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The National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA) is a program of the National Dance Education Organization. It is one of the most exciting benefits that NDEO offers its Institutional Members. This Secondary Program (grades 9-12) was implemented in 2005. The Collegiate Program was implemented in 2012, and a formal Junior Program (grades 6-8) was separated out from the Secondary Program and officially implemented in 2016. To date, there are close to 1,000 chapters in the US and over 10,000 students were inducted over the past 3 years. NHSDA is based on the Thespians honor society, and NDEO acknowledges their generosity in allowing dance to follow the lead of theatre arts education through this program.
This NHSDA Chapter Sponsor Handbook (Collegiate Program) contains procedural guidelines for implementing NHSDA at the “post-secondary” level for students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees.
The National Honor Society for Dance Arts is run on an institutional basis. NHSDA Chapters at the Collegiate level are set up at individual colleges and Universities, and only students who are enrolled at that school may apply for induction. A dance faculty member must serve as the official Chapter Sponsor for the NHSDA Chapter at that location. Student volunteers may assist the Chapter Sponsor at the sponsor’s discretion, but all communication with NDEO must be conducted by the Chapter Sponsor. Individual students, not enrolled at a school that hosts a current NHSDA Chapter, are not eligible for induction.
An NHSDA Collegiate Program Chapter can be implemented in any post-secondary institution that supports accredited dance coursework. The school can offer a dance major, a dance minor, or for-credit elective courses in dance. The institution is required to maintain an NDEO Institutional Membership - Higher Education for as long as the institution conducts an NHSDA Collegiate Program. A faculty member must be willing to serve as Chapter Sponsor.
In order to establish a school chapter, the school first must obtain an NDEO Membership at the Institutional Member level. The NDEO membership must be renewed every year if the chapter is to remain active. Typically the school’s administration pays the dues, however, sometimes student organizations may pay the dues.