MEET THE TEAM

Alexandria "Ally" Browne is the Director of Raise The Arts. She was born in Hawaii and moved to Florida at the age of four, immediately stepping into a dance class upon her move. Ally has trained for thirteen years in ballet while taking master classes and dance intensives in other various dance styles. She has performed the leads in several shows, including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Wizard of OZ, and Alice in Wonderland. In middle school, she danced on Southwood’s Dance Team, traveling to Universal Dance Association (UDA) Nationals and winning first place in jazz. This past year, she competed in Universal Ballet Competition (UBC), a global ballet competition, and was awarded a scholarship and acceptance into the University of Florida’s New World School Of The Arts College. In addition, this summer Ally trained under Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theater Company in New York City. In her senior year, she joined the Miami Palmetto High Variations Dance Team.

During her sophomore year in high school, Ally learned about the Raise The Arts project from Devica, the founding director. After hearing about the purpose of Raise The Arts, it inspired Ally. She saw the opportunity to help future women using the arts, which is one of her foremost life endeavors. With her passion for dance, she sees the potential for the organization to grow and believes that the influence Raise The Arts has on women will be nothing short of positive.

Devica Shah is the Founder and Director of Raise The Arts. During quarantine, Devica’s family conducted an at-home painting activity where each family member painted a canvas tile. Devica painted a blue and purple abstract dancer on her tile. After she completed it, the final painting did not satisfy her. She decided to sell the painting at her dance studio’s local recital. After receiving ten painting orders on recital day, she chose to donate the funds to Wells on Wheels.

For two consecutive summers, Devica built her summer art project (previously known as Devica’s Dancers). She paints dancers on canvas tiles based on the customer's color and dance pose specifications. She later expanded beyond dance paintings to include other sports and hobbies, increasing her target group. However, she wanted to take it one step further. She wished to organize a dance show to raise her donations and deeply incorporate her passion for dance. While discussing her plans for the show at school, she met Ally. Devica recruited Ally as the Assistant Director to act as the Director of Raise The Arts once Devica graduates, preserving the project's longevity.

After successfully organizing the first dance showcase in May 2022, Devica hopes Raise The Arts continues to use dance and visual art to increase female education in the future.