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OPDI-M26

Dance in Communities: Models & Methods of Building Community & Reciprocity

Male dancer with back to camera dancing in front of a large group of dancers.

Professor: Ali Duffy

Tuition: $310 member / $385 non-member

6 Weeks; 1.5 NDEO-Endorsed PDCs

Dance in Communities: Models and Methods of Building Community and Reciprocity explores dance as a critical element of thriving communities via a series of interrelated units related to community engagement, advocacy, audience building, and fostering partnerships. Additionally, students will explore the relationship between dance and communities, specifically focusing on performance’s stakes and responsibilities in the construction of culturally diverse and inclusive communities. These topics, taken together, comprise a course focused squarely on how dance can impact communities of all sizes, scopes, and geographical locations. Dance as a mode of shared ideation, collaboration, and inclusion is centralized in the course. This course is structured to empower dance educators working in K-12, postsecondary, community, and private studio environments; dance students interested in community engagement and nonprofits; and nonprofit and community administrators or leaders with the knowledge that their individual contributions with dance are artistically, economically, and educationally valuable and powerful in their communities and beyond. The ways dance educators and community individuals and organizations can forge symbiotic relationships to benefit all underlines this course’s mission. 

No book required for this course.

Questions about this Course?  Email opdi@ndeo.org

Past Student Testimonials

"Taking this course helped me to reevaluate my personal bias, learn more about the benefits from community engagement in dance, and about the power dance has to influence change among within our society."

"I feel like I have a better understanding of the importance of connecting with the community. There were so many eye opening articles and I feel like I am walking away from this course more prepared for my classes and with a new approach on dance education."

"The course provided a valuable way of looking at dance and how to broaden its presence in various communities. I appreciated the readings and frameworks that help us think about our own communities."

"I very much enjoyed the assigned readings. They gave me a lot of new material to consider and tools to implement as I move towards community-based movement practices."

"When you are a practitioner, it is key to see where the industry conversations are going and what I need to learn to maintain."

"Good introduction to the topics of community and arts, it covered a good cross-section of examples."

Professor Bio

Ali Duffy (PhD, MFA) is Professor, Associate Head, & Graduate Director of Dance at Texas Tech University and the Artistic Director of Flatlands Dance Theatre (www.flatlandsdance.org). Dr. Duffy's book, Careers in Dance, was published in 2020. Her forthcoming book, Dancing Motherhood, will be published by Routledge in 2023. Additional books in progress: Research in Dance (Human Kinetics) and an open-access text, Meet the Dancemakers (Raider Publishing). Her research has also been published in the Journal of Dance Education, the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, Dance Education in Practice, the Journal of Arts Management, Society, and Law, and she presents internationally at academic conferences. Recent guest opportunities include University of South Florida, Virginia Tech, Central Michigan University, Alma College, University of Detroit, Lindenwood University, COCO Dance Festival. Her work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and multiple regional foundations.  

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