Prior to joining the Democracy Prep network, Brown-Aliffi piloted a middle school dance program within a different NYC-based charter network where she taught for three years. She is grateful for the opportunity to have studied under, learned from, and collaborated with Dr. Clara Gerhardt, Dr. Mila Parrish, Dr. David Marshall, will be published by Lexington Books in January Alongside co-author Dr. Given her experiences as a dance educator in the charter sector and her interests as a researcher, Brown-Aliffi intends to pursue an Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student in the Ed.
Dance Education Program at Teachers College. She plans to continue to study dance and arts education within the charter sector and situate her work at the intersection of dance education and charter schools.
She has taught children, teens, college students, professional and vocational adult dancers across the nation. Markus was born in Jamaica, West Indies. Her family migrated to America before she turned 10 years old for educational opportunities. Her desire to support fellow immigrants as well as volunteerism as a core value led Markus to work with the organization iMentor.
Through iMentor, Markus works one-on- one with a student who is a recent immigrant from an underserved community to help empower her to graduate high school, attend and succeed in college and achieve her goals. She has performed as a concert dancer with the Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company, performing dance works by George Faison, Eleo Pomare, and as well as other artists. Markus received a B. Markus intends to pursue the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.
Her research interests include examining and understanding the history of African arts for teacher training, youth empowerment and social justice. Chell Parkins is the inaugural Arnold director of dance education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a doctoral candidate in the dance education program at Teachers College.
