National Dance Week Announces New Program for Students

A new facet of National Dance Week which is to be an ongoing program is announced to all teachers in both dance and academic classrooms. It is applicable to all types of learning situations and all styles of dance as well as alternative subjects and topics.

(PRWEB) September 29, 2004 -- National Dance Week has announced its launching of a new and exciting year round program, a pen pal activity for studios and academic classrooms, alike, the Dear Dancer program. Dear Dancer is an on-going program that matches American students with foreign students via email under the supervision of the classroom teachers. It is an easy and effective way to broaden the knowledge of our students beyond the American studio classroom. It also gives dancers insight into the realm of possibilities that dance has to offer regardless of their geographical location.

The Dear Dancer program can be used as an excellent educational tool for classroom projects and exchanges pertaining to dance and cultural diversity. It can be incorporated into any class curriculum. Subjects as diverse as creative writing, foreign language, computer literacy, video and photography, music appreciation and dance history, math, language arts and science can all be taught through dance. The NDW Dear Dancer program can be the perfect teaching mechanism. For example, your class might exchange and view pictures and video from an overseas production or you might want to correspond with your pen pals to find out about class structure, format and curriculum. Meanwhile, your students can report on the popular music commonly heard in America, send examples of typical costumes or photos of the same. If the pen pals are non-English speaking, students can be challenged to find creative ways to communicate while developing language skills. The possibilities are limited only by the creative imagination.

The idea for Dear Dancer was conceived by NDW Delegate, Debra Danese, while she was teaching dance in Mo i Rana, a Norwegian school on the Arctic Circle. Although many of her students struggled with the English language, what they discovered they shared a common fascination with dance in the United States. "What style is taught?", "What type of music is used?", "How do we compare in skill and level?" were commonly asked questions. To meet their needs and curiosity and as a NDW Delegate-at-large, Ms Danese coordinated a Norwegian Dance Week Celebration with the National Dance Week here in the United States wherein students were encouraged to use different mediums to learn about and promote dance as an international art form. From that experience, Ms Danese made the suggestion and developed the newly launching NDW Pen Pal program, Dear Dancer.

In order for schools and studios to register in Dear Dancer, NDW will, in the upcoming months, be instituting a new page on the NDW website wherein applications may be made for an international match. The website is located at www.nationaldanceweek.org and there teachers/studio owners will be directed to a separate page for Dear Dancer. In addition to an online registration form, applicants will find further suggestions on how to introduce and maintain the Pen Pal, Dear Dancer, program as a rewarding classroom experience. Shortly after registering, the applicant will receive contact information on the selected exchange school. A wide range of educational avenues and opportunities will then arise for the teachers and students, alike, to explore and further develop through the National Dance Week Dear Dancer pen pal program.

Debra Danese is the Founder/Director of Kdance, a theatrical production company. In addition, she travels throughout the U.S. and abroad promoting dance education. For additional information, access the NDW website at: http://www.nationaldanceweek.org or Ms Danese may be reached directly by email at: kdancepresents@hotmail.com

CONTACT:
Patricia Goulding, M. Ed., Executive Director, National Dance Week
http://www.nationaldanceweek.org
Email: director@nationaldanceweek.org
1-888-YES 4 NDW
142 Parkedge Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15220

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