We’re still elated about how wonderfully well our 2024 Dance Teacher Live Workshops & Awards event went last week.
Dance educators, students, family members, and friends all gathered at the Ailey Studios in New York City on Thursday, August 1, to enjoy an action-packed day filled with workshops, movement sessions, a panel discussion, a networking luncheon, and the beloved Dance Teacher Awards ceremony—all made possible with the support from our sponsors: Harlequin Floors, the new Ailey Teacher Certification Program: Ailey Horton Technique, and Rosco.
Engaging Workshops
The day kicked off with a firsthand introduction to the brand-new Ailey Teacher Certification Program: Ailey Horton Technique, which has been developed to provide teachers with a comprehensive understanding of the Horton technique.
Tracy Inman, The Ailey School co-director/Ailey Teacher Certification Program director, and Lakey Evans-Peña, Ailey Teacher Certification Program associate director, presented the workshop, which also included a live demonstration of an Ailey School Horton class with talented dancers, engaging videos, and an overview of the artistic visions of dance icons Lester Horton and Alvin Ailey.
Next up, Rosco gave attendees an insider’s view into the A-to-Z of dance flooring, from tips for measuring studio space to how-to’s on caring for dance floors. Samples of Rosco’s dance floors—Adagio and Duètte—were presented, and one lucky winner even got to take home a dance floor!
Higher Ed Panel Discussion
After a delicious lunch where attendees got to mix, mingle, and network, they participated in an engaging and insightful panel discussion on guiding students through college dance programs.
Esteemed panelists Deborah Damast, associate professor and director of dance education at NYU Steinhardt; Michele Hart-Haviland, chair of the dance division at American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City; Elizabeth McPherson, professor and head of dance at Montclair State University; Melanie Person, co-director of The Ailey School and director of the Ailey/Fordham BFA program; André Zachery, assistant arts professor at New York University Tisch School of the Arts; and Terese Capucilli, faculty member teaching Graham technique at The Juilliard School and our beloved 2024 Dance Teacher Award honoree. All shared their advice for how dance teachers can help students navigate the college application process, insights into what admissions officers look for in prospective students, and tips on selecting the right program.
Movement Sessions
What better way to experience the power and impact all of our Dance Teacher Award honorees have made in their communities than by taking their expertly led short and sweet dance classes? Not only did attendees get a sampling of techniques for teaching various dance styles, but they were also treated to share in each awardee’s teaching practice throughout the day.
Dr. Diane Duggan brought laughter and joy as she taught a simple, highly engaging and adaptable movement structure that she developed in her work with students with behavioral and learning challenges. And Dre Torres taught a dynamic rhythm musicality exercise, which she interspersed with some quick and exciting tap riffs in between that drew cheers and applause.
No one could help but move and groove during Jackie “Miss Funk” Lopez-Foaad and Leigh “Breeze-Lee” Foaad’s flavorful freestyle workshop. Attendees thoroughly enjoyed learning the foundations of hip-hop social dances from the early 1990s to the modern era (think the Bankhead Bounce and the Reebok)—all while listening to the genre’s greatest hits and newest classics. And, finally, Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag, our 2024 Awardees of Distinction, capped off the day with a meditative, community-centered closing practice.
Dance Teacher Awards Ceremony
From the heartfelt speeches and touching tributes to the fond memories, heartwarming stories and tremendous outpouring of love shared by each of the awardees and those who attended to support and honor them, the ceremony was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
Here are some of the most memorable quotes from the honorees’ speeches.
Terese Capucilli
“As educators, it has always been important to nurture the whole person. However, as technology separates us into these little pockets of confusion and isolation, I feel my work as a teacher is amplified. I’m always challenged to bring the individual back to a true understanding of themselves in order to be able to give to others. To feel the textures of life, to regain sensitivity, a sense of listening quietly to one’s heart, to renew awareness of our capacity for flight, and to vast imaginative journeys, and the practice of all this while standing fully in the sensitivity of one’s place in the ritual of the studio. To bring self-love, self-trust deeply into the skin to allow for learning to be honest and joyful. Creating a safe environment where their voice is heard, but their listening is keen.”
Dr. Diane Duggan
“It is our responsibility to create and develop lesson plans, but that’s only the beginning. If you just deliver your lesson plan, you’re not really teaching. What you need to do is to put it out there and then observe. Be in that moment: What are they actually doing? And engage with that. To me, that’s real teaching…It is my predilection and my training to dance with the people I’m working with. It’s their dance. When I want to do my dance, I go home and go out. When I’m with my students, we’re doing their dance.”
Jackie “Miss Funk” Lopez-Foaad and Leigh “Breeze-Lee” Foaad of Versa-Style Street Dance Company
“We’d like to thank our students for being open-hearted and trusting us. It’s the consistency that we show through action that allowed them to trust us to keep coming back and learn. We were the students of life. We were learning how to pass down something special through street-dance culture. We use that as a tool to gather them and to hopefully guide them—not direct them, not to tell them what to do, but guide them and say, ‘Hey, maybe go down this route and not this one.’ In that sense, street dance does save lives.”
Dre Torres
“The history of tap dance is a vibrant thread in the cultural fabric of America. It’s important to honor its deep history. By honoring its history, we preserve not just dance steps but narratives of struggle, triumph, and cultural exchange…I’ll continue to lead with passion, intention, and commitment to ensure that our contributions endure long after I’m gone. That’s a promise I make to the tap dance community and everyone that came before me.”
Awardees of Distinction: Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag
“It’s amazing how people have poured into me, and now I get to share,” said Brown, to which Cabuag added: “It’s weird to get this as a teacher because I feel like I never stopped being a student.”
Cabuag also talked about beginning to dance at age 18 and his teacher giving him copies of Dance Magazine and Dance Teacher to show him that dance was so much bigger than what he experienced in San Jose.
“We teach a lot. Everywhere we go, we want to teach. On tour, we don’t want to do teach, perform, and leave. We want to be in the community,” Cabuag said, adding, “Ron always says, ‘Do the work for the sake of the work, not for the sake of the goal.’”
Nominations for the 2025 Dance Teacher Awards Are Now Open!
We are so grateful to everyone who joined us, and we’re already looking forward to the next time we can gather the community to share our teaching practices and celebrate our mentors and role models.
Our 2025 Dance Teacher Awards nominations are now open! Nominate your favorite dance teachers via this form by Monday, March 31, 2025. You can also get in touch with me via email at [email protected] if you have any questions.
See you at the 2025 Dance Teacher Live Workshops & Awards!
This event was sponsored by:
