Bashaw, Barbara (bjb24)

Dr. Barbara Bashaw is the Director of the Ed.D. Dance Education Program. With extensive teaching and leadership experience in university settings as a graduate director, program director and as a department chair, she is a recognized expert in dance teacher education. She founded and pioneered three of the leading graduate programs in dance education: Rutgers University (Ed.M. Dance Education with Teacher Certification) and New York University (M.A. Dance Education with Teacher Certification and M.A. Ballet Pedagogy). As a chair, she has also led a top-ranked, conservatory department within Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, which awards B.A., B.F.A., Ed.M. and M.F.A. dance degrees. She has also served on the faculties of Teachers College (1996-2000), the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers (2010-2017) and the Dance Education Laboratory (1997-Present).

Dr. Bashaw is actively engaged in qualitative, ethnographic, historical, survey and mixed-methods research.  She has examined the perspectives of choreographers, dance educators, university dancers, children and adolescent dance learners. She has published articles and book chapters, serves on the editorial boards of Dance Education In Practice journal and the Korean Journal of Dance Studies, and has been a keynote speaker as well as has presented her scholarship at over 50 conferences nationally and internationally.  She has been sought out to lead dance education residencies and professional development workshops. Actively involved in public scholarship, she has served on national and NEA funded projects including the NCAS National Dance Standards writing team; the NDEO Dance Entry Level Teacher Assessment; the New Jersey VPA Dance Standards writing team; the New Jersey State Teacher Preparation Standards VPA committee; the NJDOE CTE Dance and Theater High School Exam; the NYSED Dance Content Specialty Certification Exam; and the NYCDOE Blueprint for Dance advisory committee, amongst other projects. As a board member, Bashaw was instrumental in re-constituting NYSDEA and has served as president of Dance New Jersey.

With a committed belief that youth have important insights to contribute within a wide spectrum of dance artistry, Dr. Bashaw is committed to advancing equity and access to dance education and challenging historical prejudices in the field. Dr. Bashaw’s scholarship continues to be informed by children as young artists and an appreciation for their lively and profound worldviews. Prior to transitioning to post-secondary education, Dr. Bashaw worked with children and adolescents within community settings; private studios; co-founder of Bridge for Dance; as well as with the NYCDOE public schools. As a PK-12 certified, tenured, PK-12 dance educator, she was recognized for her work, “Choreographer’s Workshop,” guiding young choreographers using a fusion of interdisciplinary methods, social justice dialogue, and Laban movement analysis approaches. She began her PK-12 career as a teaching artist and master teacher-of-teachers for Creative Arts Laboratory, ArtsConnection, and the 92Y School Partners program, where she collaborated with and learned from hundreds of classroom and arts teachers.  Throughout her PK-12 career, she has worked in a wide variety of school contexts including zoned, SURR, magnet and gifted elementary, middle and high schools. With an interest in the intersection between PK-12 and post-secondary education, Dr. Bashaw directed the Rutgers Summer Dance Conservatory (2010-2017), which integrates university faculty, PK-12 faculty and graduate students to provide pre-college dance education opportunities and outstanding scholarship funding to underserved youth.

Dr. Bashaw has choreographed professionally for theater companies, PK-12 programs and college programs where she has also served as Artistic Director for numerous productions. She is a Laban Certified Movement Analyst and has engaged in a wide range of dance and somatic studies, including Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Haitian, Bartenieff Fundamentals, ballet, ballroom, jazz, modern (focus on Limon and Humphrey-Weidman) raks sharki, and tap. Some of her notable teachers have included Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Alan Danielson, Jaqueline Davis, Robert Ellis Dunn, Garth Fagan, Sandra Fraleigh, Julio Jean, Carol Mezzacappa, Clyde Morgan, Djoniba Mouflet, Susanna Newman, Jim Payton, Janice Pforsich, and Jacqueline Villamil. Dr. Bashaw’s life-partner is the lauded choreographer and Guggenheim Fellow, Doug Elkins.