Announcing our 2025 DEL Lab Schools Honorees
We’re thrilled to honor six brilliant dance educators!
DEL Lab Schools is an initiative to honor and celebrate dance educators bringing the DEL Model to life, and we are thrilled to acknowledge these educators who are implementing the DEL Model in their dance classrooms.
These six dance educators are each brilliant and inspiring in their own unique ways.
Read more about them below, and be sure to celebrate them with us on June 11!
What: 2025 DEL Lab Schools Celebration
When: Wednesday, June 11 — 5:30-6:30 ET
Where: Zoom
2025 DEL Lab Schools Recipients
JC De’Marko Burnett-Gordon
CEO and Artistic Director of the Dare 2 DREAM Foundation
J.C. De’ Marko V. Burnett-Gordon, B.P.S., B.S., M.Ed., M.A., Ed.S. is a visionary dance educator, arts integration specialist, and community leader dedicated to using movement as a tool for healing, empowerment, and education. He serves as the CEO and Artistic Director of the Dare 2 DREAM Foundation—a nonprofit organization committed to creative youth development, trauma-informed arts practices, and access to equitable dance education for all.
As a nationally recognized K–12 educator and curriculum designer, Mr. Burnett-Gordon has taught across grade bands from Pre-K to 12th grade, infusing the DEL Model into schools, community centers, and wellness spaces. A certified LOD (Language of Dance) Foundations 1 practitioner and current Foundations 2 scholar, he brings Laban-based movement analysis and motif writing into every lesson to deepen student voice, access, and cultural understanding.
With over 15 years of experience as a teaching artist, high school dance teacher, and STEAM educator, J.C. designs interdisciplinary lessons rooted in identity, collaboration, and joy. He is an NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) Advisory Council Member for Student Initiatives, a Tennessee Arts Academy Fine Arts Mentor, and a proud champion of Black Dance in America.
Whether on stage, in the classroom, or within community-based programs, Mr. Burnett-Gordon leads with purpose, making dance a language for justice, wellness, and belonging. His motto? Dare 2 Dream—and move like you mean it.
Dawn DiPasquale
PreK-5 Dance Teaching Artist in NYC Public Schools
Dawn DiPasquale (MA Dance Education, NYU, BFA Wichita State University, UCLA World Arts & Cultures/Dance) is a PreK-5 Dance Teaching Artist in NYC public schools for NY City Center Theater and 92NY School Engagement in the Arts.
For DEL, she is a facilitator, curriculum writer, mentor, video liaison, and project manager for several programs including DEL Tracing Footsteps, DEL Dance and Literacy, the DEL Institute, summer intensive courses, asynchronous courses, and the Create Professional Learning Series for 3K and Pre-K NYC DOE educators. She has presented at NDEO, Arts in Education Roundtable’s Face to Face, and Empire State Partnerships. She is also a former Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance and Musical Theater at Wichita State University, teaching modern, musical theater and tap dance.
Dawn co-produced the 2025 documentary film Through Memory for 92NY, which celebrates 92NY’s 150th Anniversary and the development of a new Aszure Barton commission for the Limón Dance Company.
As a choreographer for Musical Theater, Dawn worked with composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz on productions of Children of Eden at Paper Mill Playhouse (Recording, RCA Victor) and North Shore Music Theatre, as well as a revival of Working at the Long Wharf Theatre directed by Christopher Ashley. Other choreographic venues include Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, Folly Theatre of Kansas City, Music Theatre of Wichita, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, the College of Charleston, Music Theatre West, and the University of Michigan Department of Musical Theatre.
As a dancer, she has performed at Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, Circum-Arts, Riverside Church, Gowanus, Green Space, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, NYC Fringe Festival and at the Strada Facendo in Pisa, Italy. She is a grant recipient from the Kansas Cultural Trust and is a proud member of SDC (Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers).
Johari Mayfield
Dancer. Teaching Artist. Movement Guide. Creator of Mrs. Red Fox.
Liveinthemovement has always been Johari Mayfield’s mantra. Based in New York City, she is a dancer, choreographer, ACE-certified personal trainer, and compassionate teaching artist who blends ballet, hip-hop, storytelling, and therapeutic movement into joyful, inclusive experiences. Trained in ballet under Sylvester Campbell and as a scholarship student at The Ailey School, Johari’s performance credits include Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, Janet Panetta, Joan Miller’s Dance Players, and Peggy Choy Dance Company. Her artistic range reflects a deep respect for tradition, cultural storytelling, and somatic exploration.
As an educator, Johari collaborates with leading organizations like the Misty Copeland Foundation, Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, Marquis Studios, and Eryc Taylor Dance Outreach. Her classroom philosophy was forever changed by a game of Jenga—where questions about balance, risk, and failure led her to reimagine dance not as perfection but as possibility.
Johari likens her teaching to building with invisible architecture—where every student’s body is different, and every misstep is a moment of discovery. She champions a classroom that is playful, adaptive, and grounded in sensitivity. Whether using visual aids, sign language, or inclusive language like “rise” and “move,” she ensures all learners—especially neurodiverse students—feel welcomed, empowered, and celebrated.
And then, she became Mrs. Red Fox—a clever, creative guide who “tricks” children into learning through rhythm, rhyme, and imagination. In this world, gravity is a teacher, laughter is a strategy, and movement is a right. Johari helps every student—child or adult—embrace the wisdom of their bodies, challenge their inner critics, and live in the movement.
Jennie Miller
PreK-5 Dance Educator at P.S. 003 Charrette School
Jennie Miller teaches PreK-5 at P.S. 003 Charrette School in Greenwich Village. For the past 23 years she has run the dance program (created by Joan Sax), added a second dance teacher, Samantha Chan, and infused the school with dance performances, classes, dance clubs, and a dance-a-thon for Safe Passage in Guatemala. It is a school where everyone dances. The focus on dance making, even for the smallest dancers as well as the progressive, arts infused collaborations with classroom teachers makes the job full of joy for her and the children.
Jennie’s dancer’s heart has always been in site work. Inspired by Edith Segal and her work at Camp Kinderland, as well as her own love of the outdoors, Jennie loves to take kids to dance outside in various sites, often in collaboration with site-specific artists around the city. The DEL Model supports and aligns with site work as we can make a dance anywhere using what we see, hear, touch and learn to create.
Jennie studied ballet with Lynda Yourth in San Diego and attended the School of American Ballet in New York. She went to Barnard College and Bank Street College of Education, where she earned a Master’s in Education. In 1994, she began teaching PreK-K at P.S.003. After a childcare leave to care for her children, Lily and Jake, Jennie returned to P.S. 003 as the dance teacher in 2002. She studied at DEL prior to this.
One vital component of her life and her teaching is social activism. Raised by radical progressive parents in free schools in the 1960’s, Jennie has participated in many political action groups such as Take Back the Night, Day Without Art, Act Up, Barnard Columbia Earth Coalition, Occupy, and Planned Parenthood. Focusing on issues of social justice and dance in order to help young people create a social justice consciousness is central to much of her work.
In 2012, Jennie created Dance Adventure with her daughter, Lily Rubin-Miller, and Samantha Chan. The goal of this children’s site-specific dance company is to create dance in unexpected places. This company has worked with many artists and dancers to create dances that explore themes of identity, social justice, climate justice, immigration and racism. Jennie was the recipient of the Arnhold EdD Scholarship in the first dance education cohort at Teachers College.
Lauren Rapoli
P.S. 133Q Dance Program Founder
Ms. Lauren Rapoli has danced since the young age of three. She began her journey at a local dance studio in upstate New York. Her passion grew with each year that passed and when it was time to choose a profession, she decided to become a dance educator.
After attending Hofstra University and earning a BSED in Dance Education, she continued on to receive a MSED in Early Childhood & Childhood Education. Moving forward, she worked in several schools ranging from private to public and landed at P.S.133Q where she founded their dance program in 2021. Lauren’s dedication to dance education led her to DEL, where she successfully completed the DEL Institute Teacher Certificate Program. Lauren was also selected to participate in a Dance Education Laboratory Focus Study with Dance Literacy. Furthermore, Ms. Rapoli’s Dance History Unit will be included in the NYC Department of Education’s Dance Education Curriculum Booklet, which will be released summer 2025.
It is evident that Ms. Rapoli strives to make her dance class a place of experimentation, growth, and success. She utilizes multiple modalities and intertwines a variety of disciplines to allow all of her students to connect with the content at hand. Undoubtedly, she proves that “movement never lies” and gives her students the opportunity to move in a way that is honest to who they truly are.
Noel Staples-Freeman
Founder and Director of Uprising Dance Theatre
Adjunct Professor of African Dance Theory and Technique at Springfield College
Raised in Dorchester and now a resident of Pittsfield, MA, Noel Staples-Freeman has dedicated over five decades to the performing arts as a teacher, performer, and cultural leader both locally and internationally. She is a graduate of Emerson College, holding a B.S. in Children’s Theatre/Performing Arts and Dance.
Her performance career includes notable appearances such as dancing in honor of Nelson Mandela’s historic visit to Boston in 1990, and with DanceAfrica at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She has also graced the stage of Jacob’s Pillow and performed for the President of Senegal at the Sorano Theatre in 1995 with the Koumpo West African Dance Company, under the direction of Ibrahima Camara.
A two-time recipient of the Massachusetts Commonwealth Award, Noel has been recognized for her work with the Art of Black Dance and Music, directed by DeAma Battle, and for her contributions to Aashka Dance School in Hyde Park. As Founder and Director of Uprising Dance Theatre since 1983, Noel leads a vibrant intergenerational ensemble celebrating the traditional and contemporary dance, music, and theater of the African Diaspora. Uprising has performed at Boston’s Harborfest, the Wandering Dance Festival, and numerous community celebrations including Juneteenth (NAACP) and Kwanzaa (Women of Color Giving Circle and ROPE).
In addition to her performance and choreography work, Noel is deeply committed to arts education and community engagement. She offers African-rooted dance classes through organizations including Community Access to the Arts (CATA), Berkshire Pulse, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She is also a 2023 graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine’s COHERE program (Community Health Workers Engaging in Integrated Care), and a 2024 graduate of the DEL Institute Teacher Certificate Program. In 2025, Noel was appointed Adjunct Professor of African Dance Theory and Technique at Springfield College, continuing her lifelong mission to honor, teach, and evolve the rich traditions of the African Diaspora through dance.