KATRINA BROWN-ALIFFI
Harlem Prep Middle School
Katrina Brown-Aliffi, 6-12
Harlem Prep Middle School
Katrina Brown-Aliffi has been working with sixth through twelfth graders at Democracy Prep Public Schools since 2017. In that time, her students have put on over ten school-level performances, performed at the network-level multiple times, forged partnerships with local senior centers with whom they participated in an intergenerational learning project with, choreographed and taught the National School Choice Week 2021 dance to advocate for school choice, and took part in Theresa Lavington’s filmed Dance for the Movement performance piece, a peaceful protest through the arts to honor all Black lives lost to racist acts and police brutality. She also notes the Dance Teaching Assistant (TA) leadership development program and expansion from Dance I-III to Dance IV, a course encompassing instructional strategies, curriculum, and assessment that seniors can apply to assist with a Dance I/II class.
Dr. Katrina Brown-Aliffi (MS, MA, EdD) is a dance educator at Harlem Prep Middle School and has been teaching within the Democracy Prep Public Schools network since 2017. Brown-Aliffi is also a recent 2024 graduate of the Dance Education doctoral program at Teachers College — Columbia University. Research interests focus on the intersection of arts and dance education and the charter sector and include effective context-specific pedagogical practices, professional development for arts educators, and equitable access to high-quality arts programming in public schools and across school sectors. Brown-Aliffi earned a B.A. in Human Development and Family Studies from Samford University in 2013, an M.S. in General and Special Education from Touro College in 2014, and an M.A. in Dance Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2019.