Our Graduates

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. She is a dance scholar, advocate, educator, choreographer, and performer whose research explores the experiences of Latinx communities engaged in culturally relevant and sustaining dance programs. While attending Teachers College as a doctoral fellow, she co-founded and co-chaired TC’s student-parent group and served as the residential student senator, earning a Shirley Chisholm Trailblazer Award, Exemplary Impact Award, and TC Student Leadership Grant. Her recent documentary, WanderlustDance: Puerto Rico, premiered at the Manhattan Film Festival, inviting audiences to look at the culture, politics, and people of post-Maria Puerto Rico through interviews set against footage of solo dance performances at picturesque and historical sites across the archipelago. She has been a guest lecturer in dance programs at Kennesaw State University, Central Connecticut State University, and New York University and is an ongoing visiting lecturer for the child and adolescent psychiatry fellows at Oregon Health and Science University. She served as a scholar in residence and consultant to the community engagement director at Ballet Hispánico, has made numerous presentations and webinars at NDEO and DaCI, and served as a panelist for the Shirley Hall Bass Dance Educators Forum to discuss culturally appropriate methods for creating dance standards in the Bahamas. 

Previously, as the executive director of the Tennessee Association of Dance, a core member of ArtsEd Tennessee, and fine arts subject matter expert for the Tennessee Department of Education, she became a leading voice in advocating for equitable access to dance education in Tennessee. She was also a full-time lecturer in dance at Middle Tennessee State University, where she helped create and implement the first and only stand-alone dance major program in the state, focusing on developing a dance education track. She also co-directed a Maymester abroad program in the Guatemalan Highlands, where students performed and conducted movement workshops at K’iche and Kaqchikel elementary schools. From 2012-2015, Parkins was the director of dance and drill team at Manor High School, a predominately working-class Latinx high school in rural Texas. Her publication “Dance Media Collaborations: Engaging At-Risk Youth” details how her students used choreographic methods, technology, and social media to explore cultural identity and social issues. 

As a dancer, she has performed with MADCO, Steamroller, Bibliodance, Forklift Danceworks, and in the film Bernie with Jack Black. Her choreography has been featured in Dancers’ Footwork Bread and Butter Series, MOMFest, Frontera Fest, Dance Carousel, Coen’s New Works Festival, Big Range Dance Festival, and internationally at the Millennium Forum in Northern Ireland, and ZAWP, AZALA, and outside the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain. 

Parkins earned a B.A. in Dance and Acting from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.F.A. in Dance from The University of Texas at Austin. She holds certifications for 9-12 Dance Education and K-12 Physical Education in and Texas, and is a certified STOTT Pilates instructor. 

Susan Gaddy Pope is a retired dance educator with over 30 years’ experience in K-12. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at Montclair State University where she teaches BA & BFA dance majors the joys and concepts of creative movement for children. She also supervises student teachers at Rutgers University. Previously she taught dance for the Newark Board of Education and New York City Department of Education where she also directed the SUMA/Children’s Aid Society Dance Company.  Pope holds a BA in dance from the University of Maryland and a MA in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University.  

Pope is an Arnhold Fellow and recipient of the Susan H. Fuhrman scholarship.  Her research focuses on embodied pedagogy through an indigenous and Africanist lens. Her non-profit organization, I DANCE BECAUSE, provides scholarships for Newark dance students and transformative, educational programs for students and teachers. Along with two other Newark dance educators, Susan was awarded an ArtStart grant to create a documentary, Brick City Dance: A Renaissance Endeavor which explores the impact of dance education in Newark Public Elementary Schools over the last 20 years. 

As a published author, Susan has contributed to the depth of knowledge in dance education through journals and books. Her publications include articles in Dance Education in Practice titled: Moving Meditations: A Guide to Embodying Gratitude, Teaching Dance History to Middle School Students, an article in the International Journal of AAHPERD titled Mourning Into Dancing – The Transformation of Lives: A Personal Journey; I DANCE BECAUSE…, a collection of stories, essays and poems about dance; and DANCING MY PRAYERS, a guide to combining movement and prayer in your devotional life. Her latest book chapter in The Loveliness Project helps elevate the voices of Black women. Popes research focuses on embodied pedagogy in urban teacher preparation programs. 

Pope is a frequent presenter for New Jersey Performing Arts Center Community Engagement Program, providing workshops for the community. She also serves on the NJPAC dance advisory council. In May of 2000, Pope was invited to the White House to speak at a conference titled Raising Responsible and Resourceful Youth.  She spoke on the impact of dance education in the lives of her students. In 1998 she was selected to be in Who’s Who Among American Teachers.  Pope served as the director of the St. James AME Church Dance Ministry for over 10 years. She is a member of the National Liturgical Dance Ministry Network, National Dance Education Organization, Dance New Jersey, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Pope believes God created her with the definite purpose of helping others through movement.

Pope intends to pursue the Teacher Education specialization. Her research interests include assessment and learning disabilities.

Joan Finkelstein (MFA, BFA: NYU Tisch School of the Arts), currently Executive Director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance, (www.harknessfoundation.org) performed professionally throughout the U.S. and Europe with the Cliff Keuter, Don Redlich, and Jean-Léon Destiné Afro-Haitian dance companies and was original cast in RAGS on Broadway. 

A recipient of NEA and NARB Choreographer’s Fellowships, her work was commissioned by Atlanta Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and South Carolina Ballet Theatre. Her own company Moving Pictures presented seasons in various NYC venues. 

She has taught children, teens, college students, professional and vocational adult dancers across the nation. As Director of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center (1992-2004) she oversaw a school offering 100 classes/ week, rehearsal space grants, workshops for professional dancers, dance lectures, weekly social dances, and the Dance Education Laboratory (“DEL") teacher-training program, co-founded with Jody Gottfried Arnhold. She curated the Y’s dance performance programs including student and adult student recitals, the Fridays at Noon and Sundays at Three series of informal professional showings, and the 92Y Harkness Dance Project, an annual five-week fully produced festival featuring five professional companies in 25 performances. 

As Director of Dance for the New York City Department of Education (2004-2014) she spearheaded the creation of the NYC Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, PreK-12, chairing all meetings with participating contributors, and organizing and writing the final copy. In addition, she worked with a team of writers to create the Blueprint special education supplement Dance Education for Diverse Learners and created the Arts Education Manual for School Leaders with contributions from her colleagues at the DOE’s Arts Office. With a team of DOE high school dance educators, she produced a NYSED-approved Intro to Dance high school survey course. She developed and administered citywide student dance assessments including the NYC Comprehensive Dance Examination for high school dance majors, and the dance portion of ARTS ACHIEVE, a USDOE-funded five-year arts assessment project.  FINKELSTEIN supervised the Capezio Ballet Makers Schools Outreach Program providing free student dancewear, and co-supervised Summer Arts Institute, a month-long intensive for 350 auditioned middle and high school students.  Throughout her tenure  FINKELSTEIN led citywide dance teacher PD, supported by a Dance Educator Leadership Training Alliance (DELTA) workshop facilitator team of master DOE dance educators and teaching artists. She was the Dance Education Consultant for the New York Emmy-nominated film PS DANCE! and a member of the 2014 National Core Arts Standards in Dance and 2017 New York State Learning Standards in Dance Revision Committee writing teams.