Kathleen Gavin has been teaching Dance Appreciation at Rutgers since 2010. She has also taught modern and jazz at The College of St. Elizabeth.

In 2020, she completed a Post-Masters in Educational Supervision and continues to mentor new teachers in K-12 education. She received her MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts in 2003. She attended NYU on full scholarship as a Teacher’s Assistant for Dance History and Graduate Seminar. Her undergraduate degrees are from Rutgers University (BA in Journalism) and Mason Gross School of the Arts (BFA in Dance). (Go Rutgers!!!)

Kathleen’s professional performance career was with Pam Tanowitz, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Heather Harrington Dance Company, Cleo Mack Dance Project, The Rude Mechanicals Theatre Company, and Jacqueline Buglisi, among others. She has presented her own choreography in NYC at Context Studios, Women Center Stage, The Stegman Gallery, Parsons School of Design, Urban Stages, and Manhattan School of Music. She has created dances for NYC East Village Festivals and Jersey City Arts Tours.

The last 20 years, she has focused her career on developing pre-professional dance programs in NJ public high schools. Notably, she headed the dance program at Middlesex County Vocational for six years and has been at the Union County Vocational-Academy for Performing Arts for 14 years (Voted Teacher of the Year in 2012).

She is a certified Pilates mat instructor (Kane School) and yoga instructor (Yogaworks, NYC 200-hour). She spearheaded a summer dance program at The American School in Switzerland where she taught for four summers. In 2010, she was a recipient of the National Arts Teachers Award to attend the Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder, CO. She has served seven years on the Board of Trustees for Dance NJ.