J.C. De’ Marko V. Burnett-Gordon is a transformative dance educator, arts integration specialist, and Adjunct Professor of Dance at Tennessee State University. As CEO of the Dare 2 Dream Foundation, he provides culturally responsive, healing-centered dance education to students from Pre-K through 12th grade across Nashville’s public schools, community programs, and arts-in-health settings.
Dawn has been teaching dance to Pre-K through Grade 5 for 20 years in 20 schools across NYC with long term continuing partnerships at PS 184Q (since 2006), PS 59M (since 2009), and PS 146M (since 2011). As a proud member of the Teaching Artist community, she feels privileged to develop custom residencies tailored to the individual needs of each of her schools, whether it be in creative dance, social dance, cultural dance, dance history, or codified technique.
Johari Mayfield is a passionate teaching artist working across K–12 settings in New York City, with a focus on early childhood and elementary learners. Her practice centers on culturally responsive, trauma-informed dance education that blends ballet, hip-hop, storytelling, and somatic awareness. She is especially committed to creating inclusive movement spaces for neurodivergent students and children on the autism spectrum.
Jennie teaches Prek-5 at Public School 3 in Greenwich Village. For the past 23 years she has run the program created there 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.
Lauren has worked in several schools ranging from private to public and landed at P.S.133Q where she founded their dance program in 2021. 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.
Noel Staples-Freeman teaches dance to learners across all ages and abilities, bringing inclusive, culturally rich movement practices into schools and communities throughout Berkshire County. She teaches African Dance Theory and Technique at Springfield College and is a teaching artist with CATA, Berkshire Pulse, and Jacob’s Pillow, creating accessible, intergenerational spaces for dance and storytelling. Rooted in the land, Noel draws inspiration from Common Good Urban Farm in her hometown of Dorchester, MA, to Mumbet’s Freedom Farm in Sheffield, MA—honoring the connection between environment, heritage, and cultural expression.
