Dr Marelize Marx

Dr Marelize Marx lectures Dance education, Music education and Philosophy of Education at the Faculty of Education, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Marelize has a Masters Degree in Music and a Doctorate Degree in Education, the latter specifically focusing on dance education and notions of social cohesion in South Africa. She spent 15 months in Czech Republic, where she studied Cultural Sociology at Masaryk University, Brno as part of a European Union mobility programme. In 2016 and 2017 she was a post-doctorate research fellow at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa, where she continued to investigate the potential of dance education to promote social cohesion in a culturally and politically diverse (post-) conflict society. Her research interests include African philosophy, diverse meanings of community, ethno-cultural identity, ideas of self in relation to the other, becoming ‘fully human’, inter-cultural communication, nation building, peace education and national healing.

Marelize is also a professional musician, cabaret artist and choreographer. As classical pianist she did a performance tour in the Netherlands. As singer, Marelize has performed around the world onboard various Italian and Greek cruise liners entertaining international audiences. Marelize is also the official choreographer of the internationally acclaimed Nelson Mandela University choir, who won the traditional section of a World Choir competition in Spittal (Austria) with her choreography. Marelize had her own modern dance studio, and continues to choreograph various local school productions.