Ballet Hispánico School of Dance announces that registration is now open for Best Practices: We Support Learning, a week-long summer professional development program for dance teachers, July 11-15, 2022. The program is $525 for in-person attendees and $435 for virtual attendees, with discounts available for School of Dance partner organizations, including NDEO and NASD members. The registration deadline is Friday, June 10, 2022. For more information and to register, visit ballethispanico.org/school/additional-learning/professional-development.

 

The Ballet Hispánico professional development program is an opportunity for dance teachers to immerse themselves amongst fellow educators, share teaching practices, and further their teaching artistry. With daily class and student observation, theory is seen in practice and discussed. All educators are welcome, from seasoned faculty to new teachers, community dance practitioners, dance education undergraduates/graduates, dance studio owners, and K-12 teachers.

 

Course Highlights: 

Observe in-person and/or virtual class offerings at Ballet Hispánico headquarters, led by seasoned School of Dance faculty addressing varied age groups and dance genres.

Discuss and reflect on class observations and presentations with an emphasis on application for each teacher's individual practice.

Examine Early Childhood curricular bridging points and other developmental benchmarks for instruction.

Engage with Ballet Hispánico pedagogy and curricular design through the lens of culture and repertory.

Interact with tools for social-emotional learning and addressing the diverse student-learner.

Challenge narratives of collective dance histories and dance archives through plática as critical pedagogy

Identify cultura and other teaching identities, and their implications for pedagogical practices.

Receive a Certificate of Completion. 

 

2022 Guest Faculty and Sessions:

Yebel Gallegos - Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Bard College, multi-faceted dance artist from El Paso, Texas, played an important role in the founding of Cressida Danza Contemporánea, also helped in the creation and implementation of the Festival Yucatán Escénica, an international contemporary dance festival, former dancer, company teacher, rehearsal director, and academic coordinator for the Conservatorio de Danza de Yucatán, recently concluded a six-year tenure working full time with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, BFA in dance, both from the University of Texas at Austin and from the Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán, directed by Delfos Dance Company, MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle.

 

Elisa de la Rosa - daughter of migrant farmworkers, and granddaughter to Mexican immigrant grandparents; a first generation college graduate is originally from a small border town in Texas, Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman's University (TWU), choreographer, performer, dance educator, and the founding artistic director of De La Rosa Dance Company, Artistic Director of the TWU Dance International Dance Company, was a dance educator for 14 years in middle and high school Texas dance programs, has designed professional development for dance educators in various school districts and presented to Aldine, Denton, Edinburg, and La Joya Independent School Districts, integrated the Dance and Digital Media Communications Curriculum into her instruction and was awarded a $3,500 grant for technology by The Texas Cultural Trust, BA in Dance with Secondary Teacher Certification from Texas Woman's University, and an MFA in Dance from Montclair State University.

 

Gregory Youdan - has performed with the NY Baroque Dance Company, Sokolow Theatre/Dance and Heidi Latsky dance, where he now serves as a board member, Currently, visiting research scholar at Brown University and adjunct lecturer at Lehman College, Westheimer Fellow through Mark Morris Dance Group's Dance for PD program and is a teaching artist in their Dance for PD en Español, a 2021 National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures Advocacy Fellow and 2021 Latin Impact Honoree, serves on the development committee for the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS), the research committee for the National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH), and the advisory council for Dance Data Project, a member of the Latinx Dance Educators Alliance.

 

Dr. Afdaniels Mabingo - a Ugandan dance researcher, scholar, performer, educator, Afro-optimist and co-founder of AFRIKA SPEAKS, holds Ph.D. in Dance Studies from the University of Auckland, recipient of the prestigious Fulbright scholarship, Mabingo also holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University, and an MA in Performing Arts and a BA in Dance degree, both from Makerere University in Uganda, has taught at Makerere University in Uganda, New York University, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica, has also guest lectured at Columbia University and Princeton University, his research sits at the intersection of decolonization, interculturalism, postcolonialism, dance pedagogy and African philosophy, latest book titled 'Ubuntu as Dance Pedagogy: Individuality, Community, and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning of Indigenous Dances in Uganda', received scholarships and awards that included: Fulbright Junior Staff Development Scholarship, Fulbright Scholar in Residence (deferred), the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, Makerere University Staff Development Scholarship, George Payne award for outstanding academic leadership and excellence at NYU, and the best overall Humanities student award at the 48thst-49th graduation at Makerere University, has taught dance schools and community settings in the U.S., Australia, South Sudan, Germany, Uganda, and New Zealand, has presented keynotes, delivered paper presentation, and facilitated dance workshops for conference gatherings such as daCi-WDA, NDEO, CORD, WAAE, and WDA, has also staged choreographies and performed in New York City, Adelaide in Australia, Rwanda, Auckland in New Zealand, and Uganda 

 

Testimonials: 

"This is my first Professional Development experience, and I have been blown away!" - Margaret

"This week has been a work for the mind." - Lynette

"I can now provide my students with tools that I didn't have in my own dancing." - Dandara

 

About Ballet Hispánico

Ballet Hispánico has been the leading voice intersecting artistic excellence and advocacy and is now the largest Latinx cultural organization in the United States and one of America's Cultural Treasures. Ballet Hispánico brings communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through innovative dance productions, transformative dance training, and enduring community engagement experiences. National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez founded Ballet Hispánico in 1970, at the height of the post-war civil rights movements. From its inception Ballet Hispánico focused on providing a haven for Black and Brown Latinx youth and families seeking artistic place and cultural sanctuary. By providing the space for Latinx dance and dancers to flourish, Ballet Hispánico uplifted marginalized emerging and working artists, which combined with the training, authenticity of voice, and power of representation, fueled the organization's roots and trajectory. In 2009, Ballet Hispánico welcomed Eduardo Vilaro as its Artistic Director, ushering in a new era by inserting fresh energy to the company's founding values and leading Ballet Hispánico into an artistically vibrant future. Today, Ballet Hispánico's New York City headquarters house a School of Dance and state-of-the-art dance studios for its programs and the arts community. From its grassroots origins as a dance school and community-based performing arts troupe, for fifty years Ballet Hispánico has stood as a catalyst for social change. Ballet Hispánico provides the physical home and cultural heart for Latinx dance in the United States. Ballet Hispánico has developed a robust public presence across its three main programs: its Company, School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnerships. Through its exemplary artistry, distinguished training program, and deep-rooted community engagement efforts Ballet Hispánico champions and amplifies underrepresented voices in the field. For fifty years Ballet Hispánico has provided a place of honor for the omitted, overlooked, and oppressed. As it looks to the next fifty years and beyond, Ballet Hispánico seeks to empower, and give agency to, the Latinx experience and those individuals within it.