Dr. Melanye White Dixson
Department of Dance Chair Dr. Nadine George-Graves announced the creation of the Dr. Melanye White Dixon Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund (317146) at the Spring Informance on Friday, April 23, 2021 held on Zoom. The new fund supports diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the department. Dr. Dixon attended the event with her family and friends and accepted the honor after several colleagues and students paid tribute to her legacy. Professor Dixon is a native of Chattanooga. She is the sister of local professor and entertainer, Dr. Clark White aka Deacon Bluz; parents: the late Mr. Carl and Mrs. Nellie White.
Emerita Associate Professor Melanye White Dixon began her professional dance preparation at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and as a merit scholarship recipient at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She is an accomplished performer and served as a choreographer, performer, and master teacher for the International Festival of Dance Academies at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts in Wan Chai, China. Professor Dixon has served on the Board of Directors for American Dance Guild, OhioDance, and as a cultural competence consultant for the Ohio State Board of Education. She has been honored as a Temple University Alumni fellow and maintains an active schedule presenting research at national conferences and promoting community outreach and engagement in the arts. Professor Dixon has received several grants for her research including a Critical Difference for Women Professional Development Award, College of the Arts Faculty Development Grant for research in multimedia computer technology for dance documentation, Arts and Humanities Publication Grant and an Arts Initiative Grant to support the OSU Dance Uptown Young People’s Concert. She has done extensive research on African American women in concert dance, and her work has been published in SAGE, Dance Research Journal,Black Women in America, African American Dance in History and Art, African American Lives and Harvard University’s African American National Biography Project. She is author of Marion Cuyjet and Her Judimar School of Dance: Training Ballerinas in Black Philadelphia (2011). Dr. Dixon is the coordinator of dance education and teaches courses in Dance Pedagogy and Dance History.
Dr. Dixon received the 2015 IABD/International Association of Blacks in Dance Educator/Scholar Award, a 2016 Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Research grant to document the work of celebrated dancer Mary Hinkson and in April 2017 the OhioDance Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Dance Education.
Fall 2018, Dr. Dixon was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant for her engagement as an invited speaker at the first annual International Conference on Arts and Design Education and lecturer on dance education at the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia in Bandung, Indonesia, September 14-28, 2018.
Areas of Expertise include Education/Pedagogy and Dance History.Education: EdD in Dance Education, Temple University; MA, Columbia University, Teachers College; BA, Spelman College; 1969 Graduate of Riverside High School.