Artists Advisory Panel

Aaron is Co-Founder of the creative venture A Trike Called Funk, a mobile & musical marketing vehicle that amplifies local businesses while supporting local artists. He has been an educator with the international hip hop diplomacy program Next Level USA and is Artistic Director of Boston-based dance crew Beantown Lockers.

Carl Alleyne is a hip hop artist, teacher and producer who runs the Boston Mobile Dance Studio which each month sparks dance parties in different neighborhoods. A native Bostonian, Carl has performed in front of thousands of people, sharing the stage with artists such as Gladys Knight, the late Ray Charles, the O-jays, Fabolous, SPEECH of Arrested Development, Sir Elton John, Neill Young and others.

Thelma Goldberg, Boston Dance Alliance’s 2015 Dr. Michael Shannon Dance Champion, is a tap teacher, choreographer, producer, and pedagogue committed to bringing the best of tap to the Boston metropolitan community. She is the founder of The Dance Inn in Lexington, Mass.

Gretchen Hayden, a senior disciple of the late kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das, has fostered this classical north Indian dance form across New England through teaching, scholarship, and performances with her company, Chhandika.

Kieran Jordan is a lifelong Irish step dancer with a specialty in sean-nós, the improvised “old-style” tradition from Ireland. A choreographer, teacher, and performer, she has collaborated with some of today’s finest Celtic musicians and produced two DVDs.

Award-winning choreographer Marsha Parrilla is the Founding Artistic Director of Danza Orgánica. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and moved to NYC in 1998. Since then she has been choreographing, teaching, training, and performing internationally. Marsha holds a Master’s degree in Dance Education from NYU, and is a Massachusetts Certified Dance Teacher. Marsha Parrilla was selected as a Luminary Artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Neighborhood Salon. She is also a proud recipient of the Creative City Grant, and the New England Dance Fund awarded by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Marsha has taught Dance in NYC and Boston Public Schools, Boston University, the State University of New York in Stony Brook, Roxbury Community College, and Green Street Studios. Parrilla is the founder of the Dance Research Online Forum, a site dedicated to free and progressive dance education, and is an active member of the National Dance Education Organization. In addition, Marsha’s production history includes three evening-length company concerts, as well as the award-winning Annual Festival: We Create! Celebrating Women in the Arts, now entering its 4th season.