Ohio State Dance welcomes Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown to our faculty in autumn 2018. Dr. McCarthy-Brown will help us expand and deepen our engagement with community partners, mentor our students working in Columbus neighborhoods and direct the School Tour Group. Dr. McCarthy-Brown synthesizes scholarship and creative practice to build an embodied and engaged body of research grounded in social justice. Her book, Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World: Culturally Relevant Teaching in Theory, Research, and Practice, will guide us as we work towards greater inclusion throughout our programs and our people.
McCarthy-Brown has been an active performer, choreographer and educator for the past fifteen years. Originally from San Francisco, her love for dance developed at her community recreation center, and later at the School of the Arts High School. This year she was commissioned to collaborate and perform with Bharatanatyam dancer, Tanya Saxena in New Delhi, India, at the American Center. In 2016, she presented a new work at the 92nd street Y, in New York City, mentored by Doug Varone, followed by another work, Twoness, presented in New York in 2017, in collaboration with Gregory King. She has performed for South African President Thabo Mbeki while performing throughout South Africa with singing artist Tu Nokwe.
Dr. McCarthy-Brown earned a BA in Political Science from Spelman College, an MFA in Performance and Choreography from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Dance Education and Cultural Studies from Temple University. She comes to us from faculty positions at Bowdoin College and Indiana University.
“I am thrilled to join the esteemed Ohio State University Department of Dance,” says McCarthy-Brown. “Faculty, staff and students have been generous in their welcoming spirit, and their kindness has been greatly appreciated. I am excited to be a part of the team and continue to build upon a rich history of community relationships, in my position focused on community engagement through dance pedagogy.”
