Staff & Fellows

Office Location: Horace Mann 44C

Email: lar2251@tc.columbia.edu

Linzey Rice is a professional arts administrator, educator, and dancer dedicated to community engagement through equitable and accessible arts experiences. As the Administrative Manager of the Dance Education EdD Program and the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership, she supports the continued success and growth of the institute and degree program. 

In addition to her professional experience as an administrative associate and operations manager for arts organizations such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Modern & Contemporary and Momentum-Excellence (an affiliate of National Dance Institute), Linzey brings critical insights from her experience as a dancer and choreographer, college instructor, and PreK-12 dance teaching artist to Dance Education at Teachers College. Her work as a teaching artist spans a variety of educational contexts, including community-based programs, private dance studios, and the Education Outreach Programs at BalletMet. Rice’s recent artistic work has been featured in an adjudicated performance in Hixon Dance's City Dance Showcase, New Vision Dance Company’s Save The Arts Showcase and Retrospective III, ballet productions of The Nutcracker and Cinderella with Artisan Dance Studio, and Cultivate Dance Project's 2022 Company Showcase, Where I Was. CDP's dance film "Memory is a Monster" was featured in local and international dance film festivals: Constructed Sight Dance Film Festival (2022) and Cleveland Dance Fest - Virtual Dance Film Gallery (2022-23). Now based in New York City, Linzey continues to pursue independent work as a dancer and choreographer. 

Rice earned a BA in Dance with Distinction and a BA in Communication from Wittenberg University, where she received the competitive Provost Scholarship and Theatre and Dance Department Scholarship. There, she performed and choreographed for student and faculty showcases and the Wittenberg Student Dance Company under the direction of Shih-Ming Li Chang and Christeen Stridsberg. Linzey earned her MA in Arts Policy & Administration from The Ohio State University where she conducted qualitative research on arts and community partnerships and creative youth development. In addition, she instructed four semesters of an undergraduate course, Writing Art Criticism, as a Graduate Teaching Associate. An active advocate for the arts and social justice, Linzey graduated from the YWCA Columbus 2021 Leadership for Social Change program and organized arts advocacy efforts alongside Creative Ohio (formerly Ohio Citizens for the Arts) and the Ohio Arts Council. 

CHRIS HOUSTON, M.B.A., Doctoral Fellow, is an international dance teacher, choreographer, and director. He served as the Artistic Director for two Cirque du Soleil world tours, Amaluna and OVO, as well as the Assistant Director for the world tour of Kooza—where he also performed a lead character as ‘The Trickster’. Amongst many industrial and corporate events, Houston has choreographed for Jean Ann Ryan Productions, the famed Crazy Horse Paris at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and for Michael Flatley (creator of Riverdance) in London on the BBC.

As a dance teacher, Houston has been guest faculty at the Arts Educational School, Italia Conti College of the Performing Arts, the London Studio Center, and Pineapple Studios all in the United Kingdom. He has also taught at Chapman University in Orange County, at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City, as well as company classes with Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Dragone in Belgium, and CDA Productions in Las Vegas.

As a performer, Houston was in the original London West End productions of Miss Saigon and CATS and was then one of fifty dancers selected to be a part of Celine Dion’s game-changing Vegas residency, A New Day (directed by Franco Dragone and choreographed by Mia Michaels). Houston also joined Celine on her Taking Chances World Tour (directed by Jamie King and choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon, Mark Swanhart, and Mia Michaels).  He was the dance captain in Viva Elvis by Cirque du Soleil (directed by Vincent Paterson and choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon) and was in the original cast of Light Seeker in Singapore (created and directed by Michael La Fleur). Houston has also performed in CHICAGO the musical, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera in The Merry Widow (directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman), and at the Signature Theatre in Stroman’s workshop of A Happy Life. 

Houston attained a B.A. in Performing Arts from Saint Mary’s College of California, an M.B.A. with a specialization in leadership and innovation from Edinburgh Napier University, and is currently pursuing doctoral research in dance education, leadership, and policy.

Francine E. Ott, a native of New Orleans, is an artist, educator, performer, choreographer, mentor, writer, and speaker. She received her B.F.A in Dance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Ott has been privileged to study at many dance intensives, including the American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow, where she received scholarships. She has worked, studied and danced with Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence and Tony Kundu among others.

Her choreography has been showcased at Restore Arts Festival, North Carolina State University, UNC-Greensboro, Greensboro Project Space, Gregg Museum of Art + Design, The Fruit Durham, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival, Homegrown at the CAC in New Orleans, APAP, SummerStage Dance, BAM: Black Brooklyn Renaissance, Dance Harlem, This Woman’s Work, Dixon Place, and International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Ott was featured in the October 2020 issue of Dance Spirit magazine's article entitled, “How Social Dance Can Benefit Your Training---and Your Humanity.”  She was also featured in the July 2011 issue of Dance Magazine, “When Words Hurt,” and in the February 2011 issue of SHAPE Magazine, “Confidence Queens.”

Ott worked at Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance and was the Rehearsal Director of Camille A. Brown and Dancers. She assisted Ms. Brown in works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Urban Bush Women, and LaGuardia High School. She was also a teaching artist and choreographer for Crossing Point Arts, Black Girl Spectrum, and Whole Heart Productions. Ott is currently a mentor and lecture moderator for Camille A. Brown and Dancers Social Dance for Social Change series.

In 2017, Ott became a Dance Lecturer and Artistic Director at North Carolina State University. She also moderated Lunchbox series talks, taught master classes, as well as Dance and Mental Health workshops, which afforded her opportunities to share this work at UNC-Greensboro, Dance Project, and throughout the North Carolina Community. Ott received the African American Cultural Center Faculty Fellowship Award to create her film, "fragile," which speaks to the raw, yet beautiful journey many women of color have experienced through their artistry while healing from trauma. In March of 2022, Eva Yaa Asantewaa gave Ott the opportunity to share this work as a guest writer for issue nine of the Gibney Journal in an article entitled, Cycles and Circles: Breaking Chains to Spark Healing.

Ott earned her M.A. degree in Mental Health Counseling at Nyack College and was the Interim Administrative Assistant at the Manhattan Campus for the Alliance Graduate School of Counseling. In Ott’s company, Francine E. Ott/The Walk, she integrates the arts with the mental health field---allowing a person to find their voice, and healing through a unique therapeutic process of growth, change, and transformation. 

Ott intends to pursue the Interdisciplinary specialization as a doctoral student within the Ed.D. Dance Education Program at Teachers College. Her research interests include dance/movement, mental health/psychology, religion/spirituality, and people of the diaspora.

Nimisha Mahiyaria is an international classical Indian and modern dancer, educator & author based in New York City. She is currently the incoming doctoral fellow of Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has previously worked as an instructional dance educator at Science Skills High School, Brooklyn NY. Mahiyaria has also worked as a Digital Communications Associate for Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. As a scholar, she has co-authored Chapter 8: The Role of Yoga In Orthopaedic Disorders in Fundamentals of AYUSH: An Introductory Course for Health Professionals alongside Dr. Ahuja, Specialized Orthopaedic Surgeon at AIIMS hospital India. In 2021, Mahiyaria was selected to present her research on the impact of dance improvisation on trauma healing at New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) Conference. In addition to her passion for teaching dance Mahiyaria has also taught yoga for the last decade, a movement practice native to her country. She is the founder of Hum Yoga, a non-profit organization that teaches the benefits of yoga and meditation to all, especially the disadvantaged populations of our communities. In addition to being a teacher and author, Mahiyaria has been working as a professional freelance dancer for the last 13 years, performing at renowned international venues such as Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to name a few. Her work has been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, The New York Times, Dance Magazine, NJArts, The Stewardship Report, Broadway World and broadcasted live on national television in all CommonWealth countries in the world.

She is the recipient of the O1 Visa: Alien of Extraordinary Ability and is empaneled in the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India as an outstanding modern dancer. She has been awarded the Doctoral Fellowship at Teachers College along with the Arnhold Ed.D Fellowship. She previously received the Arnhold Scholarship at New York University. Mahiyaria holds a masters degree in Dance Education from Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University along with a B.F.A in Dance and a B.A. in Public Relations from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. 

She is currently specializing in Leadership and Policy within Dance Education and is interested in furthering international dance education research by examining the impact dance education has on relieving trauma experienced by both teachers and students in international schools and colleges.