Patricia Melton

Dr Patricia (Trish) Melton is an experienced trainer and lecturer who has worked worldwide to deliver innovative and active learning experiences.  She is an experienced dance educator and in 2011 she formed a community dance school in her rural community in Ireland. In 2017 she expanded this and formed a community tap dance performance group.  Her mission is to make dance accessible to all: dance needs to be inclusive and enjoyable as well as educational. Trish is a choreographer and also trains and mentors dance teachers.

Trish is an experienced researcher, a professional project manager, an author, and now a post-graduate student completing her 2nd Ph.D. Her research is focussed on Tap Dance Pedagogy: how we teach and how we learn tap dance and how we ensure authenticity to the rich cultural and archival history of this original African American art-form. Her research in this area has five key strands which together develops a view on a future state tap dance pedagogy.

In terms of background - Trish is a Chemical Engineer by 1st degree (BSC(hons) 1st class) with a PhD in Chemistry. She also holds an MBA and a MA (Dance Education) with distinction.  She is a Chartered Chemical Engineer, a qualified Dance Teacher (RAD, BBO, ISTD, IDTA) and a Project Manager working within the pharmaceutical industry.

Dance pedagogy

Tap Dance - pedagogy, history and culture

Somatics

Virtual dance education

Motivation and well being in pre-professional dance students