A FEW GLOBAL PEOPLE
Jervon Dailey
E. Robert Lattimore
​Thomasa Daughety
Product Manager, Kroll
Manju Bala
Research Specialist, Vanderbilt University
Dhru Upender
Dr. Montanez Wade (Rest in Peace, Queen Monty)
Retired Engineering Professor, Tennessee State University
This beloved board member's spirit soared in March, 2020, and we are trying to match her beautiful soul as we fill position.
Board Emeritus - ex-officio
Monica Cooley
Kala Nivedanam School of South Indian Classical Music & Dance
Teree McCormick
Tennessee Jazz & Blues Society
Metro Arts Committee for Anti-racism & Equity
Gayathri Narasimham
Associate Director, Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning
Amy Bryant
Director, Metro Office of Conservatorship Management
Dr. Naoko Ozaki
Center for Language & Intercultural Communication
National Account Manager, Second Harvest Food Bank
Mayra Yu Morales
Director, Casa de la Cultura Latino Americana
Ellen Gilbert - ex-officio
Director, Global Education Center
Ellen Gilbert
Executive Director & School Outreach Program Director
Ellen is the founding director of the Global Education Center, created in 1996 based on her thirty-five years as an anti-bias, multicultural arts education specialist. In her work as an administrator, a teacher, a parent volunteer and a student of world dance styles, Ellen saw a need for developing intercultural understanding and respect and for exploring ways in which to create classrooms that are safe havens for all of our children. With encouragement from educators throughout the area, she partnered with a diverse pool of artists to create lively programming that beckons all of the senses to experience the richness and beauty of different cultures, offering creative solutions to confront cultural and religious intolerance, stereotypes, misinformation, lack of information and the many negative "isms" of American society which make harmonious living difficult for many people.
Read more about Ellen in The Nashville Scene and on The Greenery.
Charlie Gilbert
Music Director, Youth Program Co-Director, and Technology Specialist
Charlie is the program director for Roots, Rhythm and Rhyme, our summer, after-school and weekend arts programming for youth at both our satellite studio in Casa Azafran Community Center and our home base in northwest Nashville. He holds a Masters in Latin American Studies from Vanderbilt University Center and graduated with a B.S. from Eckerd College, majoring in Spanish and International Relations, where he was Director of Cultural Affairs, organizing festivals and scheduling artistic performances and activities for students and the community. He has literally grown up at the Global Education Center and works as staff over both Latino and youth programming and as a teaching artist, teaching Spanish and world percussion (African, Latin, Polynesian and bucket/drum line). He has been invaluable in solidifying our relationships with our Latino families and instigating partnerships with Latino organizations such as Nino Luz, a nongovernmental organization in Peru. Previously employed by Nashville Public Library as a Spanish-language workshop presenter in their Bringing Books to Life program and as a Spanish language home-school coordinator for Headstart, he brings vast experience in working with international children and their extended families.
Alejandro Rivera - on sabbatical, hopefully to return!
Dance Director, Studio Manager, and Production Director
Alejandro joined the Global Education Center staff after a few years as a contracted artist. He serves as director of dance as well as studio manager and artistic director of Helios World Dance Ensemble. He continues to be a popular choreographer, teacher and performer throughout the Nashville area and has his own dance program specializing in choreography for Quinceañeras. He has a BA in Industrial Management/Human Resources, with a Minor in Education. He is from Hatillo, Puerto Rico, where he trained in Musical Theater, Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern, Latin, Ballroom and Ballet, from four Academies: Compañía Baile Moderno in San Germán, PR by Janice Santana, and Elmer Pérez; Western Ballet Theater in Mayagüez, PR by Nana and Mumy Badrena; Ballet Jazz de Mayagüez in Mayagüez, PR by Doris Ocasio; and School for the Performing Arts in San Juan, PR by Waldo González. Mr. Rivera was the director and founder of the first College Dance Team to receive full university tuition scholarship out of all 11 state universities in Puerto Rico. He was chosen out of 50 teachers at W.A.L.K.S. (private magnet school in Mayagüez, PR) to provide dance workshops in private and public schools as well as organizations and other groups of kids and adults in Danbury, Connecticut. Alejandro opened his own performing arts studio, named Imagination Performing Arts Studio in Mayagüez, PR, where students had the opportunity to create their own musicals and the teachers were their guides to explore their talents throughout the class. Mr. Rivera left his career as a Healthcare Training Manager to join Global Education Center full time so he continue to make a difference in the lives of every person he encounters through the power of dance.
Jeimy Vitor Gilbert
Teaching Artist, Youth Program Co-Director, & Social Media Specialist
Jeimy teaches ZumbaKids®, PoundFit® and Peruvian dance in preschools and early learning centers for the Global Education Center. She has created an interactive preschool Spanish language program that she shares with families both at the Global Education Center and in area schools. She is heavily involved in our healthy lifestyles collaboration with Meharry Medical College Department of Pediatrics. Jeimy performs on the Center's Afro Latin Dance team in both Afro Cuban and Peruvian dance. She comes to the Center with several years of experience as a preschool curriculum creator at an NGO in Peru serving children of Inca descent and uses this experience to enhance her work with Latino families in Nashville. Jeimy is a student at Nashville State Community College where she is studying English and early childhood education.
Tirra Olufemi Hargrow
Teaching Artist, Home School Coordinator, & Social Media Specialist
Tirra is the resident West African and Afro Latin dance teacher at the Global Education Center. She performs West African, Afro Brazilian, Afro Cuban and Afro Peruvian dance as well as leads our children's Zumba®crew. As a certified fitness trainer, she teaches Zumba®, ZumbaKids®, and just about every other form of Zumba® in addition to being a Beach Body® coach. Tirra has studied with various dance masters from Guinea, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia and Peru while at the Global Education Center. She holds a Masters in Public Health and assists with the healthy lifestyles component of several of Global's programs. She also coordinates the Center's home-school programming and is a valuable asset in our school outreach, Passport to Understanding. And beyond all of that, she is an incredible mother to two amazing young men, whom she educates at home.
Shannon Holland
Teaching Artist, Drum Builder, and Facilities Manager
Shannon has been an employee at the Global Education Center since 1997 when he was an 18 year old drum instructor and dance class accompanist, rising to position of Percussion Director over the years. He has studied with over thirty masters from Africa through his years at the Global Education Center and has performed, taught drumming, and accompanied classes for 36 years. He stepped down from his position a few years ago to start his own drum-building and repair business, Gorilla Drums later renamed Urban Djembe, coming back to Global as a part time employee after a three-year hiatus. While he has stepped back from extensive teaching and performing, he has kept his one passion for teaching homeless folks through special projects. He oversees our vast inventory of drums from Africa and beyond and maintains our creative technology as well as our facility.
While we have close to 100 artists on our roster, these are the artists currently working regularly in the schools.
Michael, known to most people who do Capoeira as Professor Eme Eme, began learning Capoeira with his family in 1999 in Lexington KY. He finds the acrobatics movements to be very freeing and the history is something in which he takes great pride. The vast majority of his training has been with Capoeira master Mestre Gildo Valu who is in Bahia, Brazil. This Capoeira education has taken Michael to many places, including Brazil, where he learned how the art form is practiced in the traditional academies, the modern/ contemporary classes, and even in the streets. Entering his fifth year of teaching for the Global Education Center, Michael shares his love of this Afro Brazilian art form, teaching a little about all aspects of Capoeira - its dance and fighting movements, games, music, ritual, history and role in political resistance and survival. Through the Center, he and his group, Grupo Balança Capoeira, perform Capoeira and teach in schools throughout Middle Tennessee, including Metro Nashville Public Schools, as well as offer community classes for children (age 4-12), teens and adults of all ages and skill levels, including folks at Room In The Inn. When he is not doing Capoeira, Michael can be found working tirelessly on his PhD in Computational Biology.
Monica is a respected performer and teacher of Bharatanatyam, the beautiful and intricate classical dance form of southern India. An American born in Singapore and raised in Indonesia, Ms. Cooley learned Indonesian dance forms as a child, as well as Western classical ballet, before being introduced to Bharatanatyam in 1979 in the southern Indian city of Madurai. Her early teachers of Bharatanatyam were Mrs. Neela Krishnamurthi in Madurai and Mrs. Sujaya Dixit in Atlanta, GA. In 1986, she went to live in Madras, India for intensive professional training with renowned dancers, Narasimhachari and Vasanthalakshmi. Under their careful guidance, Monica worked to master the demanding physical technique and graceful art of expression required of Bharatanatyam dancers. Her Arangetram (debut performance) took place in Madras, India in September 1989. Monica is an active performer, teacher and choreographer and one of Global Education Center's original resident artists. In addition to performing in area schools and festivals for the Center, her school, Kala Nivedanam, is housed at Global where she teaches with her husband, Mahadevan Sankaran, who teaches Hindustani music and vocals.
Shaolu McLaren
Shaolu is the founder and artistic director of Little Eagle Chinese Dance Academy, a resident school of the Global Education Center. She was a professional dancer in China as well as a tour guide sharing the history and culture of the various minority groups in China. After moving to the U. S., Shaolu decided to share the dances of her homeland with children in Middle Tennessee. She has a thriving children's dance program as well as an annual Chinese arts immersion camp, both of which take place at the Global Education Center. She also coordinates and facilitates numerous Chinese cultural exchanges for middle school, high school and college students. In the past, Shaolu has taught and set choreography for Nashville Chinese Culture Club and Van Divas but has devoted the last few years to focusing on the children.
Carlos Duran
Carlos received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from The Florida State University in 2006. Carlos is a versatile drummer with experience in jazz, rock, Latin, and African rhythms. Throughout his career, he has been part of many diverse recording sessions with artists in the United States and abroad. As a studio musician, Carlos has been recorded performing on a variety of instruments including drum set, djembe, congas, cajon, bongos, bells, udu drum, and castanets. Carlos has served as percussion accompanist for a variety of college and university modern and African dance programs including those at The Ohio State University, Kenyon College, and Florida State University. Currently, Carlos is a dance accompanist at Belmont University and Global Education Center and performs with Global Education Center's Afro Latin Dance and Drum Ensemble, Nyama. He also teaches for Global in their Restorative Arts programming with Davidson County Juvenile Court.
Summer Shack
​Summer has studied a plethora of different dance genres including ballet, modern, tap, hip-hop and majorette. She is an alumna of Belmont University's College of Visual and Performing Arts, where she majored in theatre and drama with an emphasis in directing and minored in dance. Summer has been dancing ever since she was a little girl but did not start professional training until her freshman year of college. Her love for dance goes beyond performing on a stage--she loves children and the magical feeling she gets from motivating and inspiring youth. Her goal as a dancer is to diversify her experiences and talents with the world of art and extend arts opportunities to at-risk youth and families who suffer from financial disadvantages. She works to give back to her community by teaching dance and offering mentorship to local community centers, while encouraging kids to use art as a way to overcome life's hardships. "As a child, dance was one of the few things that kept me away from the negativity that controlled my environment. Dance helped me gain self-confidence and gave me a reason to be happy in a world full of drugs, violence and lost dreams. Dancing made me feel secure and I knew that no matter what, I could always gain a clear head through movement and gesture."-Summer
Shelby Hughes
Shelby has been dancing and doing martial arts for over 14 years. She is a third degree black belt and instructor of Wado Ryu Karate, a first degree black belt in Satori Ryu Samurai Swordsmanship, and has been training with Grupo Balança Capoeira of Nashville and Niseido Ju Jitsu of Murfreesboro for almost 2 years. With origins in classical dance, she is now a Latin dance instructor and choreographer in Nashville and frequently teaches and dances BachaTango, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Argentine Tango, and Zouk to name a few. She is a member of the Music City Salsa team and La Fuerza, a national semi-pro Bachata performance team. A graduate of Vanderbilt University with a double major in Arts Management and Film Studies, and a graduate of MTSU with a B.S. in Spanish, she is passionate about the arts of different cultures and learning about how they connect to one another. (Tango and Karate are much more similar than you might think)! I hope to be able to use my background in dance and martial arts to help create understanding and appreciation for all art forms in the Nashville community.
Ashlyn Cianciolo
Ashlyn is a new member of the Center's growing family of teaching artists. Originally from Wisconsin, Ashlyn has been living in Nashville for 3 years. She is an active member of Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, performing and choreographing with the company since January 2016. In addition to creating new dances, Ashlyn is also a teaching artist - working with various studios and programs throughout the Nashville area. She is passionate about inspiring the next generation of artists and teaching in a way that promotes self-awareness and body positivity. We are fortunate to welcome her to our Global family as a teacher in our Roots, Rhythm and Rhyme youth programming as well as a performing member of Helios World Dance Ensemble.
Shabaz Chijioke Ujima
Shabaz is from Nashville where he began his dance training at Nashville School of the Arts and Nashville Ballet. He also studied at New World School of the Arts (Miami, FL), Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance (New York, NY) and Practice Yoga( Dayton, OH). In his professional career, he has danced with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble; Martha Graham Ensemble; and Jeanne Ruddy Dance. His teaching experience includes classes while at Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, at South Dayton Dance Theater, at North Cincinnati Youth Ballet, at School of Nashville Ballet (contemporary dance and yoga), and Decca Academy (mindfulness and yoga with young males with behavioral problems). He joined the teaching artists' roster of the Global Education Center in 2015, where he will be teaches creative movement, yoga and mindfulness in the schools.
Sterling Faust
Sterling is a professional ballroom and contemporary dancer, formerly with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, a former student at Trinity Laban in London, and a recent transplant to Nashville. Prior to joining the Global Education Center, he taught at World Dance Productions and Jeraldyne's School of the Dance as well as serving as an actor at LaComedia Dinner Theatre in Springboro, Ohio. He has been working with the Global Education Center since 2019, teaching ballet, modern, hip hop, ballroom and South African boot dancing in our after-school and Saturday program for youth. In 2021-2022, he will be co-leading our Black Arts in America project.
Nicole Drinkwater
Nicole began her dance training at age four in her hometown studio in Baltimore, Maryland. Her studies in dance history and technique continued through her High School dance program. She attended High Point University where she obtained a minor in Dance studies. While at High Point, Nicole had opportunities to conduct her undergraduate research in choreography and travel to Seville, Spain to study flamenco. After graduating, Nicole moved to Denver where she spent time as a company member dancing for both Rocky Mountain Rhythm and Ethereum Dance Collective, while teaching hip hop classes with Dance Exploration. Upon moving to Nashville, she joined Nashville Tap Experiment, Blue Moves, and began working with the Global Education Center, teaching creative movement, hip hop and tap to students enrolled in our Roots, Rhythm and Rhyme program. She also performs with our Helios World Dance Ensemble.
AnaLi Ramirez
AnaLi is Global Education Center's teacher of Mexican folkloric and Aztec dance, leading both children and adults in the traditions of her homeland. She began dancing as a young child and continues to study whenever opportunities arise. She is also skilled in West African and Afro Latin dance, performing with the Center's Helios World Dance Ensemble as well as its Nyama Afro Latin Ensemble. She is trained in yoga and mindfulness for children and, for this project, will be primarily involved in those community sites for which Spanish will be the primary language.
Thandiwe Shiphrah
Thandiwe has worked with the Global Education Center for many years, serving as the director of literary arts and community engagement. While she has stepped down from this position and moved from staff to contracted artist, she continues to help curate the Center's Line Breaks Literary Reading Series, which she created 18 years ago. Thandiwe is founder of MuseWisdom.com, the online home of her poetry-inspired creativity. Most of her work is dedicated to highlighting poetry's role in human creativity and its capacity to drive social change. For more than two decades, Thandiwe has been developing and producing poetry-inspired workshops, products, exhibits and installations, and live concerts for adults and youth. Her offerings help promote wellness, awaken the imagination, foster ingenuity, cultivate goodwill, and celebrate our oneness with each other and the natural world. She often performs and facilitates community projects with her husband, artist, composer and musician Daniel Arite.
In addition, we have the following dance and music groups in residence at the Global Education Center.
Afro Latin Dance Team
Belly Dancing Shakes
Blues Moves Modern Dance
Dance with Dai & Pink Diamonds Hip Hop Crew
English Country Dancers
Grupo Balanca Capoeira
Helios World Dance Ensemble
iJam
Kala Nivedanam School of South Indian Classical Music and Dance
Line Breaks Writing Collective
Global Latin w Shelby
Music City Salsa
Nashville Tango Club
NYAMA Diaspora Ensemble
Little Eagle Chinese Dance Academy
Sentir el Ritmo Latin Dance Company with Salsa Fierce and La Fuerza Dance Teams
Small World Yoga
The Bosch Institute
Tula Tribe Belly Dance