PhD, MPhil, MA, Yale University. BA (College of Honors), UCLA. A choreographer, specializing in West African dance forms from Guinea and Mali, Dr. Parker's work has received support from the Jerome Foundation, Harlem Stage Fund for New Work, and New Haven Arts Council. His performance credits include Step-Up 3D, the G’Bassikolo Mexican Tour, and the Fats Waller US tour. He has also performed with artists such as Meshell N’Degeocello, Jason Moran, and Maija Garcia and has been a member of companies such as Kouman Kele, Kouffin Keneke, Sewee African Dance Company, and Harambee Dance Company. Dr. Parker completed teaching residencies at SUNY Purchase and currently serves on the faculty of Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance in Brooklyn, NY. Among his many teachers are Nzingha Camara, Aly Tatchol Camara, Mouminatou Camara, and Ibrahim Doumbia. Dr. Parker is the author of Sartre and No Child Left Behind: An Existential Psychoanalytic Anthropology of Urban Schooling (Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2015) and “The Haze,” which appears in Pedagogies in the Flesh (Palgrave MacMillan, 2018). He is also the founder and CEO of Parker Academics (www.parkeracademics.com), a test prep and tutoring company based in Manhattan. SLC, 2019-
Previous Courses
Dance
West African Dance
Component—Year
This yearlong course will use physical embodiment as a mode of learning about and understanding African diasporic cultures. In addition to physical practice, master classes led by artists and teachers regarded as masters in the field of African diasporic dance and music, along with supplementary study materials, will be used to explore the breadth, diversity, history, and technique of dances derivative of the Africa diaspora. Afro Haitian, West African, Orisha dances (Lucumi, Afro Cuban), and social dance are some genres that will be explored. Participation in year-end showings will provide students with the opportunity to apply studies in a performative context.
Faculty
Darian Marcel Parker