Tag: k-12

Former DT Award Recipient Stars in New Documentary, Toe the Line

Dance Teacher 2014 K–12 public-school education award recipient, Joan Sheary, is starring in a new documentary, Toe the Line: Arts Education for Life. The film, which is currently wrapping 10 years of filming, follows a group of high school students as they participate in a public arts magnet middle school program in Worcester, Massachusetts, under […]

Should You Use Hands-on Corrections in a K–12 Setting? Two Teachers Weigh In

For a young student in the process of developing bodily awareness, a hands-on adjustment by a teacher can mean the difference between safe and incorrect alignment. But in many K–12 schools today, a hands-on approach is frowned upon or sometimes even forbidden. With dance being a kinesthetic art, this limitation presents a predicament for K–12 […]

Shana Habel Creates a Model K–12 Dance Program at L.A. Unified School District

“It’s amazing that we’re still here,” says Shana Habel, arts advocate and dance advisor for the Los Angeles Unified School District. “The arts education branch of LAUSD has a lot of support for what we’re doing, but that support can’t always translate into funding, because the money’s just not there. I tell teachers that the […]

Michael Kerr Inspires a Love of Dance in Brooklyn Middle-schoolers

“You know when people ask, ‘Why does dance belong in K–12?’” asks middle-school dance teacher Michael Kerr. His response: “Well, why not? Not everyone who takes dance classes has the ambition of becoming a dancer, just like not everyone who studies science wants to become a scientist. That’s a big revelation for my students. It […]

This After-School Dance Program Makes Math Accessible—and Cool

Dancers in SHINE demonstrate mathematical concepts with their bodies. MIT graduate and dancer Kirin Sinha is using movement to teach math to middle school girls. She created the after-school program SHINE, not only to help students understand concepts—using movement games and building shapes with the body—but to change their attitudes toward being females in math […]