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.
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.