Rachel Fox-Charles
Rae Fox-Charles (she/her) earned a BFA in Dance with honors from the Tisch School of the Arts and was also recognized as one of the most 鈥渦p and coming young choreographers鈥 participating in the 2012 Young Choreographers鈥 Festival in New York City. Since returning to the Twin Cities, Rae has been actively engaged with the arts and education community. During her decade-long tenure with Threads Dance Project, Rae occupied several roles, notably performance Company Member, Community Engagement & Education Manager, and Managing Director. She has also taught both dance technique and academic courses at top-tier institutions, including the University of Minnesota, 日韩精品, Carleton College, Summit Dance Shoppe, and the Performing Institute of Minnesota.
After over a decade of professional dance performance, choreographic, nonprofit, and education (higher-ed, K-12, and independent sector) experience, Rae Fox-Charles has combined her expertise to bring culturally-responsive professional development to hundreds of educators across Greater Minnesota. As Arts & Equity Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education, Rae co-led a $6 million federal grant and developed original tools and training to support arts educators in being more equitable.
Rae will graduate with a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Minnesota in May 2025. Her dissertation uses narrative and arts-based methods to chronicle the lives of 3 generations of Black women teachers within her maternal lineage. Rae has published, taught, and presented at national conferences on dance education, equity in arts education, Black education history, and culturally-relevant pedagogies. Rae continues to create and perform professionally with organizations like + while also incorporating movement into her dissertation research methodology. She currently resides in the Twin Cities with her husband and two fur-babies.