Shedding, letting go, rooting down |
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It's autumn, when plants shed their leaves and send energy into their roots. At Luna, we're deep into a reflective adaptation process as an organization, focusing on the values at our roots, considering what we might let go of, and envisioning new growth for the next season. What can you shed this fall? What can you say no to? What values at your core do you want to focus on? |
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Practitioner Exchange:
Engaging Families/Family Dance
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What new ideas can we experiment with to allow for connection, trust, and relationship-strengthening? How can creative movement support co-regulation and communication as families dance together? How can we balance structure and free dance while we teach? How can we continue involving families in dance, even when they can’t join us in the studio/classroom? How can relationship-based dance support the social-emotional learning and community building that is so important right now? Join family dance educators Julie Lebel & Rossana Alves as they ask these questions and more in this peer-to-peer conversation. Bring your questions too!
Tuesday, November 16
4-5:30pm Pacific
via Zoom
$15-40, free for PL Users
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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 curriculum and consider the residual impact of last year? 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, November 30
3:30-6pm Pacific
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Registration open: Dance & the Preschool Learning Foundations - Science |
How do the skills of basic scientific inquiry – observing, comparing and contrasting, and experimenting – relate to dance? How can young children explore the physical sciences (physics), life sciences (biology), and earth sciences through embodied movement? This interactive learning experience will investigate play-based dance activities that engage with children’s curiosity and sense of discovery, and support young learners as they ask questions and figure things out.
Saturday, December 11
9:30am-12pm Pacific
via Zoom
$150
Coming up!
Dance & the Preschool Learning Foundations Workshop - Math on April 23
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New course: Teacher as Creative Practitioner-Scholar - Creativity |
As dance educators we say we are creative - but what is creativity? How do we cultivate it? How do we know when we see it?
Join us for our next online course in the Teacher as Creative Practitioner Scholar series to explore Creativity: theories, research, practice. Discover the theoretical underpinnings of creativity and examine evidence-based research, including some of the difficulties in creativity investigation. Through the seminar format, facilitate one 30-minute session to take a deeper dive into a particular aspect of creativity. Reflect through writing and connective conversation with your teaching peers. Launch a personal inquiry project exploring creativity in your own teaching. Revitalize a sense of curiosity at the core of your artistic and teaching practice.
January 15-March 19
10 Saturdays
9:30am-12:30pm Pacific
via Zoom
$500
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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 your commute.
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Body, Mind & Spirit book sale |
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 and for reconnecting with your teaching values.
$34 plus tax & shipping/handling
just a few copies left at this price
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Perfect/Imperfect Lesson Video Series -
new videos released!
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We're excited to offer two new lesson videos in our Perfect/Imperfect Lesson Video Series! Curious about how a creative dance class you've experienced in a Luna workshop might play out with kids? Or what a dance educator does when something doesn't go to plan? Watch a Luna teaching artist lead a class through exploration, improvisation, composition, performance, and response, and hear her reflect on the process as she sparks the creative rigor of these choreographers-in-the-making. Follow along with the accompanying lesson plan. Check out lessons on:
Energy Vocabulary
Directional Scales
Rivers & Stones - 2 versions new!
High & Low in ECE new!
Each lesson is under $2 for a 1-week viewing.
Discover all four lesson videos here.
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Explore:
COVID Dance Teaching Time Capsule
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Teaching during COVID continues, and the challenges haven't waned. Sometimes when facing new challenges, we need reminders of the challenges we overcame. The stories shared in the COVID Dance Teaching Time Capsule remind us of what's possible. Read teaching artist Genoa Sperske's story from last year:
“I love that teaching kids on Zoom brought me into their homes and closer to their lives. We often had family members, pets, and stuffed animals join us. One moment that brought me joy was when one student, who had been completely engaged in our dance class was handed a double scoop ice cream cone by an adult in his home – in the middle of dance class! I wondered what he would do when faced with the choice to dance or eat an ice cream cone. Well, this kiddo didn’t miss a beat! He just kept doing every step of our West African dance with an ice cream cone in his hand. That’s how badly this dancer needed to dance!”
Do you have a story to share? Visit here to contribute or to read more stories.
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What moving us: "Teachers are barely hanging on. Here's what they need." |
"What I’ve been hearing from teachers over and over, from every corner, is that this is the worst school year ever. So much worse than 2020, which should have easily held the title for “worst year ever .... So what's going on?”
Cult of Pedagogy's Jennifer Gonzalez digs into what is making this teaching year so challenging, and what changes could make real impact. What do you think? How does this relate to your experience? What's missing? Listen and read here.
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In the community:
CDEA Conference call for proposals
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CA dance educators, it's time to share your work! California Dance Education Organization is accepting proposals for their 1-day virtual conference Grounded & Growing: Identity Community, and Reflection. Offer a masterclass, panel, short-form ignite conversation, or film short sharing your unique perspective on dance ed. Conference is February 5. Submission deadline extended to November 22. Find details here. |
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Advocacy: Black Teaching Artist Lab Survey |
Are you a Black teaching artist? Give voice to your story! Black Teaching Artist Lab is conducting field-wide research through a survey on Black-identifying teaching artists, in an effort to grow and advance the field of Black teaching artistry.
This survey is for Black-identifying teaching artists, creating and teaching in all artistic backgrounds, working in all settings and educational environments. This data will help BTAL demonstrate the impact of Black teaching artists' work and to tell the stories of their work in different communities. Participate in the survey here.
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Support the longevity of dance educators. Donate here.
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