As dance education professionals, we understand the dynamic, affirming, community-building power of dance. But unfortunately, we live in a time when dance is increasingly misunderstood, misrepresented, underfunded, and undervalued. The challenges facing the field of dance education at this moment cannot be overstated. Funding for the arts, at every level, is increasingly at risk. Dance programs in K-12 and higher education are being dismantled at an alarming rate. The challenges of the current economy are directly impacting privately owned studios and companies as earned income and donations become increasingly difficult to secure.
But it is not all bad news. In 2024, NDEO and our members have made concrete strides forward toward our vision of equitable and accessible #DanceEducationForAll. Working alongside our members and partners, we are responding to the challenges before us, reframing them as opportunities for the field to grow, evolve, and advocate for itself in new ways. Together, we are doing the work needed to ensure that dance education thrives in 2025 and beyond by connecting the field, building knowledge, and cultivating leadership.
This crucial work is made possible only through the support of our members, and it is vital that we continue to work together to overcome the challenges ahead. If you are not a current member, make 2025 the year that you join or renew your lapsed membership. A strong and robust member base helps keep our organization fiscally strong and strengthens our advocacy work. Our members are the heart of our organization, and everything we do is made possible because of our membership. If you are a dance parent, former dancer, or dance enthusiast who wants to see dance education thrive in future generations, consider making a donation to support the programs, services, and advocacy you will read about below.
Building Knowledge
As society changes, so must our field. We are committed to building knowledge within dance education that can respond to evolving understandings in culture, science, and psychology. Our work helps ensure that dance educators have access to a wide range of timely, useful, and accurate information that helps them adapt to the changing world around them. At the same time, we seek to raise the visibility and credibility of dance as an art form and academic discipline with discrete content, skills, and knowledge to be learned.
NDEO’s Dance Education Blog - NDEO's innovative Dance Education Blog is a free resource made readily available on our website to help disseminate knowledge to all dance educators. It also allows members an opportunity to be published on a national platform, which has the potential to advance their careers. The blog is one of our most popular programs, with 31,641 views in 2024. In 2024, we published 25 new blog posts. These included 12 guest blog posts written by NDEO members, as well as 5-post series, “Strategies for Connecting with Your Dance Students” that featured member contributions along with material used in some of our OPDI courses.
OPDI Courses - NDEO was among the first organizations to recognize the potential of online professional development for dance educators. Our Online Professional Development Institute celebrated its twelfth anniversary in 2024! In an effort to strengthen the diversity of our offerings, we held an open call for new OPDI course concepts and professors and received over 40 submissions. Ultimately, 15 course proposals were selected for development between 2024 and 2025. In 2024, we launched 8 of these brand new courses, with the remaining 7 slated for 2025. Each of these courses is designed to respond to the current issues and trends in the field. We also revamped 2 existing courses, making them more relevant for today’s dance educators. This brings our course catalogue to over 55 courses.
Scholarship Program - In recent years, NDEO has made an effort to make high-quality professional development more accessible to all dance educators. A key aspect of this effort is our Professional Development Scholarship Program. These Scholarships promote workforce development in the field and help individual dance educators achieve their career goals through continuing education. This year, we offered 39 professional development scholarships and 4 student conference scholarships. NDEO acknowledges the generosity of Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, whose visionary support helps make our Professional Development Scholarship program possible.
Cultivating Leadership
All dance professionals are leaders in their own situations - whether it is leading the class as a dance teacher, creating choreography for a group of dancers, or directing a dance studio, company or program. Yet too often, the leadership skills of dancers go unappreciated or ignored in their workplaces or communities. NDEO is working to change this narrative by changing the conversation about leadership in our field, elevating the status of dancers in leadership in the broader fields of arts and education, and providing access to resources, mentors, and opportunities that will be essential to cultivate leadership.
National Awards - NDEO recognizes emerging and established leaders in dance education through our National Awards program. In 2024, we recognized 19 National Award winners, including esteemed and emerging professionals working across dance education genres, sectors, and geographic regions. We also introduced a brand new award, the Outstanding Dance Education Organization Award, which recognizes exceptional dance organizations in either non-profit or private sector that have made unique and impactful contributions in the field of dance education.
Connected Arts Network - One new and exciting way that we are working to promote leadership within the field of dance education and beyond is through the Connected Arts Network (CAN). This initiative was created by the National Art Education Association (NAEA), in partnership NDEO and the Educational Theater Association (EdTA), and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). CAN is a five year, multi-faceted project bringing together a cohort of Teacher Leaders who will develop their own leadership skills while offering high-quality professional development to their peers. In 2024, 125 dance educators from across the United States, working with different grade levels and in different dance styles, were paired with a Teacher Leader to form a Professional Learning Community dedicated to continuing their education in diversity, equity, inclusion, and social-emotional learning in dance. Not only will this initiative help build and strengthen leadership in dance education, but it will also lead to the creation of resources and professional development accessible to the entire field through NDEO. Stay tuned for more information!
Connecting the Field
NDEO seeks to provide meaningful connection in a world where dance educators are often isolated or lack true community. We work with our members and partners collaboratively and collectively to promote a range of professional and cultural practices, transcend perceived differences, and honor the individual within the growing community of dance educators. At the forefront of this work is our strong desire to new ways to share ideas, encourage equity and inclusion, and create a culture of respect within and across teaching and learning environments.
Conferences and Events - Through our conferences and events, NDEO provides opportunities for dance educators to In 2024, NDEO offers a record number of conferences spanning a
variety of topics, to help bring the field together online and in person to connect, share, and learn. Dance educators working in all sectors of the field were invited to refresh and rejuvenate during our 2024 National Conference, REVITALIZE: Breathing New Life into Your Dance Programs and Teaching Methods. This conference was held in September in Bellevue, Washington. About 750 dance educators joined us for three days of professional development, social events, networking opportunities, and performances, centered around the theme. In addition, we held two Special Topics Conferences on specific areas in the field:
- What Data Can Do for You: Data-Driven Opportunities in Dance Education, held in February in Rochester, Michigan, in partnership with Oakland University
- Somatic Movement in Dance Education: Enhancing Health and Creativity for Teachers & Students, held in July in New York City, in partnership with the International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association (ISMETA)
Additionally, we offered two virtual professional professional development opportunities in 2024, Innovations in Disability and Dance: Reaching Back, Moving Forward and a Virtual Summit for PreK-12 Dance Educators.
Opportunities to Share - In the last several years, we have taken deliberate steps to increase opportunities for member representation within our organization. This helps strengthen the diversity of the resources and programs that we offer, and also provides individual members with chances to be recognized on a national level. One primary way we have increased this representation is through our website. In 2024, we launched an Events Board, where members and non-members can share their dance-related events with a national audience. The Events Board joins the Jobs Board and Online Forums as ways that dance educators can connect through our website. Additionally, we’ve undertaken several major web content projects since 2022, including informational pages on Dance Education Research, Graduate Programs in Dance Education, and K-12 Dance Education Careers. Each of these pages features insight from NDEO members on their experiences with the topic, which is gathered through an open call for contributions. In total, 88 members have been featured through this initiative.
On behalf of the NDEO Staff, Board of Directors, and Advisory Council, we would like to offer our sincere gratitude to our members, donors, and partners for supporting us as we worked toward equitable and accessible dance education for all by building dance education knowledge, cultivating the next generation of leadership, and creating meaningful connections in the field. We are proud of what we have accomplished this year, but know that there is so much more to do.
We are ready to rise to the challenges facing dance education in 2025 and beyond. Are you ready to join us? We can only do this together! Join NDEO, invite a friend or colleague to become a member, or make a donation today.