She serves on the NDEO Membership Engagement Advisory Committee and is a member of the board for several organizations including Dance for the International Child (DaCi) USA, SHAPE Michigan, and Michigan Dance Council. Nicole was a leading member in the dance portion of Michigan’s Arts Education Instruction and Assessment Project.

Nicole Martinell is a choreographer, educator, and artistic director of Deep Vision Dance Company. Revealing the complexity of humankind, her choreography features collaborations with movers, artists, scientists, and religious scholars. Her outreach projects include Learning Physics through Movement and the AKIMBO Dance Festival. Her dance science and somatics research has been presented at numerous conferences and published in the Journal of Dance Education. Martinell was a recipient of the Maryland Baker Artist Awards and the Maryland Dance Education Association’s Dance Educator of the Year Award. She received an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and is certified in Alexander Technique and Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies. Martinell is on faculty at Towson University.

<p>Noor Tasnim graduated from Duke University in 2018 with dual-honors in Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health. At Duke, he was a visual arts instructor for Arts for Life North Carolina and member of a hip-hop inspired collegiate dance team. His involvement in dance helped shape an interest in barefoot locomotion and lower limb injuries. In 2017, he examined differences in foot shape between men and women in Mandena, Madagascar and showed that orthopedic problems, already well documented in the West, were a global phenomenon reaching even remote agrarian communities. In 2020, he was selected as a Luce Scholar and spent a year studying human biomechanics at Ewha Womans University (South Korea) and The University of Tokyo (Japan). He also spent this time training in various styles of dance, specializing in Popping and Animation. As a member of the Embodied Brain Lab at Virginia Tech (PI: Dr. Julia Basso), he connects his research interests in human biomechanics, cognition, and neurophysiology with his passion for dance to improve socio-emotional and musculoskeletal health.</p>

Paige Cunningham-Caldarella is an Associate Professor in Dance at Columbia College Chicago teaching modern, ballet, dance pedagogy and performance-based courses. She performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, The Seldoms, and in works by Linda Lehovec, Darrell Jones, Sara Hook, Cynthia Oliver, Timothy Buckley, and Onye Ozuzu, among others. Her commitment to innovative and inclusive ballet and contemporary dance pedagogy was acknowledged with a 2015 Teaching Excellence award. For the last eight years, she has worked with colleague Emily Stein on BalletLab Chicago, a repository for their ongoing research around contemporary ballet practice and the ballet training experience. She holds a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

<p>Pat Taylor is the artistic director/choreographer of Los Angeles-based Jazz Antiqua Dance &amp; Music Ensemble, founded in 1993 to celebrate jazz as a vital thread in the cultural fabric of African American history and heritage, and a defining element of the American experience. She holds an MFA in interdisciplinary arts (with a jazz aesthetics emphasis) from Goddard College, and is a frequent artist in residence across the United States and internationally.</p>

Patricia Cohen, MA, adjunct faculty in NYU/Steinhardt's dance education program, developed a jazz dance course centered in cultural context. Courses for NDEO's OPDI include Dance History: Global, Cultural and Historical Considerations, and mini courses. She presents regularly at NDEO, daCi, and internationally. Cohen contributed two chapters to Jazz Dance: A History of Roots and Branches, edited by Guarino and Oliver, in addition to a chapter in the recent Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century. She co-created NDEO’s 2016 and 2019 special topics Jazz Dance conferences, and contributed to and serves on the editorial board of NDEO’s DEiP journal. She served on the NDEO Board and received the 2011 NDEO Leadership Award.

<p><strong>Patricia Cohen</strong>, MA, RDE, a Master Registered Dance Educator, is on faculty of the Dance Education Program at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, where she is the Academic Adviser for the ABT/NYU Masters Degree program with a focus in ABT Ballet Pedagogy. She created the syllabus for, and teaches History, Culture & Pedagogy of Jazz Dance, a jazz dance course that is contextualized in history and culture. Arts Resources for Dance Education orients students to major artistic, research and education venues in New York City. In addition, she teaches a broad spectrum of undergraduate dance courses at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. Her Masters degree in Dance Education is from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she taught modern and jazz dance. Professor Cohen’s research on dance issues in the private sector and higher education has been published in the <em>Journal of Dance Education,</em> the peer review journal of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). She has presented workshops and papers at several NDEO conferences, at Dance and the Child International (daCi) conferences in The Hague and Taiwan, and at daCi USA gatherings.</p> <p>A founding member of the National Dance Education Organization, Cohen has served as Director for Awards and Student Scholarship, and is currently NDEO’s Treasurer. She is also Immediate Past President of NYSDEA, the New York State affiliate of NDEO. She was the site coordinator for NDEO’s 2009 Annual Conference in New York City, and coordinates NYSDEA’s annual workshops, which are hosted by the NYU/Steinhardt dance education program. She is the 2011 recipient of the National Dance Education Organization’s prestigious Leadership Award.</p> <p>Professor Cohen is active in several dance organizations, including UNITY Inc., an organization comprised of multi-sector member organizations, which provides a forum for open dialogue among dance educators and dance-related groups.</p>

Patricia Collins is an early childhood educator and certified Noyes Rhythm teacher. As a classroom teacher at the Concord Children’s Center, Patricia creates curriculum, integrates movement across learning domains, and leads “Changing Seasons” intergenerational movement workshops. Patricia has presented in Early Education programs at colleges including Mount Wachusett College and Becker College. Patricia served as the Co-Director of the Noyes Boston School, hosting classes at the Umbrella for the Arts, and as Director of Sacred Dance at the Hancock Church in Lexington, MA. Patricia worked with the Concord Umbrella’s Musketaquid arts and environment program, creating outdoor, site-specific nature-based dance performance. Patricia holds a BA in the Performing Arts from Hampshire College.

Passion creates unity and unity creates the kingdom of God! Dance and Jesus, my biggest passions! I've danced all my life, since the age of 3. But it wasn't until 2007 when I felt called to serve Jesus, by using dance as a tool to bring others closer to him. I have an A.A in Liberal Arts and have studied dance at various colleges. The biggest accomplishment within the dance industry of which I am proud of is owning and directing my dance studio of 13 years strong now. My dance studio services local schools with our dance outreach program and am proud to say we currently service 5 schools. With my experience, knowledge, passion, and desire I have to make a difference in the world with dance is my ultimate goal and offering to world! As well as is, the reason I love being a dance educator!

Paula J. Peters (MFA) is an Assistant Professor of Dance and the Dance Program Coordinator at SUNY Fredonia. Prior to her time at Fredonia, she served on faculty at multiple university and preparatory dance programs throughout Seattle. Her choreography has been presented nationally and internationally, she has presented research at multiple national dance conferences, and most recently was awarded the 2021 NYSDEA Outstanding Researcher Award. Her scholarship has been published in Journal of Dance Education in Practice and most recently in the textbook Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century. Prior to academia, she was a principal member Spectrum Dance Theater for 14 years, performing and restaging works by choreographers of national prominence.

<p><strong>Rachel Swenson</strong>&nbsp;is the artistic director and dance teacher at Idaho Fine Arts Academy. She holds a K-8 all content teacher credential, 6-12 Visual Arts teacher credential, and a Humanities Endorsement. She is the founding President and current Idaho Dance Education Organization board member and past Northwest Region Representative for NDEO. Swenson was a contributing committee member for the NDEO &quot;Priorities Pamphlet.&quot; She has served on multiple arts committees for the State Board of Education and school districts. She is the co-director/co-founder of the Idaho Screendance Festival. Swenson earned a B.F.A. in Modern Dance and an M.Ed. in Education from the University of Utah. Swenson is a Dance Education doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, NYC, NY.</p>

<p><strong>Rachel DeForrest Repinz, MFA </strong>is a visually disabled multidisciplinary artist-scholar based in Philadelphia and NYC. She received a BA and MFA in Dance from SUNY Buffalo State University and Temple University, respectively. Rachel is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Dance at Texas Woman&rsquo;s University with a focus on the disability aesthetic and its applications in the choreographic practices of contemporary dance making. Most recently, Rachel was elected to the NDEO board as the Advisor of Dance and Disabilities for the 2023-2026 term.<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Additionally, Rachel is working as a full-time administrator in the CUNY Hunter College Dance Department, as a Dance Expert for a new research project led by Meta (formally Facebook Inc.), as a Staff Writer for thINKingDANCE, and as an adjunct professor at Temple University. Rachel also founded and artistically directs RACHEL:dancers, a multi-medium, multi-modal, dance performance company, as well as co-directs a collaborative performance art project, Bashi Arts, with Enya-Kalia Jordan. Rachel has presented her work internationally at venues including the Off-Broadway Kraine Theater, Movement Research, the Decolonizing Bodies: Engaging Performance conference at UWI Barbados, the NDEO national conferences (2018, 2019, 2022), DaCi&rsquo;s 2020 special performance series and 2023 National Gathering, the Institute of Dance Artistry, Philadelphia Youth Dance Festival, and more. She has had the honor of working with esteemed choreographers including Sidra Bell, Abdur-Rahim Jackson, Wayne St. David, Dr. S. Ama Wray, Meri&agrave;n Soto, Awilda Sterling-Duprey, Carlos R.A. Jones, and as a principal dancer for Enya Kalia Creations, among others. She has been commissioned to create works for the UN&rsquo;s World Water Day, the Utah All-State Dance Ensemble, Manhattan High School of the Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State at Abington, the Buffalo State Dance Theater Company, Lawrence Public Schools, and more. For more information on her creative work, find her at racheldeforrestrepinz.com&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Rachel is a dancer, teacher, mover and shaker currently based in Blacksburg, VA. Her choreographic work has been featured at the Seattle International Dance Festival, Movement Research (NYC), and the Washington, D.C. Capital Fringe Festival. She is also a founding member of <a href="http://www.mountainempiredance.com " target="_blank"><strong><em>Mountain Empire Performance Collective</em></strong></a>, a long-distance dance collective dedicated to alternative processes of making work while separated by both time and space. She has presented her choreographic and pedagogical research at a variety of national performing arts conferences including the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in America (SEAMUS), the Virginia Tech Gender, Bodies and Technology Conference (GBT), and the American College Dance Association (ACDA).</p> <p>A joyful and enthusiastic movement educator, Rachel has over ten years of experience teaching creative dan ce t o all ages and stages of movers. She is an adjunct faculty member at Radford University and Virginia Tech, as well as a faculty fellow at the <a href="https://communicatingscience.isce.vt.edu/"><strong><em>VT Center for Communicating Science</em></strong></a>. In 2017/18, she was recipient of the 2017/2018 Dr. Robert L.A. Keeley Healing Arts Residency at the Carilion NRV Hospital, where she provided therapeutic movement experiences for patients, staff and visitors. Her current research focuses on connections between the brain and body through her work as a Teaching and Research Artist at the <a href="https://vtx.vt.edu/videos/k/2021/12/1_btbmt3t8.html?fbclid=IwAR0tcFf5k1uQ7tdR4CMYvH4xc95HSkTj-BL8DhF-NwtBbxh-KV9IubIppM4&amp;utm_campaign=vtUnirelNewsDailyCMP_121721-fs&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=cmpgn_news" target="_blank"><strong><em>Virginia Tech Embodied Brain Laboratory</em></strong></a>. She directs the summer residential dance program at the Virginia Governor&#39;s Sc h ool f or Humanities and Visual and Performing Arts, and in her *spare* time, she is the founder and director of <a href="http://www.blacksburgdancetheater.com"><strong><em>Blacksburg Dance Theater</em></strong></a>, a dance studio that offers affordable, accessible creative dance training for all ages. She holds a BA in dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Keep in touch: <a href="http://www.rachelrughdance.org"><strong><em>www.rachelrughdance.org</em></strong></a><em>.</em></p>

<p>Georgia Certified educator, Atlanta native, graduate of North Atlanta School of the Arts and BA (Drama and Dance) recipient from Spelman College. &nbsp; A professional dancer and choreographer, with a career centered in commercial dance. &nbsp;Having performed and choreographed for: NBA/WNBA teams, major pop and hip-hop artists, Awards shows and Concerts worldwide. &nbsp;Trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, African, Hip-Hop and Modern; teaching dance for over 25 years to dancers of all ages. &nbsp;Certified in Ballet and Jazz through Dance Educators of America and Board Member of the National HBCU Auxiliary Directors and Coaches. &nbsp;Currently leading Westlake High School Performing Arts department as chair (2008)&nbsp;and Serving as Head Coach of Morehouse College&#39;s dance team since 2013. Member of NDEO since 2017</p>

<p><strong>Ramya S. Kapadia</strong>&nbsp;is a Knoxville-based&nbsp;Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor &amp; a Carnatic vocalist (restructured/recast South Indian dance &amp; music). Ramya has Master&rsquo;s degrees in Medical Physics and Neuroscience and pursues the arts full time now.Through her school , the&nbsp; Natyarpana School of Dance &amp; Music and her affiliations as a Teaching Artist with the Durham &amp; United Arts Councils and Arts Access, NC and the Tennessee Arts Commission, TN, she shares her practice &amp; discovery with the community through performance and education.<br /> She received the Ella Pratt Emerging Artist Award from the Durham Arts Council in 2010, the Choreography Fellowship from the North Carolina Dance Alliance in 2016 and an Artist Support Grant from the NC Arts Council in 2020. She has served on the Advisory Committee of the &ldquo;Dance at the Van Dyke&rdquo; series at Greensboro Dance Project and grant panels for the Durham Arts Coun cil and the Tennessee Arts Commission.&nbsp;<br /> She is continuing to study Sanskrit, the Natyashastra &amp; the Nyashastra under Kalamandalam Dr. Piyal Bhattacharya, one of the foremost scholars in Oriental research in India. Ramya believes that art can and should tell stories that move audiences to becoming better and more compassionate human beings.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Becky Dyer (PhD, MFA) is an associate professor at Arizona State University, where she teaches somatic movement education and dance teaching praxis courses. She is a certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, Dynamic Embodiment (somatics) Practitioner, and an ISMETA Registered Somatic Movement Therapist. Becky serves as the graduate coordinator for dance and heads the undergraduate and graduate dance certification programs. She has published articles and book chapters focused on somatic practices and dance teaching practices.</p>

<p>Rebecca Bryant (MFA) is a dancemaker known for her &ldquo;wonderful insistence on making art about complex ideas&rdquo; (SanDiego.com). She combines movement, text, video, and objects to address contemporary phenomenon, employing improvisational states and interdisciplinary collaboration. Bryant has shown work in 26 US states and 14 countries. She worked extensively with Lower Left Performance Collective for 13 years and has collaborated with over two-hundred visual and performing artists. An associate professor at California State University Long Beach specializing in improvisation, composition, and somatic approaches, Bryant has taught movement workshops in NYC, LA, Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin, Cluj-Napoca, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Bogota, San Salvador, and at numerous US universities.</p>

Rebecca Salzer, Associate Professor of Dance at The University of Alabama, is an intermedia dance artist and educator. Her work for the stage has been seen in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, where she directed Rebecca Salzer Dance Theater for a decade. Her award-winning films and videos have been programmed in national and international venues and on public affiliate television stations KQED, KPBS, and WTTW. Salzer holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. in from the University of California, San Diego, where she was a Jacob K. Javits Fellow. She also serves as Project Director for the NEH-supported Dancing Digital Project (dancingdigital.org), which works toward creating and facilitating more accessible, equitable, and forward-thinking dance resources online.

Bekki Price (MFA) is the Director of Dance at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ. Price received her MFA in Dance from Arizona State University in 2011. Her thesis research focused on implementing somatic practices into the choreographic process. She graduated from Slippery Rock University with a B.A in Dance in 2004. Price has taught at Grand Canyon University, Arizona State University, and Glendale Community College. Her work requires performers demonstrate a wide range of feelings, emotions, and kinesthetic dynamics through a somatic focus. She is currently the higher education representative on the AzDEO board.

<p>Rebecca McGregor has a Secondary License in Dance, a BS in Exercise Science, and a Masters in Education.&nbsp; In 2003, she developed the dance program at Lyndon Institute and founded the annual Vermont State Dance Festival.&nbsp; She helps the VT Agency of Education develop and rewrite VT dance standards and licensing requirements, assessment tools in dance education, and advocate for arts education.&nbsp; Rebecca is also Fine/Performing Arts Chair and the Mentor Program Chair at Lyndon Institute.</p> <p>Rebecca is a member of SHAPE and the NDEO.&nbsp; She was a mentor through the NDEO&#39;s&nbsp;pilot mentoring program and now is a member of the NDEO Mentoring Committee.&nbsp;&nbsp;She also has given presentations for Northeastern University&rsquo;s NExT Professional Learning Conversations and been chosen as an adjudicator for the NDEO&rsquo;s National Honor Society for Dance Arts Award.</p> <p>Rebecca has received awards like Johnson State College Rising Star/Young Alumni Award, Youth Impact Award, VAHPERD&#39;s Dance Educator of the Year Award, and David Dwyer Lyndon Institute Teacher of the Year Award.&nbsp; In 2020, Rebecca also was awarded a Presidential Award from the National Dance Education Organization for her service to the Mentorship Committee and work creating and pursuing a vision for dance education in our country.&nbsp; In 2021, she was accepted into the Vermont Leadership Institute for the 2021-2022 year and was awarded the NDEO&#39;s Outstanding Leadership in K12 Education Award in 2022.</p> <p>Her mission in her work is to create opportunities to honor self and others and build integrity through courageous moments.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Rebecca Lewis has been an adjunct faculty in the Department of Dance at Brigham Young University since 2007. She is deeply interested in advocating mindfulness and well-being via movement and the arts to the everyman. She completed a BA in Dance Education (01) and an Art Ed MA at Brigham Young University (20) with a thesis centered on mindfulness curriculum. Rebecca’s work has been published in the British Journal of Education and in the book Walking with A/r/tography. She teaches an introduction to dance GE course and contemporary technique in which her students implement aspects of self-inquiry and character development. Rebecca’s faculty works encompass culture and the arts while her academic work integrates positive psychology, organizational behavior, and holistic education.

<p>Renay Aumiller is an Associate Professor of Dance at Elon University and is an RYT-200 Yoga Teacher. She has presented her choreography at festivals across the United States, Sweden, United Kingdom, Canada, Pakistan, Serbia, Taiwan, and Italy. Her research in teaching pedagogy has been presented at the National Dance Educators Organization conferences, Somatic Dance Educators Conference, the NC Dance Educators Organization conferences, the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast American College Dance Association Conferences, and Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China. Aumiller&rsquo;s education includes earning an MFA in Choreography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA in Dance Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.</p>

<p><strong>????I don&#39;t recall a moment in my life when I wasn&#39;t dancing.&nbsp; My mother, Donna Foote, was a well known dance instructor in NNY.&nbsp; I studied with Donna Foote School of Dance until my graduation from high school.&nbsp; As part of that studio, I won local, state and regional titles and was a studio demonstrator and assistant instructor.&nbsp; I was named Miss Lewis County and won Most Talented honors in the Miss New York State Pageant.&nbsp; I was also a winner in the New York State Talent Hunt Finals.</strong></p><p><strong>At Hartwick College, I studied under Janet Bresee and was the President and student choreographer of the College dance company, Orchesis.&nbsp; After graduating Magna Cum Laude, I soon returned to NNY to open my dance studio in 1987. We continue to embrace the values instilled in my dance training by Donna Foote and Janet Bresee.&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>As a dancer, I studied via workshops and classes with such well known dance masters as Patrick Swayze, Frank Hatchett, Luigi, Gus Giordano, Roni Mahler and&nbsp; Savion Glover. A personal highlight of my dance life is when I took the train into NYC to take class at STEPS and discovered that Mikhail Baryshnikov was taking class right in front of me.&nbsp; Needless to say, I didn&#39;t do well in class as I was mesmerized by his presence!&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>?The studio and myself, as Director, have won numerous awards for community service and outreach, including the 2007 Children&#39;s Miracle Network Community Builder award, 2008 Family Fun National Magazine Outreach Award, 2012&nbsp; Community Change Award and 2014 DBA Community Service Award.&nbsp; &nbsp; I was honored to be named a 2017 New York State Woman of Distinction by Senator Patty Ritchie. I was named the December 2018 Agent of Change by ABC TV in Watertown. In March of 2019, I was named Regional Director of the year by Access Broadway Talent competition.&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>I believe that dance should be accessible to all and a pathway to inner growth and positive experience.&nbsp; It is more than a trophy or award.&nbsp; Dance is a work of art for self expression and development.&nbsp; I am proud to say that Rhonda&#39;s FooteWorks continues to grow and bring the highest quality dance education to the Watertown area.</strong></p><p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>Rosely Conz (MA, MFA) is a Brazilian choreographer, scholar, screendance maker, and educator. Her creative work focuses on issues of identity, specifically immigration, displacement, and motherhood. Rosely had her screendances exhibited in Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, Barbados, South Africa, and at different festivals in the United States. Afro-Brazilian dances are part of Rosely&#39;s research, heritage, and the focus of her pedagogy due to the potential of these dances to promote diversity, racial awareness, and belonging. Presently, Rosely is the president of the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema&#39;s executive board, and Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS).&nbsp;</p>

Rosemary Candelario writes about and makes dances engaged with butoh, ecology, and site-specific performance. She is the recipient of the 2018 Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize for Dance Research for her book Flowers Cracking Concrete: Eiko & Koma's Asian/American Choreographies (Wesleyan University Press 2016). Rosemary is also the co-editor with Bruce Baird of The Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance (2018). Recent choreographic premieres include aqueous (2019, Kyoto Butoh Festival, Japan) and 100 Ways to Kiss the Trees (2018, Denton, Texas). Her current book project examines performances about and in response to abortion by artists and activists in the US. She currently serves as the Editor of Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies. Rosemary is Associate Professor at TWU.

<p><strong>Sandi Stratton-Gonzalez</strong>, MA, is a Manager of the Arnhold Support Programs for Dance Educators for NYC Public Schools, a curriculum consultant for the Dance Education Laboratory, teaches&nbsp;<em>Dance for Children with Disabilities</em>&nbsp;for NDEO and is a member of the NDEO Dance and Disability Committee. For 20 years, Sandi taught dance at The Children&rsquo;s School in Brooklyn, the nation&rsquo;s first fully inclusive public school. She is co-author (C. Gallant, D. Duggan) of&nbsp;<em>Dance Education for Diverse Learners: A Special Education Supplement to the Dance Blueprint</em>&nbsp;and has been published in&nbsp;<em>Dance: Current Selected Research Volume 7</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Dance Education in Practice</em>. Sandi taught Dance Ed majors at Hofstra University (2008-2018) and was founding Director of Soundance Repertory Company, 1984-1999.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Sandra Rivera is a dancer, choreographer, educator and writer. She started her career as a founding member of Ballet Hispánico and went on to produce solo dance concerts. She has been a teaching artist for numerous institutions creating Bailes del Pueblo, a dance program that explores the culture, history and literature of the Latinx community. Her essay, Spanish Dance in NYC’s Puerto Rican Community, was published in the journal Dance Index. She is a member of DVP where she both teaches and performs for senior communities. She most recently presented Toward A Latinx Practice with the group ColectivXs.

Sara Pfeifle Gallo holds a MFA degree in Dance: Choreography and Performance from California State University Long Beach and a BFA degree in Dance from the University of Montana. Her research includes somatics, dance improvisation, and phenomenological inquiry in dance performance. She has presented at the National Dance Education Organization Conference and the Eastwest Shin Somatics Conference. Gallo currently serves as Dance Program Director and Chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Digital Film at Utah Tech University in St. George, UT. As full-time faculty, she also regularly teaches technique, theory, and creative based courses, and works with various DSU Dance Program performance groups.

Sara Womack, Atlanta Public Schools Arts Coordinator, is creating an arts-rich district with arts-rich schools by providing opportunities for student engagement, building the capacity of teachers, and partnering with community organizations to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality, sequential arts education. Dr. Womack also served as an elementary music teacher in metro Birmingham, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, for 15 years. She earned a BS in music education, MA in music education, and MA in instructional leadership from UAB, an EdD in music education from the University of Georgia, and National Board Certification. Dr. Womack serves as a leader in the National Association for Music Education and has won multiple awards.

Shaahida Samuel holds a MA in Dance Education with a K-12 teaching certification from New York University along with a B.A in Dance Education and Educational Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Samuel currently serves on the advisory board for the NYU Steinhardt’s newly formed dance education track: Dances of the African Diaspora. She is a current dance educator at the Achievement First Brooklyn High School in Brooklyn, New York where she teaches students aged 13-18. Samuel is currently cultivating a k-12 curriculum that stems from her interests in Black dance forms and dances of the African Diaspora.

Shani Robison, Associate Professor of Dance at Brigham Young University, earned her B.A. in Dance (1995) and her M.A. in Dance Performance/Choreography (1999) from BYU. She teaches all levels of ballet technique and pointe, ballet variations, Dance History, Introduction to Dance, and has been the artistic director of both ballet performing companies, BYU Theatre Ballet (9 years) and BYU Ballet Showcase (6 years). Shani has presented ballet pedagogical research and choreography at international professional conferences in Austria, Greece, and Canada; and at national professional conferences in Florida, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York. Shani served as CORPS de Ballet, International President, and is a professional member of CORPS, NDEO, and UDEO.

<p>Shireen Dickson has been the director of&nbsp;OKRA Dance Company, which presents African and American diasporic culture, dance and other world rhythmic forms to varied audiences, since 2010. She has worked in dance and arts education for over 20 years &ndash; as a performer, teaching artist, lecturer, curriculum developer, and NYCDOE classroom teacher. Her performance experience spans from busking to professional cheerleading to Equity, Off-Broadway and &lsquo;experimental&rsquo; theater, including 10 years with award-winning choreographer Dianne McIntyre. Shireen is a founding executive board member of the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance based at Duke University and currently a full-time research associate at Northwestern University managing SLIPPAGE, an an interdisciplinary performance research group.</p><p><strong>CONTACT:&nbsp;</strong>okradance@gmail.com&nbsp; <strong>&nbsp;IG:</strong> @okradanceco, @shireendance&nbsp;</p>

<p>Shirlene Blake is the Director of Dance at the NYC Public Schools, ARTS Office. She has taught predominately high school during her teaching career first at Nassau BOCES Long Island High School for the Arts, then in NYC Public Schools at Harvest Collegiate High School and Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Shirlene has been a professional development facilitator, curriculum writer and reviewer, and been on collaborative educational and arts teams. She has served on the NYS Arts Content Advisory Panel and the NYSED Arts Standards Revision Team. In 2016, New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) awarded her the Diana Domoracki Kisto Award for her years of dedication to dance education.&nbsp;She earned a BFA in Dance from Southern Methodist University, an Ed.M. in Dance Education from Temple University, and Post-Graduate Certificate in Supervision and Administration from Hunter College. Shirlene is currently pursuing her Ed.D. at Teachers College, Columbia University with an interest in teacher preparation.</p>

Shola Roberts; A proud Grenadian American known as a professional dancer, dance educator, choreographer. Her credits include performances with Kowteff West African Dance Company under the Direction of Sewaa Codrington, Oyu Oro under the Artistic direction of La Mora, Fritzalyn Hector whom she most recently performed for the 2020 Dance Africa film: Vwa zanset yo: y’ap pale, n’ap danse! Shola 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 Columbia University.She recently founded Dance Grenada, a dance festival, in 2020. It aims to provide a platform for artisans to share and increase their knowledge base of traditional and contemporary dance styles.

<p><strong>Sonya Monts </strong>has twenty years&rsquo; experience in dance education. She owned her own independent studio and was the teaching artist for Polk County (NC) Schools. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College and her Certificate in Dance Education from NDEO. For NDEO, Sonya was a sponsor for the National Honor Society of Dance Arts; served on the strategic planning committee; presented her work at state and national levels; and is serving on the Dance Education in Practice editorial board. Sonya became a Registered Dance Educator in 2014 and was named NDEO&#39;s Outstanding Dance Educator &ndash; Independent Sector in 2016. She earned her K-12 Dance Licensure and her Master of Art in Dance Education from UNCG in 2023. Sonya is currently a Dance Educator with Spartanburg (SC) District 1, teaching grades 3-8.</p>

Stephanie Milling is the Head of Dance Education at the University of South Carolina. She previously served as Chair, Associate Chair, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Director of Dance at U of SC and Assistant Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop University. Stephanie is the Advocacy Director of the National Dance Education Organization, past President of the South Carolina Arts Alliance, past Arts Education Council member for Americans for the Arts, and editorial board member for The Journal of Movement Arts Literacy, Dance Education in Practice, and Arts Education Policy Review. Stephanie’s writing has appeared in the Journal of Dance Education, Dance Education in Practice, Arts Education Policy Review, and other national and international publications.

<p>Stephen&nbsp;Ursprung holds an MFA in dance from Smith College and an AB in economics and Italian studies from Brown University. He has had the honor of performing works by Paul Taylor, Pilobolus, Monica Bill Barnes, Robert Battle, Danny Buraczeski, David Parsons, Ruth Andrien, and Danny Grossman. In addition to his work in contemporary dance he dabbles in musical theater and improvisation, and is a lapsed tap dancer.&nbsp;Stephen&nbsp;is a proud member of both Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild, having most notably performed in&nbsp;<em>Oklahoma!&nbsp;</em>at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI and in the feature films&nbsp;<em>Little Women&nbsp;</em>(2019)and&nbsp;<em>Hocus Pocus 2&nbsp;</em>as a principal dancer. He is an Associate Professor of Dance Studies at Dean College and is a member of the teaching and performing ensemble of Dancing Legacy. As a choreographer,&nbsp;Stephen&nbsp;is the co-director of two dance collectives: NilsSprung Dance Project and Reject Dance Theatre.</p>

<p>Sumana Sen Mandala is a Bharata-Nrityam artist.&nbsp; She teaches in studio settings as well as higher education. Her research is a continual re-examining of the meaning of tradition in Indian dance and its value in her and her students&rsquo; contemporary contexts in the US. She developed the Collaborative Action Dance Project to make Indian dance accessible to any mover through movement cultivated by individual lived experiences. In her current projects, Sumana is exploring the physicality of expressive dance (nritya) in Bharata-Nrityam and is working in the collaboration &quot;Prakriti Surging,&quot; a multi-disciplinary project that centers intergenerational female responses to tradition, body, narratives and contemporary voice. Sumana holds an MFA in Dance and is an ASU Gammage Teaching Artist, trained facilitator in the Critical Response Process and racial justice facilitation, and Director of Dansense-Nrtyabodha. (https://www.dansense.org/sumana.html)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Susan McGreevy-Nichols </strong>is the Executive Director of the National Dance Education Organization a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and promotion of high quality education in the art of dance. Her service to the field of arts education includes sitting on a number of national committees and task forces, including serving on the leadership team for NCCAS. She has contributed to the development of the National Core Standards in Arts Education; the NAEP Assessments; the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Model Standards for Beginning Teacher Licensing, Assessment and Development; She has developed numerous online courses for NDEO’s OPDI.</p> <p> </p> <p>As a teacher at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island from 1974-2002, Susan founded and developed that institution’s nationally renowned middle school dance program. She is the developer of a cutting-edge reading comprehension strategy that uses text as inspiration for original choreography created by children. This literacy-based methodology combines the creative process with reading instruction.</p> <p> </p> <p>She is co-author of five books: <em>Building Dances</em> (1995) (2005), <em>Building More Dances</em> (2001), <em>Experiencing Dance</em> (2004) (2014), <em>Dance about Anything</em> (2006) and <em>Dance Forms and Styles</em> (2010). She has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Dance Education (JODE), is a former columnist for Dance Teacher Magazine and has been an invited contributor to the Arts Education Policy Review.</p>

<p>Susan is a retired dance educator, adjunct professor at Montclair State University and doctoral candidate in the dance education doctoral program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on embodied pedagogy through an indigenous and Africanist lens. In 2017, Susan created I DANCE BECAUSE, a non-profit organization dedicated to scholarship and helping individuals celebrate dance and the powerful and effective way it can transform lives for the better. Annually they award scholarships to students from Newark Public Schools. Susan is a frequent presenter for New Jersey Performing Arts Center Community (NJPAC), and serves on the NJPAC dance advisory council. Susan is interested in bringing the power of movement into every classroom.</p>

<p>Susan Haines teaches ballet and contemporary technique, dance science, and pedagogy courses. She is Director of Dance at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Susan has as an MFA in Choreography from UNC Greensboro and has taught in the dance departments of UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, and Elon University. Her research on rehearsal pedagogy has been published in JODE and RIDE and she serves on the editorial review board for JODE. Susan is a leader in the field of dance science with Pilates, neuroscience, Neurokinetic Therapy, and Functional Range Conditioning.</p>

<p>Susannah &ldquo;Sukie&rdquo; Keita has built her reputation upon developing high-quality dance programs in Arizona&rsquo;s public schools and is dedicated to a mission of supporting the next generation of artists to share their stories and perspectives. Sukie grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan studying classical ballet with Charthel Arthur and Bob Estner of Robert Joffrey&rsquo;s original company. Expanding her dance palette during sojourns in New York City and Germany, she had the opportunity to meet Katherine Dunham in 2000. She sought teaching certification in Dunham Technique and an MFA at&nbsp;the University Of Arizona&rsquo;s School Of Dance. Sukie Keita has produced and appeared with Orts Theatre of Dance, Thom Lewis Dance, and New Articulations, and performed in work by Leanne Schmidt, Ojeya Cruz Banks, Kimi Eisele, Jenny Showalter, Kevin Godrey-Chevalier, and more. Recruited to lead the Dance Department at Grand Canyon University in 2010, she launched new bachelor degree programs in dance and dance education. She has also served for 10 years on the board of the Arizona Dance Education Organization and currently serves as Pedagogy Committee Chair with the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification. She creates, produces, and consults through&nbsp;<a href="http://www.Sukie.Dance">www.Sukie.Dance</a>&nbsp;and teaches at Estrella Mountain Community College and Spisak Dance Academy.</p>

<p>A native of Mercer Island, Washington, Suzy received her BA in Dance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2011. After graduating, she relocated to San Francisco where she performed and toured with several dance companies as well as co-founded a dance collective and produced multiple shows. In addition, she developed a jazz program at a premier Bay Area studio and was on faculty at Alonzo King Lines Dance Center. She&nbsp;recently received an MA in Dance Education from Steinhardt (&rsquo;22) and is a candidate for an MFA in Dance from Tisch at New York University (&rsquo;23). For more information, please email her at sma8957@nyu.edu</p>

T. Lang is dedicated to exposing the arts and emerging communities to the creative genius of dance. Lang earned her Bachelors and Masters of Fine Arts in performance and choreography from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts respectively. In the early days of her career, Lang danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Marlies Yearby’s Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater. Lang relocated T. Lang Dance from New York City to Atlanta in 2008, continuing to develop, direct, and produce a high-impact blend of traditional and experimental contemporary movement. Arts America called Lang’s choreography “powerfully thought-provoking,” “masterfully blended,” and “unsettling genius.” Creative Loafing named T. Lang Atlanta’s Best Choreography.

<p>Tamara Irving (MEd, BBA) is a distinguished arts educator and performer. After graduating from Howard University, she was a dancer with the Atlanta Hawks Dance Team and the Atlanta Opera. She was in the premiere casts of both the Hamburg Germany Company and the Cheetah US National Tour of Disney&rsquo;s The Lion King. Tamara recently completed 12 years as the dance director at North Atlanta High School where she was the 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year, and an International Baccalaureate Dance teacher. She received her MA in Dance Education from the UNC Greensboro in May 2017. Tamara is a part time instructor at Kennesaw State University, secretary of DEGAS (NDEO affiliate), and owner of TMI Design &amp; Consulting servicing arts educators. Tamara is also a proud wife and mom of 3 young artists!&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Tamara Begley is an active modern dance teacher, dancer and choreographer in Louisville, Kentucky. She earned an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and she holds a BFA in Choreography and Performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. A Louisville native, Tamara is both a graduate of the Youth Performing Arts School and the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. Tamara holds a K-12 teaching certificate in dance, and she is the dance instructor at Western Middle School for the Arts. Her choreography has been featured in performances by Moving Collective, The University of Kentucky Dance Ensemble, the Louisville Ballet Youth Ensemble, and West Virginia University.

Tanja Faylene Woloshen (MFA, BA Hon, BEd) is an Independent Dance Artist/ Educator. She has performed and studied across N.A., EU, and SE Asia. Recent activities: "Beautiful Loser"- creation & performance for Art Holm (2021); National Dance Education Association Conf. Presenter (2021); One Trunk Theatre's "Western Chronicle"- choreographer (2021); "Memorials for Lost Bodies"- death studies in performance research & performance with Happy Phantoms Collective (2020); MAWA grant recipient for costume design/construction (2020); MB Arts Council Dance Creation Research Grants investigating posthumanism/ wilderness (2019/20); Dance Studies Assoc. Conf. Presenter (2019); "A Short History of Crazy Bone" - choreography for Theatre Projects MB (2018); "Holy Wild"- choreography & performance (2017);

<p>Tanjarae Porter, Senior Consultant of Cultivated Connections Design and Consulting, is a firm believer that creativity can enhance a plethora of things in one&#39;s life; like education, learning, identity and activism.</p> <p>Through her work, she serves educators, organization leaders and parents with incorporating creativity and the arts in their lives and curriculums. Tanjarae delivers professional development workshops specializing in creating quality culturally inclusive arts curricula and arts integration pedagogy.</p> <p>Tanjarae, a multidimensional educator, is certified in K-12 Dance and as a K-12 Reading Specialist. Her journey as a former elementary, middle school and dance educator has provided her with a wealth of experiences to accompany her love of the arts and arts integration. Her belief in providing an equitable education for all students inspires her advocacy for quality arts education. Her message inspires others to mandate something different from the edu cation system by using the arts as a vehicle for learning, healing and social change. Tanjarae has had the pleasure to present her work at various arts and education conferences; where she highlights the importance of arts integration, decolonization of arts curricula and using technology in the arts classrooms.</p> <p>When Tanjarae is not leading workshops, she can be found serving on various committees within the organizations such as:, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, The Order of the Eastern Star - Prince Hall Affiliation, and Educator&#39;s Cooperative. Amazingly still, she finds moments to be creative with digital planning, crocheting and spending time with her family.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Teresa VanDenend Sorge, EdM resides in Cincinnati and teaches at Northern Kentucky University. Previously, she founded and served as Director of Koresh Kids Dance and was a full-time lecturer of Dance at Muhlenberg College. Her most recent danceworks include artistic collaborations with text, props, sculpture and video. Her work has been presented in Philadelphia, Allentown, NKU, and most recently at the Big Muddy Festival. She has presented at ACDA, Jubilee Arts and Literacy Conferences, Temple Alumni Showcase, and the Institute for Arts and Transformation with Buildabridge International, where she served as teaching faculty and Artist on Call. Teresa holds a BA in Dance Education and Dance Perform./Choreo. from Hope College and is finishing her MFA at the University of Wis. Milwaukee.

Terri Filips Vaughan, M.F.A. is Associate Professor of Theatre and Fine Arts, Dance Director and Resident Choreographer for Niagara University, where she has choreographed over 30 musicals and 19 concert works. During this time she had the privilege of working along side the great musical team of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb. Terri has worked as a freelance teacher, choreographer and theatre director for numerous schools, community groups, studios and professional companies. She co-founded InSync Dance Theatre, and has choreographed professionally, working at ArtPark, Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Zodiaque, SUNY Buffalo SUNY Fredonia and Hope College.

<p>Terry Goetz is Director of the Creative Dance Center (CDC) in Seattle. A former member of Pacific Northwest Ballet (1988-1995) and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (1986-1988), she performed works by Balanchine, Petipa, Bournonville, Tudor, Tetley, Taylor, Lim&oacute;n, Lubovitch, Dendy, Cunningham, and Naharin. Since 2005, Terry has presented workshops nationally and internationally in BrainDance and Brain-Compatible Dance Education. In addition to teaching creative dance classes for ages 0-5 and their grown-ups, she teaches ballet to children and teens at CDC, and is a teaching artist in schools and community settings. She has presented at daCi conferences in Taiwan, Denmark, and Australia. Terry was named Washington State Dance Educator of the Year in 2015.</p>

<p>Thelma Larkin Goldberg founded The Dance Inn, a suburban private-sector dance studio serving more than 400 students weekly, in 1983. She regularly teaches at dance teacher events, including the National Dance Educator Organization&#39;s annual conferences and the Boston Tap Party. She received the 2015 Dr. Michael Shannon Dance Champion Award from the Boston Dance Alliance for &ldquo;her sustained excellence in teaching and passionate advocacy for the art of tap dancing.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>Thelma received her PhD in Educational Studies from Lesley University in 2020. Her research centers around the experience of the tap dance educator in the private-sector dance studio. Recent research has focused on integrating tap history lessons into traditional movement-centered tap classes in the private sector and higher education settings. She joined the faculty at Dean College in 2021, where she is actively engaged in training future tap dance educators.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Tiffany White is currently the Dance Director at Chandler High School, the President of the Arizona Dance Education Organization, and the NDEO Board of Directors&rsquo; Southwest Representative. She has a BFA in Dance &amp; Choreography &amp; a BS in Creative Advertising from Virginia Commonwealth Univ., a MEd in Secondary Education from the Univ. of Arizona, &amp; a MEd in Counseling from Prescott College. She has been teaching Dance in the private and public setting for over 13 years &amp; was the 2019 recipient of the &lsquo;Kathy Lindholm Lane&rsquo; AZ Dance Educator of the Year award.</p> <p><br /> Tiffany was past AzDEO Secretary &amp; chairs the AzDEO Professional Development Committee. Tiffany has served on various state committees to revise the AZ Dance standards, create Baseline/Summative Assessments, pilot the National Dance Standards, and create lesson plans &amp; other resources that encourage AZ Arts educators to connect the Social Emotional framework to State Arts Standards. She has also spoken at multiple events around the state such as the AZ Superintendents Assoc. Conference, Title IV-A Conference, Arts Congress, and numerous PD events. She has also had the opportunity to speak at the NDEO Conference in Atlanta, GA.</p>

<p><strong>Tim Cowart</strong> is the Head of Dance at Western Oregon University. He served as Chair of the Dance Department at DeSales University from 2005-2019. As a professional dancer, he toured nationally and internationally with the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company, the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and Impact Productions. Certified in Kaeja Elevations, DanceAbility, and STOTT Pilates he teaches all levels of modern dance, dance partnering, contact improvisation, ballroom dance, kinesiology for dance, and dance on camera. He received the 2016 LVAIC Dance Consortium Distinguished Service Award in Dance, and the 2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award in Dance from the University of Oregon. He earned a B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from VCU, an M.F.A. in Dance, and an M.S. in Arts Administration from the U of O.</p>

<p>Tristan Koepke (he/him) is a dancer, educator, choreographer, and scholar based in Portland, ME. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Bates College, as well as the Associate Director of the Young Dancers Intensive at the Bates Dance Festival. He holds an MFA in Dance at the University of Maryland, College Park. His current areas of research include somatic phenomenology in dance performance, hauntology and semio-capitalism, historicizing bodies and somatic practices within multidisciplinary fields of inquiry, and situating liberation work within the fields of dance and somatic education.</p>

<p><span style="color:black;">Dr. Truly A. Davis is a Life and Career Coach, Keynote Speaker, Education Consultant, and Dance Scholar.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">Best known as Dr. Tru, the Detroit native is CEO of Kidensha Dance Group, LLC, through which she specializes in helping Black Dance Educators build, rebuild, and revive their programs without having to sacrifice their personal lives, goals, or relationships. In addition to coaching and education consulting services, Dr. Tru offers her services as a keynote speaker, having presented for Women's conferences, multiple MD public school systems, the National Dance Education Organization and Maryland Dance Education Association annual conferences, and various community colleges throughout the DMV.</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">Dr. Tru has also taught workshops and set performative works in collaboration with various artists and institutions throughout Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Japan, and Costa Rica. A proud Afrofuturist and Tap Dance advocate, her scholarly works focus on Black Dance and the Black Dancing Body, delving into the connections across geographies, space, and time.</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">In her free time, Dr. Tru enjoys reading, watching anime, and traveling.</span></p>

Tymothy Jaddock holds an M.A. in Dance Education and Ballet Pedagogy from New York University and American Ballet Theatre. Jaddock has an extensive background in character and folk dance, dancing five seasons with the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company of Edmonton, Canada. While in Edmonton, Jaddock developed a competitive Ukrainian Character Dance program that received multiple awards and provincial recognition. After his time in Alberta, Jaddock trained at Kyiv's National University of Culture and Arts and later held residencies with various state ensembles in Ukraine. Inspired to bring his extensive knowledge of folk dance to the culturally diverse classroom of the 21st century, Jaddock has focused his research using cultural dance to engage the modern learner, dancer and mover.

Valerie Ifill is a dance artist, educator and researcher interested in the intersections of dance and community, identity development, and embodied processing. Valerie is a collaborative dance artist in Philadelphia and an Assistant Professor of Dance at Drexel University. Through her creative and justice-oriented work, Valerie creates spaces that support honest dialogue and participatory learning through embodied practices. Valerie has founded community dance programs in several states. Her research through Black Girls STEAMing through Dance makes Dance, Code, and Making with electronic textiles accessible to young Black girls. Valerie earned her MFA in Dance from the University of Oregon and Independent Study Program from The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Whitley Green, is a dance educator & teaching, & performing artist. Whitley is Middle School Dance Director for the Dallas Independent School District and serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Dance & Theater Department at The University of North Texas in Denton. She has been invited to present at dance conferences, high school and college programs as both a guest artist and choreographer. Her training and experience includes; The Institute for Dunham Technique, The University of North Texas, New York University, Texas Woman’s University; Dance Place in Washington, DC; Dance The Yard in Martha’s Vineyard, MA; Peridance & Cumbe African and Diaspora Dance Center in New York City; and Bandan Koro African Drum & Dance Ensemble in Dallas, TX. She has also had the opportunity to perform both locally.

William Catanzaro is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in NY. Since arriving from his native Buenos Aires in 1989, he has composed musical scores for renowned choreographers such as Anna Sokolow, Steve Paxton, Viola Farber, Milton Myers and Sara Rudner. Catanzaro’s work has been presented nationally and internationally with Alvin Ailey, New Danish Dance Theater Denmark, TanzFabrik Berlin, Amsterdam Theatreschool, Cyprus Festival, Irish Modern Dance Theater, Architanz Tokyo, Kyoto Arts Center, Teatro San Martin Buenos Aires, Institute for Contemporary Art Boston, Philadanco, Dallas Black Theater, and Jacob’s Pillow among others. He is currently on faculty at The Alvin Ailey School, Sarah Lawrence College, and Steps on Broadway.

<p>Dr. Yoav Kaddar is a Professor of Dance, the director of the West Virginia University Dance Program, the WVU Summer Dance Academy, and founding member and immediate-past president of the WV Dance Education Organization. He received his BFA from The Juilliard School, MFA from University of Washington, Seattle, and his PhD in Educational Administration and Leadership from the University at Albany, NY. He has been a member of the Jose Limon, Paul Taylor and Pilobolus dance companies to name a few. Dr. Kaddar has choreographed over 70 works for dance and theatre, is a Fulbright Scholar and continues to teach and perform nationally and abroad. He has been a member of the American College Dance Association Board of Directors and has served on the US Fulbright Selection Committee for the Arts. He is honored to serve as the current president of NDEO.</p>

<p>Yunjia (Janice) Yang is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Intercultural Arts Research &ndash; Graduate Interdisciplinary Program at the University of Arizona, minoring in Public Health. She graduated from Beijing Dance Academy with a Master of Arts in Chinese folk and ethnic dance. She is interested in researching dance as a wellness modality in diverse communities. Currently, she is studying the effects of dance in promoting health in older adults with mild cognitive impairments and dementia in her Ph.D. dissertation. Yunjia has been a dance instructor for over ten years in studio, private settings, and universities. She also worked as the assistant editor for the&nbsp;<em>Journal of the Beijing Dance Academy</em>, as a journalist at the&nbsp;<em>National Center for the Performing Arts&nbsp;</em>magazine, and as the manager and editor of the&nbsp;<em>Dance Academy Study&nbsp;</em>journal in Beijing.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Zakiya Atkinson is an Assistant Professor at California State University, Long Beach, where she leads the Single Subject Credential Program in Dance. For three years she served as the Supervisor of Fine and Performing Arts for Cranford Public Schools and prior to that post spent ten years as a dance educator at Memorial High School in West New York, NJ. Atkinson has developed arts programming and facilitated dance in PK-12, communities, and private sector, in the US and internationally. She holds an MA in Dance Education (NYU), BA in Communications &amp; Theatre (Temple University) and a certificate in Holocaust &amp; Genocide Education. Atkinson is the director of Zaman Dance Theatre Collective and a doctoral candidate in the Dance Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>