She is assistant professor of ethnomusicology at Syracuse University, where she teaches courses on Latin American and Caribbean music and dance. She is editor of Salsa World: A Global Dance in Local Contexts (Temple University), author ofFrom Quebradita to Duranguense: Dance in Mexican American Youth Culture (University of Arizona), Tigers of a Different Stripe: Performing Gender in Dominican Music (University of Chicago), and numerous articles ranging from folklore to competitive air guitar. She is launching a musical activist project on race in the Dominican Republic (http://musicagainstracism.wixsite.com/home). In her spare time she yodels and plays accordion.