Sarah Marcus is the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Mark Morris Dance Group. As Director, she develops and oversees all aspects of education and community engagement programming and partnerships in collaboration with communities across New York City, the US and abroad. Over the last 11 years, programming has grown to serve nearly 25,000 people annually.

Prior to the pandemic, the education and community engagement programs served 2,500 children and teens with and without disabilities, 8,000 adult students, and partnered with forty community-based and cultural organizations in four of New York City’s five boroughs. Recognizing the Dance Group as a resource to the broader dance field, Sarah has developed professional development and training workshops that support career pathways and workforce development for students engaged in all aspects of the art form including arts administration, music in dance, teacher training, and pre-professional study.

During her tenure, Sarah has developed programming that generates revenue representing 20% of the organization’s annual $10 million budget. As a member of the senior staff, she plays a critical role in the strategic vision, planning, and implementation of the organization’s short- and long-term goals, ensuring cross-departmental collaboration and efficiency. She works closely with all departments to meet revenue, both earned and contributed, capacity goals, and outcomes.

Committed to her role as a teaching artist in the studio, she teaches technique for students of all ages as well as in the Dance for PD® program. In addition to teaching on behalf of the Mark Morris Dance Group, Sarah teaches regularly for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Earl Mosley Dances. Sarah currently serves as an officer and steering committee member of the Museum, Arts, and Culture Access Consortium (MAC), Cultural Programming Committee for the Metro-Tech BID, and is a member of several arts service organizations including National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), NYC Arts-In-Ed Roundtable, Dance/NYC, Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance (DBAA), and International Association for Blacks in Dance. Sarah received her B.S. from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She danced professionally with the Oakland Ballet Company, Liss Fain Dance, and freelanced for several Bay Area choreographers. Prior to coming on board to MMDG, Sarah was Artistic Director at Berkeley Ballet Theater, a pre-professional ballet school, from 2005–2009. Sarah lives in Forest Hills, Queens with her husband and two children.