Every year in our summer issue, we honor four dance educators for their outstanding contributions to the field. Recipients have included studio owners, professors, program directors, K–12 teachers and more, whose specialties run the gamut of dance genres. We need your help to identify this year’s best in the profession. Do you have a colleague […]
Ask Michele Larkin-Wagner and Molly Larkin-Symanietz what sets them and Maplewood, Minnesota–based Larkin Dance Studio apart, and they immediately give the credit to their mom. Shirley Larkin founded the school in 1950 and continued to oversee the growing business until she passed away in 2011. “She put Minnesota on the map for dance training and […]
In Macarena Gandarillas’ jazz class at California State University, Fullerton, a sign in the studio reads, “Never underestimate the power of determination.” This simple mantra embodies what has made this self-described “danceaholic” such an impactful teacher. When Gandarillas came to Los Angeles at age 6 with her family from Santiago, Chile, the language barrier was […]
It was the morning of November 8, 2018, and Jarrah Myles’ first-period choreography students were in last-minute rehearsals for their fall dance concert that evening. “All of a sudden my students’ phones started ringing like crazy,” says Myles, a teacher at Inspire School of Arts and Sciences, a Chico, California, high school whose dance and […]
While taking class in 2006, Marisa Hamamoto felt a tingling sensation in her elbows, then suddenly collapsed to the floor. She was hospitalized and diagnosed with spinal cord infarction, a rare spinal stroke that left her paralyzed from the neck down. Despite being told by her doctor that she may never walk again, let alone […]
PICTURE YOURSELF IN THIS PHOTO. (Here, our 2016 award winners and the DT staff.) If you’re a dance teacher, studio owner, professional dancer or just someone who can bring the funk at a party thanks to your adolescent dance studies, you’ve definitely encountered a teacher who had a sizable impact on your life. Now’s the […]
Four incredible educators: Joanne Chapman, Claudio Muñoz, Pamela VanGilder and Kathleen Isaac foster their students’ love of dance, whether instilling artistry, offering rigorous training or giving special needs students an outlet through movement. Joanne Chapman Keeping it all in the family in Ontario If you’d told the teenaged Joanne Chapman that her future lay in […]
Hi All, Karen Hildebrand here, counting down the days to our Dance Teacher Summit next week. We’ve got a great lineup planned! You’ve seen them in the magazine, on the cover and in videos on our website. Next week you’ll see them in the flesh here in New York City—your favorite role models will be […]
Instilling A work ethic in Ontario Elite Danceworx students have a strong ballet foundation. Three years ago, Dawn Rappitt was giving birth on August 29. Two weeks later, she was back in the studio teaching a full schedule of classes. The owner of Elite Danceworx in Markham, Ontario, is so fiercely devoted to her students […]
Bridging high school with college and beyond in Virginia Many of Abigail Agresta-Stratton’s students go on to study dance in college. When her teaching hours dropped roughly 38 percent between September 2011 and June 2012, Abigail Agresta-Stratton had an inkling. New York State school dance programs were being cut left and right, and dance teachers—only […]
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