Tag Archives: Performing Arts Teachers

NY dance teacher Persephone DaCosta earns coveted FLAG Award

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Dance teacher Persephone DaCosta started a girls’ empowerment club at her New York City public school that was so successful it was transformed into an academic class. The enterprise has earned her a coveted FLAG Foundation Award. Photo Credit: PATCH

I always enjoy sharing stories about creative educators who have earned accolades for their work with students. One of these is Persephone DaCosta, a dance teacher from New York who has earned a coveted FLAG Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

Persephone teaches traditional, West African, and Africa-Caribbean dance at Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public school located in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn, New York. The school offers a multicultural curriculum and intensive Arabic language instruction. There she inaugurated a young women’s empowerment circle she called ROSE, an acronym for Respectful Outstanding Sisters of Excellence. As part of the program, high school students gathered after school to talk about sisterhood and leadership. Before long, Persephone noticed the positive impact of the program on her students. Their attendance improved, they were getting better grades, and they were behaving better. Inspired by the students’ progress, Persephone transformed ROSE into an academic class that focuses on leadership and mentorship. In this course, students plan school-wide events, visit college campuses, and learn about mental wellness.

Of Trinidadian descent, Persephone began her dance training at the age of 6. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, and traditional African dance. She graduated from Stony Brook University, where she studied dance, anthropology, and “Community Development through the Arts.”

The FLAG Award “is meant to identify teachers, recognize them for the incredible things they are doing in and out of the classroom, and award them for all of their efforts,” explains FLAG co-president Risa Daniels. “These are teachers who are having an impact beyond the classroom and doing things that are having long lasting, ripple effects on their schools,” she continued. As a winner of the FLAG award, Persephone will receive $25,000 and Khalil Gibran International Academy will receive a $10,000 grant to spend on their arts education program. Persephone intends to use the grant to renovate her sparsely-equipped dance studio.

PA dance teacher LaDeva Davis successful in Show Biz

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Beloved dance teacher LaDeva Davis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also earned fame in Show Biz. Photo Credit: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Many excellent educators have also earned fame in the entertainment industry. One of these was LaDeva Davis, a dance teacher and choreographer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was also successful in Show Biz.

As a young woman, LaDeva studied at the Philadelphia Musical Academy. Once she completed her education, she accepted a position as a junior high school teacher in 1965 in the Philadelphia School District, where she taught her entire professional life. In 1978, she became a member of the inaugural staff of the famous Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA). She worked there as a full-time teacher for 44 years. In all, her career as an educator spanned 57 years.

Without exception, her students report that she genuinely cared about them. She made sure her kids got to their classes on time and checked up on their academic progress. And if one of them couldn’t afford new ballet shoes, she bought them a pair from her own pocket. She had a reputation for being a stickler for perfect grammar, good posture, and respect. And she helped them develop into accomplished performers. During her years at CAPA, LaDeva’s students performed in many Thanksgiving Day Parades, and in shows which she had choreographed in both California and Florida.

In addition to her work at CAPA, LaDeva taught at Swarthmore College, served two terms as President of the Board of Philadanco, and worked as a choreographer for commercials, local theater companies, and a Mummers fancy brigade.

In fact, LaDeva’s work in the entertainment industry began when she was very young. As a child, she made weekly appearances on the Parisian Taylor Kiddie Hour Radio Show. Later, she sang in supper clubs. In the 1970s, she hosted What’s Cooking?, which became so popular she became the first African American woman to have a nationally syndicated cooking show. Behind the camera, she co-produced the 2007 Dixie Hummingbirds album Keeping It Real: The Last Man Standing, and for her work on the album she was nominated for a Grammy. At various times in her life she performed with such notable entertainers as Josephine Baker, Pearl Bailey, Natalie Cole, Billy Dee Williams, Danny Thomas, Jamie Farr, Alan King, Jimmy Walker, and Gregory Hines.

For her work as an educator, the beloved teacher garnered several honors, including a Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, a prize given each year to Philadelphia’s best educators. In 2015, she earned the Mary McLeod Bethune Award for leadership, excellence, and achievement in education from the National Council of Negro Women.

Sadly, this Chalkboard Champion passed away on Sept. 8, 2022, after suffering a stroke. She was 78 years old.

Annelise Tedesco named Louisiana’s 2022 Teacher of the year

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Music educator Annelise Tedesco of Chalmette, Louisiana, has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Louisiana Life Magazine

There are many fine educators who support music education, and some of them have even earned recognition for their work in this area. One of these is Annelisse Tedesco, a music educator in Louisiana who has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Annelise currently teaches music and arts electives to students in grades 9-12 at Chalmette High School in Chalmette, Louisiana. Her career as a music educator has spanned 14 years, but she’s been employed at Chalmette since 2008. Annelise coaches many scholarship winners and award-winning soloists and ensembles in her work as the school’s Music Director.

Passionate about providing music education to underprivileged students, Annelise is the co-founder of the Performing Arts Academy, a district-wide program dedicated to in-depth training in the arts at little or no cost to the participants.

The honored educator says part of working with students is remembering that many things are going on in the students’ lives outside of the classroom, both at home and on social media. She asserts that leading by example is important, not just in teaching students the material, but also in teaching the students how to navigate in the world. “Shakespeare once wrote that all the world’s a stage,” she declares. “We’re teaching kids how to perform on the stage of life,” she concludes.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Annelise serves as the Educator Advisor to the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. With Donna Edwards, the current First Lady of Louisiana, the honored teacher serves as a vocal advocate for the importance of arts education in Louisiana schools.

As if all this were not enough, Annelise also works as a professional musician. She has collaborated with musicians from the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, where she was once designated a featured soprano soloist. She has also performed in Mahler for the Children of AIDS; Beethoven for the Indus Valley; as Hucklebee in The Fantasticks; as Annina in La Traviata; a summer season with Opera in the Ozarks; and two Carnegie Hall benefit concerts to raise funds and public awareness for pediatric AIDS patients and victims of the floods in Pakistan.

Annelise earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music from Loyola University, summa cum laude, and her teaching credential from the University of New Orleans.

To learn more about this remarkable educator, click on this link to an article about her published on nova.com.

Maryland theater teacher Donald Leifert also a sci/fi actor

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High school English and Theater Arts teacher Donald Leifert of Maryland earned some renown as an actor in science fiction and horror films. Photo Credit: who’s.com

It is often said that there is a certain amount of theatrics involved in teaching. This must be true to some degree, because there are many examples of talented educators who are also successful as actors. One of these is Donald Leifert, an English and Theater Arts instructor who also earned some renown as an actor in science fiction and horror films.

Donald was born on February 27, 1951, in Maryland, the son of Dolores J. and Donald L. Leifert, Sr. During the Viet Nam conflict, Donald served as a soldier in the US Army. As soon as he earned his honorable discharge from the army, he spent two years studying at the Douglas-Webber Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.

Donald worked with independent film director Don Dohler in science fiction and horror films. He was cast in the role of the homicidal ghost in The Galaxy Invader, and then the contemptible lout Drago in Nightbeast, and also the good-for-nothing redneck Frank Custer in The Alien Factor.

Once Donald decided to change careers, he accepted a position teaching English and Theater Arts at the Carver School for the Arts in Baltimore County, Maryland. He later taught English and journalism at Dundalk High and Catonsville High and English and Theater Arts at Towson High School in Baltimore. In addition, Donald was a published author. He authored his biography, entitled Riggie: A Journey from 5th Street.

This exceptional educator passed away from a heart attack at the young age of 59 on October 23, 2010, in Parkland, Maryland. At his passing, this Chalkboard Champion was remembered fondly by his former students. “He always pushed his students to be their best, because he knew we were capable of it, even when we didn’t,” remembered former student Jennifer Wallace. “He was kind, funny, and stern when he needed to be,” she said. Other former students agree. “As a senior in high school he would allow me to teach his beginner acting class now and then,” commented former student Jessica Wentling. “He gave to me the love of teaching, a passion that I intend to continue pursuing,” she concluded.

Music teacher Sarah Mae Lagasca garners coveted Milken Award

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High school music educator Sarah Mae Lagasca of Newark, New Jersey, has garnered a prestigious 2021-2022 Milken Educator Award. Photo credit: milkeneducatoraward.org

It is always a pleasure to share stories about talented educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Sarah Mae Lagasca, a high school music teacher from New Jersey, who has garnered a prestigious 2021-2022 Milken Educator Award.

As a music teacher at Arts High School in Newark, Sarah Mae strives to increase her students’ proficiency in music theory, composition, sight reading, vocal technique, music history, recording and production technology, marketing and branding, and personal artistic growth.

Sarah Mae has long been recognized as an innovative instructor. Throughout the pandemic, the honored educator culled and shared a variety of strategies to keep students engaged in her virtual classroom, including breakout rooms, hand signals, recordings, and online programs such as Music First, FlipGrid, and Soundtrap.

As if all that were not enough, Sarah Mae has made significant contributions to music outside of the classroom as well. She has conducted Newark’s All-City Choral Ensemble and organized workshops with professional musicians through the VH1: Save the Music Foundation and GRAMMY Museum. She has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and contributed to various recordings, including Arturo O’Farrill’s “Four Questions,” which won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Sarah Mae attended the Westminster Choir College, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education in 2013. Westminster is a residential conservatory of music formerly located in Princeton, New Jersey. In the Fall of 2020, the college relocated to Rider University’s Lawrenceville campus.

The Milken Educator Awards have been described by Teacher Magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching.” In addition to the $25,000 cash prize and public recognition, the honor includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 2,700 exemplary teachers, principals, and specialists from all over the country who work towards strengthening best practices in education. Sarah Mae is one of up to 60 educators to receive the Milken Educator Award for the 2021-2022 school year. To learn more, click on Milken Educator Awards.