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STAFF

Patsy Baxter Rowe, Ph.D

Executive Director,

Teacher

Dynasty Battles

Piano Teacher

Nina Wilkinson

Strings Teacher

Vivian N. Rowe

Assistant Director,

Teacher

Booker Rowe

Violin Teacher

Antoinette Coward-Gilmore

Dance Teacher

Danse4Nia Residency Program

Patsy Baxter 
Rowe, Ph.D

Executive Director,

Teacher

STAFF BIOGRAPHIES

Patsy Baxter Rowe is the founder and Executive Director of Rowe Academy.   She is also an Associate Minister at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. Dr. Rowe is a music scholar, a singer, and a teacher. Previously, she was an Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Department at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.  She worked as interim Dean of Women at Lincoln University, taught at the Community College of Philadelphia for ten years, and served as Director of Training for Freedom Theatre’s performing arts school in Philadelphia.  She taught music for two years at Adaire School in Philadelphia and worked as a Colloquium Leader for the Philadelphia Alliance for Teaching Humanities in the Schools (PATHS), developing enrichment workshops for public school music teachers.  Dr. Rowe is a published researcher in music psychology.  She has presented many conference papers, has had newspaper coverage, was interviewed on a television talk show regarding her research findings on the history of African-Americans in opera, and was interviewed on a radio program centering on women in the arts.  

 

Dr. Rowe has had extensive experience in conference and event planning.  Recently, she organized and facilitated a Church Music Conferencefor the Philadelphia Baptist Association; spearheaded a Leadership Conference for Millcreek Baptist Church and was Program Director for a Stop the Violence Conference at Millcreek.  At Lincoln University she facilitated four successful Lincoln University Women’s Conferences; organized a Conflict Resolution/Mediation Workshop for students; planned music programs and workshops led by other music scholars and performers; and delivered speeches and/or performed at convocations, faculty retreats, honors assemblies, humanities symposia, chapel services, commencements and baccalaureate services.  Dr. Rowe was also a trainer/facilitator at the Institute for Emerging Women Leaders at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. . . . more

Vivian N.
Rowe

Assistant Director, Teacher

Vivian N. Rowe is a designer whose skills, passions and training encompass architecture, landscape design, floral design, multiple forms of the visual arts, and dance.  She received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Hampton University in 1996.  For ten years she worked in architecture firms in Philadelphia including Group G Architects, DWKCB Architects, Ballinger, Lighthouse Architecture, Kise Straw and Kolodner, and Saxon/Capers Architects. 

 

In 2005, she opened her own floral design business, Zahra’s Floral Studio, a boutique business specializing in floral design for events.  In 2006 she worked in landscape design with Romancing the Garden Landscape Co. and eventually added landscape design to her business offerings.  In 2008, Vivian began to branch out into teaching.  She worked for the Mural Arts Program for two years as an art teacher and directed art projects, exhibits and mural installations.  For two summers, she taught art in the Buildabridge Artology Program, a camp integrating art and science with an emphasis on nature, the outdoors and local trips.  There, she developed curricula as well as designed and coordinated projects such as rain and sculpture garden installations, and exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 

In addition to her work in the visual arts, Vivian is a gifted dancer who studied many forms of dance including modern, jazz, ballet and salsa.  She teaches dance at The City School and danced with the Art in Motion Latin Dancers.  Prior to that, she danced with the Spirit of David praise dance team at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church for nine years.  During her college years at Hampton University, she was a member of Ebony Fire, the dancing arm of the marching band. . . . more

Dynasty Battles

Piano Teacher

Nina Wilkinson

Strings Teacher

Booker Rowe

Violin Teacher

Antoinette Coward-Gilmore

Dance Teacher

Danse4Nia Residency Program

Booker Rowe is a violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra who first appeared as a substitute for the 1968-1969 concert season.  Playing with the Washington National Symphony from 1969-1970, he returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1970.  In addition to those two orchestras, he has played with the Nashville Symphony and the New Haven Symphony.  



Born in Kentucky and raised in Philadelphia, Mr. Rowe received a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University and a Master of Music from Yale University.  As a soloist, he has performed concertos from the traditional repertoire, specializing in works by Bach, Bruch, Prokofiev, Saint-Saens, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Vieuxtemps.  He has premiered new works by African-American and other minority composers and in 1986, was soloist with the Chestnut Brass Company of Philadelphia to honor Philadelphia’s early nineteenth-century African-American composers.  In March 1992, Mr. Rowe was the featured soloist in the Jose White Concerto with the Royal Ethiopian Philharmonic Orchestra at a benefit concert for Ethiopia at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C.  In 2008, he performed a series of lecture-recitals featuring the works of classical composers of African descent.

 

As a chamber musician, Mr. Rowe has played with the Nashville Symphony String Quartet, the Symphony of the New World String Quartet, the Huntingdon Trio, the Society of Ancient Instruments of Philadelphia, and has given joint recitals with his wife, Dr. Patsy Baxter Rowe, a lyric soprano.  He has performed with faculty members of the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, Temple University, Settlement Music School and. . . more

Rowe Academy has formed a partnership with Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble for its dance instruction.  Dance classes are taught by Danse4Nia's founder and artistic director, Antoinette Coward-Gilmore.

 

Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble, is a professional, multi-cultural contemporary modern dance company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Its mission is to educate, empower and create the next generation of well-rounded arts advocates and citizens by presenting exceptional dance works, collaborating with artists across genres and delivering high impact residencies.


The Danse4Nia Residency Program is an initiative designed to give quality dance training to organizations without a formal dance program.  The following are institutions that Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble has served/ is currently serving in a residency capacity:  Imhotep Institute Charter High School, Northwest Talent Center, The Philadelphia Center for Arts & Technology, Salem High School, Salem, NJ. & Faith In Action, Burlington, NJ, Greene Street Friends School, Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School & George Washington Carver Engineering & Science High School.

 

Antoinette M. Coward-Gilmore is a native of Philadelphia, PA., where she began her training in 1985 at Freedom Theatre under the direction of Patricia Scott Hobbs.  She has also trained at the Philadelphia Dance Company Training Program, Governor School of the Arts, Brenda Lee School of Dance & Franklin Learning Center under the direction of Faye Snow where she intensely learned the Horton Technique. Ms. Coward-Gilmore is a graduate of the University of the Arts & New York University . . . more

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