Announcing the 2026/27 Dance for World Community Council
Mariko Cantley
Professional Ballroom Dancer & Coach
Mariko was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She started dancing at age five, studying classical ballet for thirteen years, training at Boston Ballet, Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, and the American Academy of Ballet. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree at Harvard University in Intellectual History. At Harvard she discovered ballroom dance, serving as the Captain of the Harvard Ballroom Dance Team, and turning professional while finishing her degree.
Mariko began dancing with Nazar Batih in 2012. Together they are five time United States Ballroom Showdance Champions, Two time World Ballroom Showdance Silver and Bronze Medalists and five time World Ballroom Showdance Finalists. Other results include Canadian Open Professional Ballroom Champions, US Open Professional Ballroom Finalists, Eastern United States Professional Ballroom Champions, Eastern United States Showdance Champions, World Masters Showdance Champions, Yankee Classic Showdance Champions, US National Professional Rising Star Finalists and British Open Professional Rising Star Finalists.
Mariko and Nazar are Licentiate members of the American International Dancers Association and members of the National Dance Council of America. They teach at various studios in the Boston area and can be found online at:
instagram.com/nazarandmariko
facebook.com/nazarandmariko
patreon.com/nazarandmariko
www.nazarandmariko.com
Roberta Chicos
Strategic Marketing Advisor
Roberta Chicos has a lifelong love of dance. She began ballet training at age four and, in college, transitioned into modern dance. She serves on the board of the José Mateo Ballet Theatre and previously served on the board of the Boston Dance Alliance.
Her market research career specialized in new product and business development. Today her focus is to help mission-driven, community-based nonprofits grow. Currently, through her family foundation, the Mary Christie Institute, she works on developing programs supporting the mental and behavioral wellbeing of young adult athletes.
A Swarthmore College graduate, she later attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Economics PhD program. In Madison, she performed with a local modern dance company, often at outdoor gatherings promoting social and community agenda causes—events she now looks back on as nascent forms of Dance for World Community.
Brian Corr
DWC Council Chair
Brian Corr has served on the board of José Mateo Ballet Theatre since 2013 and chairs the board of Eureka Ensemble, a Boston nonprofit that uses classical music as a platform for social action and community engagement. He also serves on the board of Central Square Theater. He first took part in Dance for World Community in 2011, speaking on incorporating dance into advocacy, organizing, and community service work. From 2008 to 2025 he led the Cambridge Peace Commission, convening residents, artists, faith communities, and city departments around difficult public questions, and he has spent four decades organizing and facilitating across the nonprofit and municipal sectors. He plays acoustic bass guitar in TrailMix, a Boston-area acoustic folk and Americana band.
Dr. Kohal Das
Dancer and Scientist
Kohal Das is a passionate Indian classical dancer with over a decade of experience performing at national and international forums and festivals. He has trained extensively in Bharatanatyam under Shri Parshwanath Upadhye and Smt. Shruti Upadhye, and in Odissi under Smt. Rina Jana and Smt. Madhulita Mohapatra. Kohal also learnt Bijayini Sathpathy’s Nrityagram Style of Odissi under Urmila Mallick. Alongside his father, Shri Chira Ranjan Das, he is developing a unique Neo-Classical dance style rooted in Bengal’s artistic traditions and teaches at Ranjan’s Neo-Classical School of Dance. He currently serves as the Arts Director for Dance at the Council of Indian Fine Arts (CIFA), USA, and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Naibedya, a Massachusetts-based Indian Neo-Classical dance collective that brings together classical dance, Bengali music, literature, and culture.
Beyond his artistic pursuits, Dr. Das holds a PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and is a Principal Scientist in Manufacturing Science & Technology at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, following his work at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to the development of the dengue vaccine Qdenga.
Wendy Jehlen
Artistic Director, ANIKAYA Dance Theater
Wendy Jehlen is the Founder and Artistic Director of ANIKAYA. She received her Bachelor’s degree in ritual and performance from Brown University and her Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on performance and religion in the former Persian world. Her unique approach to choreography incorporates elements of Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Capoeira, Kalaripayattu, West African dance, Butoh, and a wide-range of Contemporary movement forms. Her emotionally powerful choreography has been created and performed in the US, Canada, France, Italy, India, Japan, Benin, Brazil, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, Palestine and Turkey.
Samantha Lakin, Ph.D.*
Senior Fellow, UMASS Boston
Samantha Lakin, PhD, is an educator, researcher, and specialist in comparative genocide, human security, conflict resolution, and African affairs. She is currently a Senior Fellow at The Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CPDD) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Dr. Lakin holds a PhD in History from Clark University in Worcester, MA, a Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s in Politics and International Relations from Brandeis University.
José Mateo
Founder/Director
Ballet Theatre of Boston, Inc. / Dance for World Community
Cuban-born choreographer José Mateo founded José Mateo Ballet Theatre (JMBT) in 1986, and developed it into a renowned company and school pioneering a humanistic approach to high-quality ballet performance and training.
Through Dance for World Community, a partnership-based project he initiated in 2009, he has extended the organization’s reach far beyond traditional ballet audiences, strengthening cohesion of the local dance sector and using dance in all its forms to unify the broader community and inspire societal change.
Mateo received a degree in art and archeology at Princeton University, where he also studied modern dance and composition and performed with the Princeton Ballet and Triangle Club. He continued his career as a dancer in New York City performing with several companies and touring extensively before moving to the Boston area to resume his studies in art history. During his two years as an administrator at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum, he developed strong reputation as a ballet teacher and in 1987 formally launched his career as a choreographer with the Strand Theatre debut of his own company in New Paces.
Over four decades, he created more than 100 original ballets for his performance company and the school’s YouthWorks, including a celebrated annual production of The Nutcracker. Mateo’s work has been repeatedly recognized among the region’s top dance events by The Boston Globe and other area publications. Dance Magazine described Mateo as “a dancemaker of range, depth and vision”. The New York Times characterized JMBT as “a bright counterpoint to the retrenchment of classical dance elsewhere around the country”.
Mateo’s honors include the Commonwealth Award for Achievement from the Massachusetts Arts Council, initiation to Barr Foundation’s inaugural 2005 Class of Fellows, the Peace and Justice Award from Cambridge Peace Commission, the Dr. Michael Shannon Dance Champion Award from Boston Dance Alliance and the Oddleifson Award from Arts|Learning Massachusetts. He has served on numerous nonprofit boards including Arts Boston, Boston Cultural Council, Cambridge Arts Council, Manship Artist Residency and Friends of Caritas Cuba.
Laura Rodriguez
Performance, Dance, & Intermedia Specialist
Originally from El Paso, TX, Laura “LROD” Rodriguez now roots in New England, carrying a unique career spanning over 25 years in the arts, technology, and educational landscapes. Key collaborators: Livable Futures, Guillermo Gómez-Peña with La Pocha Nostra, and Taco Reparations Brigade.
Laura enjoyed dedicating fourteen years as a co-director, choreographer, and educator working with pre-professionals and adult communities. After receiving a BFA and MFA, Laura directed and taught at Harvard University and then taught at MIT creating space for NE artists, graduate, and undergraduate communities.
The performance art & dance company, LROD, was active from 2014-2025.
Stephanie Scherpf
Co-Director / CEO, Arts at the Armory
Stephanie is motivated by a mission-driven passion for the arts and social impact. Stephanie co-founded the Haitian dance organization Jean Appolon Expressions in 2011 and served as Executive Director for the organization’s first five years. She has held senior leadership positions as Managing Director of El Sistema USA at New England Conservatory and Project Director for Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium.
In Maputo, Mozambique, she was the Founder & Project Manager of a grassroots project called “Dance for Life,” done in partnership with a Mozambican dance company and funded by foreign embassies and corporations. She served as the Director of Outreach & Education at Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) in Seattle, WA. Having received a B.A. in English Literature at the University of Virginia and an M.A. in English Literature at the University of Washington, Stephanie has written about arts and culture for a wide variety of U.S. and foreign publications, and speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish. She has worked internationally in Haiti, Mozambique and Venezuela.
Folashade Solomon
Associate Professor, Framingham State University
Dr. Folashade Cromwell Solomon received her Ed.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is currently a tenure line Assistant Professor at Framingham State University and a principal investigator at TERC. Folashade is drawing upon her experience as a third-grade teacher, researcher, and lifelong performing artist to explore the ways in which effective out-of-school learning environments in the arts support youth of color in building strong academic identities. She is also concerned with teacher development by helping teachers design instructional approaches that a) identify and build on students’ intellectual strengths, and b) take account of issues of race, class, gender, and other positionalities in relationship to subject matter learning and teaching.
Folashade also serves on the Board of Directors at José Mateo Ballet Theatre.
Annawon Weeden
Consultant, Presenter, Performing Artist
Annawon Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag/Pequot/Narragansett) was born and raised in his father’s Tribal community of Charlestown Rhode Island learning the history of his Narragansett/Pequot lineage. He eventually made his home in his mother’s Wampanoag community located in Mashpee, MA.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Annawon began sharing the culture of his tribes along with his family during public programs/performances at a very young age. As an adult, Annawon’s passion for preserving the culture has been made clear throughout decades spent working at institutions such as Plimoth Plantation (Plimoth Patuxet), Boston Children’s Museum, and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s Cultural Resource Department in CT as a Cultural Instructor. Currently self-employed visiting schools, colleges, museums, libraries, birthdays and more, Annawon has found many creative ways to educate any audience.
On stage or in the classroom, his ability to share his Tribal culture has been sought after by world renowned institutions. Having appeared at prestigious venues such as Smithsonian, National Geographic, Scholastic, PBS, History/Discovery Channel, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Harvard University, Tennessee Tech & many more. In addition, his cultural expertise has been called upon by such international government agencies as: Bermuda Ministry of Cultural Affairs, U.S. National Park Service & most recently his Congressional honor as culture & arts bearer for the region as well as many corporate, educational and environmental organizations.
In addition to speaking on numerous topics, Annawon also provides cultural services such as musical performances, outdoor exhibits, professional development, and consultation.
All of his work falls under the umbrella of his organization, the First Light Foundation.
Jason Weeks
Executive Artistic Director
Artists Association of Nantucket
Jason Weeks is the Executive Artistic Director of the Artists Association of Nantucket (AAN), a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to promoting, supporting, and engaging the work of Nantucket based visual artists. Prior to his work in Nantucket, Jason served for 26 years as executive director of Cambridge Arts, a city department and public nonprofit where he developed innovative approaches to stimulate awareness, participation, and financial support for local artists and organizations. Jason worked with Cambridge City Council, City Administration, the Cambridge Arts Advisory Board, and trustees of the Cambridge Public Art Commission to oversee and guide an award-winning Public Art Program, agency grantmaking, and a wide variety of produced programs and events highlighting the transformative power of arts and culture to improve lives, engage and connect community, and drive positive economic outcomes in Cambridge and the region.
Jason also serves as a Lecturer in the graduate program in Arts and Cultural Management at Boston University and was a founder and longtime board member for MASSCreative, the statewide arts advocacy organization for the Commonwealth of MA. Under Jason’s leadership, Cambridge Arts was recognized with the MA Commonwealth Award, the state’s highest award recognizing successful leadership, community engagement, and arts advocacy within the sector. Jason regularly lectures at area schools and universities and participates in regional and national conferences and symposia to discuss effective strategies in arts administration and organizational success within the creative economy.
Jason’s artistic training and areas of practice include music, theater, and photography. He holds undergraduate degrees in Music and English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a graduate degree in Arts and Cultural Management from Boston University.
The DWC Council will be advising on matters related to Conference 2027, schedule for June 2027, and other DWC activites.