Reach Dance Education Program

Reach 2024: a One-Week Pedagogy Intensive

For pre-professional and professional dance educators

Monday – Friday, July 8 – 12, 2024, 9 am – 2 pm; Optional master classes, 2 – 3:30 pm

Open to pre-professional and experienced dance educators, the Reach Pedagogy Dance Intensive will include the investigation of traditional as well as transactional and transforming models of teaching, giving participants the opportunity to tap into their prior knowledge, diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and explore authentic teaching and assessing strategies suited to the urban and suburban settings in which they teach.

Who we are:

After 33 years as a Summer Dance Outreach/Teen Apprenticeship Program, the Reach program is revamping its mission with a focus on training dance educators. Founded by Dance Collective artistic co-directors, Martha Armstrong Gray and Dawn Kramer, before moving to the BU Dance Program directed by Micki Taylor-Pinney, the Reach 2023 program marked the end of the intergenerational company and tour that trained teens and brought our quality art experience, performances and Motion Art workshops, to Greater Boston community centers and camps. Reach’s mission to “provide a positive, quality art experience to thousands of urban youth using the universal language of movement” will continue through our dance training program.

The Reach Pedagogy Intensive, initiated in 2022, will now be our focus as a one-week only program, open to pre-professional and experienced teachers, alike, transforming their personal knowledge into teaching strategies suited to the settings in which they teach. Our focus will be on those dance educators who deliver that art experience to schools and studios, in urban and suburban settings, preparing them to effectively engage with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. As part of our commitment to urban youth, scholarships and paid pre-professional fellowships are available for those working in urban settings and those starting their careers as teachers.

Our Reach Pedagogy Intensive instructors include current and emeritus dance, theater, and occupational therapy faculty from Boston University, Boston-based educators, and guest teachers in multiple dance styles.

What we’ll offer:

A week-long series of workshops that (re-)examines how we become more responsive teachers to achieve “authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.” – Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

  • All-level seminar and experiential movement workshops
  • Breakout groups based on experience, genre, and/or learning environments.
  • Optional afternoon master classes.

We welcome both pre-professional and experienced dance educators to participate. In our Pedagogy Intensives in 2022 and 2023, we found the exchange of ideas from our teens, college interns, staff, alumni, and workshop leaders led to insightful, diverse, and informative conversations.

Sample Workshop Goals (detailed workshop schedule to follow):

  • analyze teaching models & lesson planning
  • integrate cultural and historical relevance
  • explore adaptive dance approaches
  • develop authentic teaching and assessing strategies for bilingual classrooms
  • incorporate injury prevention
  • foster artistic literacy in curriculum development

Sample Learning Outcomes:

  • Through workshops on lesson planning, gain skills to create inclusive learning environments that are applicable to all genres and populations.
  • Join the conversation on culturally relevant dance training and the importance of historical context. Creating this safe space fosters personal growth that you can bring to your community.
  • Learn how to scaffold your lesson plan to incorporate anatomy and injury prevention to emphasize the importance of longevity for your dancers.
  • Discover how to develop a confident teaching persona that showcases your personal artistry. With these tools, you’ll be able to encourage your students to do the same!

 

“Teaching workshops helped us as apprentices to really connect with children and help them learn about dance. By helping I learned excellent strategies on how to teach dance, work with kids, and help kids express their feelings… It was inspirational…”

– Charlotte Willet, teen apprentice, 2012

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