Behind the Curtain Blog

By Shannon Dooling-Cain, NDEO Director of Special Projects ~~ This summer, we find ourselves reflecting on the tenacity and dedication of our members and their students. This year posed many unique challenges for the dance education community, even as the world slowly began to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. In celebration of another year of persistence and innovation, we asked our members to share some of their accomplishments from the past year. Here is just a sample of the responses we re...

By Jennifer Seigle, Residential Dance Faculty and Program Director for Dance at Mesa Community College ~~ What if we thought about business education in dance not only as an important competency, but also as a step toward a more diverse and equitable field? I wonder, does our reticence to discuss the financial aspects of a life in dance make our field less inclusive? Could we make it more inclusive by talking about how we get paid?...

By Shannon Dooling-Cain & Shelby Bensinger, NDEO Staff ~ In this blog series, we are celebrating our member’s diverse, creative, and inspiring visions for the future of dance education. We recognize that our members come from a wide range of backgrounds, dance experiences, and work environments that influence their perspectives on the dance field today and their aspirations for the future...

By Shannon Dooling-Cain, NDEO Special Projects Coordinator ~~ At NDEO, we are keenly aware of the need for a strong and clear vision for the future of dance education. Such a vision helps to direct our current and future efforts in the field, ensuring that the work we do now will have a positive and lasting impact over time. Our organizational vision statement reflects our desire to foster a future that is inclusive and equitable, with an emphasis on accessible, high quality dance education...

By Anabella Lenzu, choreographer, teacher, professor, and writer ~~ For me, self-discipline is the key to working on the flexibility and strength of one’s mind, body, and spirit. Without self-discipline, the life of an artist is impossible. Self-discipline is a respect for what you love. It is your ability to continue choosing to work on your art despite being tired one day, sick another, or any other number of challenges that may arise.No one is going to scream at you and tell you what to do ...

by Jessy Kronenberg & Lindsay Lindberg ~~ California has the largest number of K-12 students in the nation, with more than 6 million students and 300,000 teachers. The enormity of the state’s population, myriad rural and urban communities, breathtaking landscapes, and diverse population make California a unique state in which to pursue dance education as a career. In a field on the brink of exciting advancements in terms of equity, earnings, and advocacy, dance education in California...

By Becca Santone, Teacher at Little Red School House ~~ As we settle in and start making dance class agreements- things we’ll do to keep ourselves safe over the next two weeks- one child’s fears really stuck with me. A first-grade boy was adamant that he did not want to dance. He’d taken dance outside of school, had a bad experience, and was clearly terrified to be in the class...

By Priscilla Hopkins-Smith, Director of Marketing and Communications for Arts Ed NJ ~~ We realized that this was the ultimate advocacy moment. There was no better time to share the need for arts education and the power of creativity. Since the onset of the pandemic and throughout the past two years, the landscape of arts education has changed dramatically. At schools throughout the state of New Jersey, students were forced to communicate and create from home, or through major restrictions durin...

By Michael Montoya, Independent Dance Consultant ~~ In this guest blog post, Michael Montoya offers a brief discussion of the often-rigid gender and sexual identity expectations of the world of dance and the negative affects they have on LGBTQIA+ dancers.

By Dr. Christi Camper Moore, Assistant Professor of Dance at Ohio University ~~ However, amid ongoing burnout and stressors related to the pandemic, feelings of being stifled have presented a more urgent and unique challenge to students’ creativity. In dance major programs that also require students to take dance improvisation and/or composition courses, in tandem with technique courses, this can heighten disconnects between practice and process as students are asked to produce or explore creat...

By Abigail Agresta-Stratton and Lynn Monson, NDEO Mentorship Committee Chairs ~~ In 2017, NDEO established a PreK-12 Mentorship Program, in response to member interest as expressed on our Online Forums and in yearly K-12 SIG meetings at the Annual Conference. The program is coordinated by a member committee in collaboration with NDEO staff. Dance educators working in PreK-12 schools with less than 5 years of experience can apply to be a mentee, receiving support from a dedicated mentor for two y...

By Jennifer O’Neill, Program Director/Faculty at Ace Dance Academy, Master Teaching Artist at Center for Community Arts ~~ Perfection. I used to believe that my need for perfection, in all aspects of life but namely in dance, was a badge I should and could wear with pride. I likened being a perfectionist with validity, ....

By Daniel Levi-Sanchez, a Dancer/Educator living with Myasthenia Gravis ~~ When I taught dance to the 5th graders at The Paul Robeson School in Brooklyn, my objective was less about teaching them how to dance and more about teaching them how to solve problems as a group. I did this .......

By Ann Rodiger, Founder and Director of Balance Arts Center~~ As a former loosey-goosey bendy dancer, who has since had two hip replacements, I want to spread the word about how to be alert to and work with dancers with hypermobility. While teaching ...

By Kendall Baab, MSc., Personal Dance Trainer and Dance Scientist, BodyKinect: The Synergy of Science and Dance ~~ Do you ever have a dancer that you just can't figure out how to teach? They can't increase their turnout, they can't lift their leg higher, and they can’t stay on a high relevé. No matter how ....