Our 2014-2015 Fulbright NY Alumna-in-Residence, Rebecca Davis, speaking at TEDxFulbright
Our 2014-2015 FAIR resident was entrepreneur and choreographer, Rebecca Davis, who founded MindLeaps. MindLeaps is a not-for-profit organization that creates dance and educational programs for street children and underserved youth in post-conflict and developing programs. MindLeaps uses a kinesthetic-based curriculum to improve the cognitive skills of youth to ensure they can go to school, enter the workplace and leap forward in life. Originally from British Columbia, Rebecca has choreographed and taught in Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guinea and the United States. She was classically trained in the Russian Vaganova method of ballet while studying in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk, Russia. She received a degree in choreography from The Saint Petersburg Conservatory under the tutelage of Nikolai Boyarchikov (former Artistic Director, The Mussorgsky Ballet). She is a two-time Fulbright scholar and summa cum laude graduate of Temple University with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship. She holds a Masters of International Relations with a concentration in Peacekeeping from American Military University. In 2013, CCTV made a documentary about her work in Rwanda. Rebecca has appeared on The Melissa-Harris Perry Show, given two TEDx talks, and been a guest speaker at several universities, including Brandeis, Brown, Princeton, and University of Michigan. In 2014, she spoke at the United Nations Association Film Festival and was featured in Project M magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Magazine, The Good Service Magazine and on Voice of America radio.
LINKS:
www.mindleaps.org
facebook.com/mindleaps
youtube.com/rebeccadavisdance
@MindLeaps
CCTV's documentary Faces of Africa: Dance up from the street
Rebecca on The Melissa-Harris Perry Show
Rebecca Davis' TEDxFulbright talk
Pictured at right, Rebecca Davis teaches youth in the MindLeaps program in Rwanda. MindLeaps uses a kinesthetic-based curriculum to improve the cognitive skills of youth to ensure they can go to school, enter the workplace and leap forward in life.