BIO

Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown is an Assistant Professor of Community Engagement Through Dance Pedagogy, at The Ohio State University. Native of San Francisco, Nyama has been an active performer, choreographer, and educator for over fifteen years. In 2021, she was awarded Outstanding Dance Educator of the Year - Higher Education, from the National Dance Education Organization and The Distinguished Dance Educator Award from Dance Teacher Magazine. She is also an established scholar, with articles in numerous academic publications including: Journal of Dance Education, Arts Education Policy Review, and The Journal of African American Studies; and chapters in Dance: Current Selected Research (2018), and The Arts as White Property: An Introduction to Race, Racism, and Arts in Education. In 2017, her book, Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World: Culturally Relevant Teaching in Research, Theory, and Practice was released. The New York City Board of Education selected the book to purchase and distribute to all of their teachers for professional development. Currently, she is developing an evolving duet about parenting a young black, male, child, that was performed in Brooklyn, New York, and San Francisco, California, in 2019. Nyama teaches dance education and contemporary dance with Africanist underpinnings grounded in community and celebration of all movers. In addition, Dr. McCarthy-Brown is an active consultant and workshop facilitator for diversifying dance curriculum for a variety of educational settings for organizations such as: San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Enrich Chicago, Dance Educator’s Coalition, Minnesota, Ohio Dance, BalletMet, and Rutgers University Dance Department.