"Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body." - Martha Graham With so many education funding cuts in Idaho, it is always heartwarming to run into initiatives that enhance the creative arts, an area always cut first when the draconion budget slashing begins. The art of dance uses movement to communicate meaning about the human experience, says The National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). It is far more than exercise or entertainment. It is a powerful medium to express one's values, thoughts, and aspirations about the lives we live and the world in which we live. This summer Idaho State University dance professor Molly Jorgensen helped establish the Idaho Dance Education Organization (IDEO), the first National Dance Education Organization state affiliate here, with dance educators from across the state, ISU has announced. From Ballet Idaho to the Idaho Dance theater, my family has enjoyed some high quality dance performances in the Gem State. Education in the art of dance develops the knowledge and skills required to create, perform, and understand movement as a means of artistic communication, NDEO says. A comprehensive education includes improvisation, technique, choreography, performance, observation and analysis. Exposure to dance history and cultures, kinesiology and anatomy, and movement theories further enriches the dance educational experience.
So we are very fortunate that the IDEO was established when members of the executive committee for the Idaho State Department of Education met to revise the state art standards for K-12 grades. Members of that board included Jorgensen and Rachel Swenson, teaching artist for Idaho Commission on the Arts and the Utah Arts Council, and dance specialist at Idaho Fine Arts Academy, and other future IDEO board members. The two dance educators realized that Idaho needed a large organization to help bring more dance education into schools. I like Idaho Humanities Dance Content Standard 1: Historical and Cultural Contexts, in which students demonstrate an understanding of how people and cultures are connected across time. Such instruction:
prepares students to work and live as global citizens because of their greater understanding of their own culture and the cultures of others. Students in grades 9-12 discuss the role of dance in history and culture and create a dance that reflects a specific historical influence. Students create technical support for dance using other art forms. Students choreograph a dance inspired by another art form.The IDEO board of directors features Jorgensen as the treasurer, Swenson as president and Secretary Gary Larsen, dance department chair and professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho. As an organization, the IDEO will develop and strengthen networks with state and national agencies, which includes arts and education associations, businesses and corporations and philanthropic foundations. It will also advocate for dance education, strengthen communication among teaching arts workforces, and encourage and support local, state, and national policies, which help will advance dance as arts education.
“The IDEO is a way to bring dance artists and educators in Idaho together to network, collaborate and educate, as well as bringing more dance into our schools,” Jorgensen said. “With IDEO, Idaho dance educators can have dual membership with the National Dance Education Organization,” Swenson said. “This gives Idaho dance educators opportunity to network, attend online professional developments courses, attend national dance conferences, apply to present or be printed nationally, receive the NDEO dance journal, be a part of national forums for dance advocacy, dance assessment, job opportunities, and many more helpful tools and resources. Idaho dance education will be enriched through having a state affiliate to NDEO.”Dance professor Lauralee Zimmerly and ISU’s National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA) will also be involved with IDEO. Students in NHSDA will help with the conference, and IDEO will help the club and recognize these outstanding students in dance. Zimmerly is ISU’s NHSDA advisor. The first IDEO conference will be held Sept. 26 on the ISU Pocatello campus. The conference theme is “Brain Dance” and will feature workshops about how dancing helps the brain. There will a keynote presentation by Terry Goetz from Seattle, and breakout session presentations from various educators from all over Idaho. The breakout sessions range from technique, improvisation, composition, kinesiology, Laban fundamentals, Pilates, action research, creative dance and world dance.
The conference will help educators learn how to incorporate dance into their curriculum to improve students learning. There will be a dance performance open to the public. The performance will feature dance artists like Ballet Idaho, ISU dancers, BYU-Idaho dancers, University of Idaho dancers, any more dance groups from various entities. Tickets for the performance are $10 for non-conference attendees. There will be a professional development workshop for K-12 educators on Friday, Sept. 25 and credit may be earned through ISU. During the conference, ISU emeritus faculty member Marcia Lloyd will be presented with the IDEO Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given for exemplary leadership, scholarship and/or artistry and philanthropy or service to dance education. Lloyd is an Idaho dance educator, accomplished writer for dance who travels the world sharing and teaching dance education.To register for the IDEO Inaugural Conference, visit idahodeo.org. Tickets are $25 for high school and college students, and $50 for the general public, and can also be purchased online. Tickets for the dance performance can be purchased online as well. "To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking." - Agnes de Mille
Further Reading: idaholeader.com/...