| (1) What are the benefits to a Performing Arts Education in the K-12 School System? |
For my Senior Thesis Project, I will be exploring the benefits and values of performing arts education in the K-12 school system through both a video and a research paper. The research paper will consist of academic sources, as well as testimonies. Participants will have the option to remain anonymous. The research paper will be included in the Rutgers University and Mason Gross School of the Arts Dance Capstone Presentation Festival in Spring 2025, and it might subsequently be adapted into a manuscript article or conference presentation. Some possible questions are "What do you feel you have gained from your performing arts education," "What is the most impactful memory you have in your performing arts education," and "Why do you think people should – or should not – have experience with performing arts in their k-12 careers?" |
11/30/24 |
Rutgers Univeresity |
Bonnie Terenzi - bquaasberryman@gmail.com
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| (2) Evaluating the Efficacy of Hip Hop Dance as a Form of Therapeutic Intervention |
This research and workshop experience explores the healing power and therapeutic nature of Hip Hop Dance. This is part of a larger growing body of research that specifically focuses on using Hip Hop Dance to promote mental health, healing, recovery and support therapeutic practices. |
4/27/25 |
Maria Daniel, iDance Ministry |
Maria Daniel - idanceministry@gmail.com
if you want to participate.
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| (3) National Association of Schools in Dance Accreditation Processes, Policies, and Impacts |
Please participate in our new research about accreditation through the National Association of Schools in Dance. The study, “Surveying the National Association of Schools in Dance Accreditation Processes, Policies, and Impacts on Academic Dance Programs,” is a research project about the experiences and perspectives of faculty and administrators working in academic dance programs and departments in relation to NASD accreditation. |
12/31/24 |
Texas Tech University |
Ali Duffy - ali.duffy@ttu.edu
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| (4) Cultural Diversity of Dance in Higher Education: The Hip Hop Remix |
I am conducting a research study on cultural diversity in dance in higher education through qualitative focus group interviews. The study aims to understand the experiences of the faculty at university dance departments, offering insights into the factors influencing integrating a culturally diverse curriculum through the development and sustainability of Hip Hop studies programs. I am recruiting individuals who meet these criteria: 1.Employee working as faculty at universities who teach Hip Hop studies courses or related subjects. 2.You are over 18 years old. During these activities, you will be asked questions about: 1.Professional background and experiences and 2.Your experiences, perception, interpretation, and response to the factors influencing the sustainability of the Hip Hop studies programs at universities across the United States.
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11/20/24 |
University of Southern California |
Cindy Foley - cgfoley@usc.edu or cell: 412-973-1381
Email Cindy if you want to participate.
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| (5) In Memoriam: Maestro H茅ctor Zaraspe |
Beloved Maestro H茅ctor Zaraspe passed in February 2023.
I am gathering stories about Maestro, his pedagogy, his coaching, and his inspiration from people who knew, studied or danced with him. Please contact me if you would like to share your story, photos, programs, or news clips about him. |
1/31/25 |
University of Houston |
M. Gabriela Estrada - drgabrielaestrada@gmail.com
Email Gabriela if you want to participate.
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| (6) Dancing the Biomes: An Ecological Dance Pedagogy for Embodying Environmental Ethics |
The purpose of this research is to investigate how creative dance-based practices help higher education students embody environmental ethics and planetary citizenship. The primary objective is to explore embodied knowing within an ecopedagogical context. Research questions include:
1) In what ways, if any, might these dance-based practices transition students from cognitively knowing facts to physically embodying knowledge? 2) Where do students perceive environmental ethics residing in their moving bodies? 3) How might these dance practices inform students’ awarenesses of global interconnectivity, if at all?
Ideally, I would like to come to a university/college dance department and run this ecodance curriculum with undergraduate dance students as a one-week intensive or as a semester-long course. DTB is anchored in the framework of participatory action research methodology, so teaching is integral to the research. Participants would need to participate in the class activities and record their responses through written reflections and drawings.
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6/1/25 |
Prescott College |
Stephanie Gottlob - stephanie.gottlob@student.prescott.edu
Email Stephanie if you want to participate
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| (7) Teaching Stories: A Portrait of Early Career Licensed K-12 Dance & Theatre Teachers |
This study aims to highlight teaching experiences for early career dance and theatre teachers while naming variables that contribute to teacher attrition in an effort to stabilize and grow the field of dance and theatre education in K-12 settings. By examining the stories of licensed dance and theatre teachers who are in their first three years of teaching in public schools, I hope to understand how we can inform not only teacher training programs like my own, but school district administrators about the best way to retain these teachers. I am looking for credentialed dance and theatre teachers currently teaching in K-12 schools in their first three years of teaching. The primary event for this study will be individual 45-minute semi-structured interviews via Zoom along with follow-up correspondence as needed to gain a full and accurate portrait of their experiences and developing teaching identity. |
12/31/24 |
University of Minnesota |
Betsy Maloney Leaf - maloney@umn.edu or cell: 612-309-9359
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(8)) Biography of Helen Tamiris
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I am currently working on a comprehensive biography of the dancer/choreographer Helen Tamiris. I am using her autobiographical writings about her childhood and early career, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, and interviews with Tamiris and people who knew her. My goal with this book is to create a full picture of Tamiris which includes delving into the issues of cultural appropriation that are embedded in some of her work. I would like to interview people who studied with her and/or performed with her. |
8/1/26 |
Montclair State University |
Elizabeth McPherson - mcphersone@montclair.edu or cell: 973-655-7831
Contact Elizabeth directly if you have studied or performed with Helen Tamiris
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| (9) Reframing Modern Dance in a Post-Post Modern Era |
This project consists of two anonymous six question surveys. One survey is for people who have taken modern dance and one is for people who have taught modern dance. These surveys aim to explore how similar/different modern classes may be and what instructors/students view as the most important parts of modern dance. This is not intended to change or say that there is one right way to teach, but rather to observe and document trends and best practices. This research will be consolidated into a paper reflecting these trends as the possible connective tissue of this genre. All participants will need to do is click the link and answer the six questions, then they are done. |
9/1/25 |
University of New Mexico |
Jessica Wilson - jessthewilson@gmail.com or cell: 814-424-3210
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| (10) Three Ballet Teachers (3BT) |
3BT offers center floor combinations for ballet technique teachers. This is a an on-line educational resource for teaching artists, offering access to contemporary ballet class choreography for direct use in their classes, inspiration for ballet technique combinations, or, as a starting point for an exchange of ideas regarding dance teaching.
We are interested in ballet teachers' responses to the site. Is it accessible? Is it useful? What would make it more useful? We would appreciate respondents sending their reactions to the site and the teaching materials available there to hcw@uw.edu.
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1/15/25 |
University of Washington and Bard College |
Primary Co-researchers: Maria Simpson (Bard) and Hannah Wiley (University of Washington) - hcw@uw.edu or cell: 206-543-7536
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