As restrictions relax and the dance world open ups, we might celebrate! but also hold feelings of overwhelm, hesitancy, anxiety. Be gracious with yourself! It's a big change and our bodies are out of practice. We invite you to return to your body - explore your core/distal pattern by opening to engage with the world, and closing to tune in with yourself. Or play with rolling, activating both your vestibular system that supports balance when things feel off-kilter, and your "rind", reminding you where the world ends and you begin and bringing you back to yourself, your center. Join in an embodied tune-in, tune-up with this video from Luna teaching artists (made at the beginning of the pandemic, but it still applies!)
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Got questions about how to address the needs of your students? Or about how to advocate for your job while things feel uncertain? Need a pep-talk or moral support as you create new summer/fall curriculum? Luna's here for you!
Sign up for one of our free phone consults this summer and talk to a Luna faculty member for individualized support!
Tuesday, July 27
Tuesday, August 24
3:30-6pm Pacific
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Meet PL Alumni Fellow Alisa Rasera |
Former Professional Learning (PL) Manager and AXIS Education Director Alisa Rasera returned to Luna this year to deepen her inquiry into dance, disability, inclusion & access through a multi-year Alumni Fellowship. She also examined Luna's long history of inclusive curriculum in PL, refreshing it with current research and findings, and integrating it into Practitioner Exchanges, PL workshops, and The Dance Inquiry Podcast. She shares some of her research and reflective questions with you here to spark conversation around your inclusive practices:
What does ableism look like in dance education?
Is it enough to be as honest as possible, use best practices, teach what I know, and stay present to who is in the room? What's missing?
What do I as a practitioner need to provide & receive inclusivity?
You'll hear more from Alisa in the coming months, and from two other Alumni Fellows - Rossana Alves who's investigating family dance, and Samad Raheem Guerra who's exploring how to teach responsively to teens.
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Listen: The Dance Inquiry Podcast |
Sink into our first two episodes of The Dance Inquiry Podcast, elevating the stories of dance educators in special ed and inclusion. Episode 1 features teaching artist Alisa Rasera and educational therapist Cindy Miner Kapelke as they reflect on dance and disability teaching during COVID. Episode 2 welcomes dance educator Aiano Nakagawa and classroom teacher Jessica Kershner as they talk about their collaboration in building an inclusive ECE dance program. Tune in while making dinner, or on a summer road trip.
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To give you a break from your screens, we are offering our popular paperback, Body, Mind & Spirit in Action: a teacher's guide to creative dance (2nd ed.) at the same price of our ebook to the first 25 customers! Written by Luna's founder Patricia Reedy, this handbook includes reflection prompts, lesson ideas, theoretical rationale, and expanded sections on human development, Laban movement principles, and Universal Design for Learning. Perfect for dreaming up new approaches to your fall teaching!
$34 plus tax & shipping/handling
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Explore:
COVID Dance Teaching Time Capsule
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2020-21 has been a year of immense challenges, and surprise opportunities, and through it all dance educators have made dance happen for their students. Check out the COVID Dance Teaching Time Capsule for stories of these teachers, the obstacles they overcame, and the moments of inspiration and joy, and celebrates their perseverance, resilience, adaptability, and creativity. There's still time to share your story too! Visit here to contribute.
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Luna is hiring a part-time dance teaching artist for 2021-22 |
Are you passionate about creativity? Do you thrive in a collaborative, grassroots environment where everyone pulls together to create change? If you seek to apply your skills in service of social justice through the art of dance, we would love to hear from you!
Luna is seeking a dance teaching artist to teach part-time at one of our partner elementary schools in Oakland Unified School District. Read the full job posting here.
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Resource: Working Differently Post-Pandemic - A Report on Bay Area Artist Space Needs |
Space to make and share art, and to live as artists, has long been an issue in the Bay Area, only becoming more pronounced during the pandemic. Our friends at Dancers' Group, Intersection for the Arts, and Theatre Bay Area commissioned a report asking What does reopening really mean? What types of spaces do we need going forward? How can we embrace lessons learned during the pandemic to make our workplaces more effective, equitable, and enjoyable? Check out their findings from a survey, focus groups, report review, and interviews in the Report on Bay Area Artist Space Needs here.
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What's moving us:
Yerba Buena Gardens Festival &
If Cities Could Dance
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Celebrate the return to dancing outdoors in community with FREE dance classes, performances, and live music dance parties at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival! Running June 26-August 28. Discover more details here.
And for those who are still easing into being in public spaces, you might enjoy exploring the documentary shorts series, If Cities Could Dance, that tour the dance cultures and communities of US cities. We love returning to them to experience a dancer's view of a city when travelling feels like too much. Right now we're watching the feature on San Francisco's La Mezcla's Zapatap fusion. Join us!
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Support the longevity of dance educators. Donate here.
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