– Minneapolis Public Schools teacher Colleen Callahan-Russell today received the 2011-12 National Dance Educator of the Year Award at the National Dance Education Organization’s national conference, held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Award recipients are chosen based on having established a record of excellence in teaching dance as an artistic discipline and having demonstrated a strong commitment to professional development.
Callahan-Russell has served as a program director and dance educator at MPS for 29 years. She spent her first 15 years at North High School and has taught for the past 14 years at Southwest High School. She is the president and founder of the Minnesota Dance Educators Coalition. Callahan-Russell’s former students now contributing to the Minneapolis dance and arts community include Stephanie Fellner (Ballet of the Dolls), Thomasina Taylor Petrus (jazz soloist), Peter Macon (national actor), Kenna Cottman (director of Voices of Culture drum and dance ensemble) and dancer/choreographer Aneka McMullen.
The National Dance Educator of the Year Award is granted on a yearly rotating basis to a dance educator from post-secondary education (2010), K-12 education (2011), private sector education (2012) and community-based education (2013).
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