What benefits can a worldly understanding of dance education have on our delivery of classes as dance educators? A well-rounded understanding of dance, across countries and cultures provides unique insights and perspectives that, if aligned with your perspectives on teaching and applicable and appropriate for your students, can add a richness and depth to your class. All knowledge we acquire as dance educators can inform our own teaching philosophies and goals for our classes. Today we will gain insight into secondary and post-secondary dance education in Korea with the help of Yerin Lee.

GUEST: Yerin Lee is a Korean contemporary dancer and filmmaker based in London and Seoul. Yerin studied Korean traditional dance at Kyunghee University in South Korea. After she moved to London in 2016, she completed an MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, University of London and founded her dance project team, ‘Y Dance’, with other Korean artists. Since, Yerin has been creating diverse dance performances, films and programmes, while trying to portray social and political issues through her work. Currently, she is working towards her PhD focused on political performance in screendance with traditional Korean concepts at the University of Roehampton.

The topics of inclusion and diversity have found its way into the school system through the implementation of individualized learning plans. These plans are in place in so that we are reaching and meeting the needs of each and every student. However, individualized education and training in the dance class is still a new and in some cases a foreign concept. How does an inclusive environment look in our dance classes, and how to we implement, navigate and foster it? We will discuss some strategies and gain some insight into this important topic today, with the help of Ms. Tsirogianni.

GUEST: Tsirogianni received a degree in Physical Education and Sports Science and a Master’s degree in Special Physical Education from Aristotle University in Greece. She is conducting her Ph.D. research on the multiple ways dance therapy can be used for kids with special needs in preschool education. Her academic studies are complemented by numerous certifications from a variety of renowned organizations including a Master certification in dance and disability from the “DanceAbility International Method”. In 2015 she I founded a "wheelchair dance group" for children with mental and physical disabilities in Greece and currently works with many organizations and schools teaching dance to people of all abilities.

Were you there? Sitting in that post-secondary dance class, or company thinking that you were never going to have a career as a dancer? Maybe your experience was early, as early as high school perhaps where you were pressured and convinced that there were no career opportunities and no job security in the arts. Perhaps you were encouraged to pursue a post secondary degree or schooling in something other than dance assuming that an education in dance would ultimately get you no where. But we love dance… some of us obsessed with it... while others claim it is a part of them and would be lost without it. What options do we have? How can we continue to explore our love for dance beyond the studio? At Canada’s National Academy of Dance Education, a part of our mission is not only promoting dance education, but advocating for it. So much so that we did a project, showcased on our Youtube channel on Dance Careers in Canada. The project highlighted a number of Canadians across the country who have careers in dance or have has careers that stemmed from their education in Dance. There are many fields one could pursue in dance education, including dance science, therapy, writing and more. Today we will talk about our needs as dancers post performing career, our intimate need to have experiences with movements and how an extension of our experiences with dance in the form of a career differs from our experiences while studying dance.

GUEST: Rooting from Toronto, Canada, Melinda is a professional dancer, teacher, choreographer, and editor based in Hong Kong. Having graduated summa cum laude from York University’s BFA(Honours) Dance Program, Melinda went on to pursue further studies in the Teacher Training Program at Canada’s National Ballet School where she completed her RAD teachers’ examination.In 2017, Melinda graduated with distinction from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with an MFA Dance Degree in Choreography. Melinda is now the full-time Chief Editor and Business Development Manager of Hong Kong Dance Magazine.  

What better way to inspire and inform our instruction than by revisiting dance history. Learning about creators, choreographers, influencers and pioneers of dance can help us discover techniques, processes and inspiration that have been explored and used to mark political and social milestones through time. Today I want you to consider what will be your takeaway from learning about the history of Mary Anthony with the help of the author of The biography of Mary Anthony Ms. Mary Price Boday.

GUEST: Mary Price Boday, holds a BFA and MFA from the University of Oklahoma and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Following graduation, she danced professionally in New York City and Switzerland with several renowned dance companies including the St Gallen Ballet the Zurich Ballet. Ms. Boday held various positions on faculty at numerous universities, colleges and companies some of which include Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, Assistant Professor and Director of Dance at Mercyhurst University, Artistic Director of the Illinois Ballet and Ballet Faculty at the Oklahoma City Ballet. Ms. Boday is the author of the biography of dance pioneer, Mary Anthony, called “A Dancer’s Journey: It All Began With a Lie.” Ms. Boday has been recognized with numerous awards and accomplishments namely the Outstanding Dancer Award through the University of Oklahoma.4, featured in the Who’s Who publications and highlighted on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website.

Connecting our dance educators with dance scholars, scientists and dance researchers is a part of our mission for bringing the best and most current practices in dance education into our studio environments. Making connections between dance scholarship and related fields is essential to informing our dance instruction and teaching philosophy in so that we can provide the best education in dance to our students. Today’s conversation will revolve around interdisciplinary scholarship, and investigate how the fields of Dance, Social Sciences and Humanities can inform one another. Today we welcome an Instructor Associate from Arizona State University Ms. Lauren Mark.

GUEST: Lauren Mark is a Doctoral Candidate and Instructor Associate at the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. Her dissertation work focuses on Asian-based approaches to relationality that lead to survival and generativity. Lauren also holds an M.Ed in Educational Organization, Leadership and Policy from the University of Illinois and an M.A. in Dance from The Ohio State University. Lauren looks for ways to explore interdisciplinary scholarship, stemming from performative pedagogies and embodied learning in her courses. Lauren incorporates improvisation and embodied learning in the field of Communication and cultural improvisations in the field of Dance. Specifically, she has experimented with the use of improvisation to cultivate active listening and to simulate cultural uncertainty. She has also brought cultural concepts of proximity and affect to dance technique classes. This work builds on her previous explorations of multigenerational movement improvisations of shared memories and collective devising approaches to choreograph poetry.

Pursuing a career or post secondary education in dance are topics of discussion we’ve navigated in other podcasts. We’ve questioned and challenged the stereotypes associated with pursuing a career and/or post secondary training in dance, while trying to dissect and determine factors that influence and contribute them. Today’s discussion will focus on the career of the professional dancer. It is well known that the career of a professional dancer is often short lived, but why? Is the longevity of a career as a professional dancer based on societies expectations surrounding what they want to see on stage or are the factors related to limitations of the body after a demanding 30-40+ years of elite training?  Today we will address ageism in dance. Does it exist and if yes, is it only professional dancers that experience ageism or do dance teachers also experience it, in this physically demanding career? Does a professional career in dance need to end early, or can we increase its longevity? How can we promote careers in dance that are free from age biases, stable and can support a family financially? Can we change the publics perception to see beauty of an ageing dancer? We will discuss these questions and more today with the help of an adjunct professor of dance at Marymount Manhattan College Ms. Kristine Bendul.

GUEST: Kristine Bendul is a performer, choreographer and master instructor based in New York City. As a performer Kristine has appeared in seven Broadway shows including Roger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Twyla Tharp’s shows Movin’ Out. She has appeared in several television productions including performances on the David Letterman Show and the Academy Awards. Kristine studied at numerous prestigious ballet schools including the School of American Ballet, Boston Ballet and New Jersey Ballet where she became a demi-soloist with the company by age 16. She holds numerous awards and titles as a professional performer including Disco America’s 1st place championships and America’s First professional male-female couple to compete in the gender-neutral category of professional Dancesport ballroom. Kristine has guest taught at the Julliard School, the University Of Michigan and Santa Clara University and is currently working as an Adjunct Professor for Marymount Manhattan College’s Theatre Arts Daily Dance Program.

As dance educators we should be constantly questioning what we are doing in the dance class and how it effects our dancers. Using false identifiers such as laughing and agreeance to justify the students well being during a particular experience is wrong. However it is not only the immediate well-being of the dancer that we should be concerned about, but their longevity as dancers and confident contributing members of society as well. Dance educators must be trained in child development, which is why at Canada’s National Academy of Dance Education, we include it in Part 1 of our Dance Teacher Training Program. Historically we might find timid, even scared and voiceless dancers in the studio, but in this 21stcentury, this can no longer be the norm. How we foster an environment in which our dancers can execute performance and communicate confidently about their art form will be the topic of our discussion today, with the help of Ms. Kiesha Lalama.

Kiesha Lalama graduated with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and a BA in Dance from Point Park University. Lalama has choreographed over 50 works for a variety of events and companies some of which include Ballet Arkansas, Jazz Dance World Congress, and TEDx Pittsburgh. She has received numerous awards and notable reviews for her choreography some of which include Best Choreography by Dayton’sMostMetro.com and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s “Best of Dance” Top Ten list. She was named twice to the Youth American Grand Prix’s coveted “Top 12” and was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch”. As an educator, Kiesha serves as a Professor in the Point Park University Dance Department and as the Director of Community Engagement for the Pittsburgh CLO.

Technology VS the arts is certainly not a new topic of discussion. If Dance on film has been around for years, then what is difference between then and now? Well the relationship is different. The relationship between the arts and technology resembled a cutting and pasting technique, where the film crew did their thing, while the choreographers and dancers did theirs. So what did this collaboration (if we can even call it that) look like? What ensued? Basically dance on film usually involved plopping a video camera at the front of the stage and recording dance from one viewpoint in 2 dimensions. So what has changed? What does the relationship look like now? Should we be fearful of technology? Should students be leaving their cell phones at the door? We will answer these questions today, while discussing how we can embrace technology and use it as a tool in our dance classes… because well as we all know its not going anywhere. Enlightening us with her perspectives on and experience with technology is Dr Kate Sicchio.

GUEST: Dr. Kate Sicchio is a choreographer, media artist and performer whose work explores the interface between choreography and technology with wearable technology, live coding, and real-time video systems. Her work has been shown internationally in many countries including the US, Germany, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK at venues including the Banff New Media Institute in Canada, V&A London, and the Artisan Gallery Hong Kong. She co-edited the book

Today we welcome the charismatic, confident, intelligent, passionate, stunning and talented Mrs. Jessica Ping-Wild to our program. With over 10, 000 Instagram followers Jessica is challenging the norms, smashing the stereotypes while shifting biases and perspectives on dance and self-expression through movement one follower at a time. The energy she exudes in her videos is contagious and her mission clear, to inspire, advocate and support her community as a role model, influencer and leader, through dance and song. Through Jessica we are inspired to embrace each day, and live life to the fullest, despite challenges and struggles along the way. Jessica is a perfect addition to the CNADE Podcast Family, as her mission to challenge the norms and stereotypes often associated with dance, aligned with our own views of embracing a new era of dance and dance education.

GUEST: Jessica Ping-Wild, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, was born with a very rare disease known as CHILD Syndrome. Only affecting 60 people worldwide, this disease impacts both the skin and limbs on one side of the body. Jessica’s particular case leaves her with only one full leg and arm on her right side. Despite this, she grew up loving dance. Jessica began taking ballet lessons at age 3.  As she grew older, she joined a dance performance company and a competitive dance team. Now, Jessica is passionate about educating people about disability through her lifestyle blog, The Rolling Explorer, where she posts videos of herself dancing for all to see.

What perceptions do people have about dance? What does a dance class, dance performance, dance lesson look like in the minds of others? Is dance training interpreted as an elite unattainable art reserved only for the gifted and talented? If yes, then it is easy to see how fears and insecurities about embarking on ones own dance journey can be met with hesitation. How can we change peoples understanding of dance, in so that ones own interest in pursuing it as a hobby, form of exercise or area of study can be realized. We will address some of the contributing factors that may lead to the feeling that “Dance is Scary” with the help of Ms Jenny Patrone.

GUEST: Jenny has worked in all aspects of the industry, both locally and internationally splitting her time between the U.K and Australia. Current Disney Audition Choreographer in the UK and Australia for Tokyo, Disney cruises. Jenny's is a teacher, choreographer and performer, having danced with rock legend Neil Young and on the popular television program Downton Abbey. She is the co-creator of 1920s entertainment group The Gatsby Girls, performing throughout the UK and Europe. Jenny currently works with professional actors and singers under the company she founded CBS Dance, offering dance classes to this exclusive group of performers in the UK.