Teacher Certification
Coming up: The next Teacher Certification Course will be in Florianopolis, Brazil in February, 2011. See our Calendar for more details.
More than 300 people with and without disabilities have attended DanceAbility Teacher Certifcation courses in various countries since 1996. Those trained in DanceAbility have continued to develop and expand inclusive dance communities around the world. The Teacher Certification course is four weeks of full-time study.
DanceAbility Teacher Certification is for people who want to teach integrated groups in movement arts, or learn a model for facilitating communities that foster inclusive participation. We cover well-defined methods and techniques for teaching, but there is not a stagnant set of rules. It is an ever-changing approach to designing creative movement practices that allow anybody and everybody’s movement to emerge, thereby facilitating individual and group expression.
The emphasis is on how to work with mixed ability groups, how to adapt teaching style depending on participants, how to work with various sizes of groups, and on performance orientation.
DanceAbility Teacher Certification Curriculum
- Foundation exercises introducing basic concepts of movement improvisation to people of all abilities based on things that all participants can do
- How to guide people to be aware of their potential for movement and for communication
- Movement explorations and games for individuals, partners, and small and large groups
- How groups can create their own performance pieces
Participants in the DanceAbility Teacher Certification course will build on their own experiences to develop appropriate materials for the continued development of the work in their own communities.
Four Week Teacher Certification Course
Week 1: Introduction to DanceAbility
Students learn how to identify the physical possibilities and “common denominators” of each new group they work with to ensure that no one is isolated. They learn how to lead the core set of DanceAbility exercises which can be done no matter how diverse the group. Through many different exercises, students learn about basic considerations for communicating, relating, and how to shape dances through improvised movement.
Week 2: Integrating Contact Improvisation
In this week, students learn about improvising in contact and explore the following concepts: rolling, using momentum, providing structures for taking weight, learning how to lean and give weight, counterbalancing, relaxing, and engaging in physical bodywork care. Students continue deepening their understanding of non-isolation/inclusion and movement communication through structured improvisations and discussion.
Week 3: Artistic Collaboration & ‘Variations on the Theme’
During this week, students learn how to adapt their lesson plans and teaching styles depending on participants’ specific characteristics. Exercises are presented which are appropriate for children, for groups containing people who are blind or have visual impairments, and for groups with people who are deaf or have hearing impairments. Student-teachers also learn how to empower their students by facilitating small groups to collaboratively create their own performance pieces. Student teachers learn how to teach, evaluate, and give feedback on choreography and on shaping performances.
Week 4: Integrating the Material and Practical Tips for Teaching
In this final week, student teachers learn recipes for how to put together different kinds of DanceAbility workshops including how to assess the appropriate length of workshops for interested groups and how to choose appropriate material. The general public is invited to one or two days of classes that student teachers design and team-teach. Alito Alessi gives the student teachers feedback on their class plan before they teach. Afterward, they receive feedback from their fellow students and Alessi. We also design a site-specific Street Performance Parade or a performance or demonstration for the general public on one of the last days.
DanceAbility Teacher Certification courses have been conducted in the following locations:
- Vienna, Austria:
2010 Vienna International Dance Festival/ImPulsTanz
- Montevideo, Uruguay, 2010:
With support from SOLIS National Theater and Marisa de Leon endowment
- Helsinki, Finland, 2009:
Produced by DanceAbility Finland
- Vienna, Austria:
2007 Vienna International Dance Festival/ImPulsTanz
2006 Vienna International Dance Festival - Eugene, Oregon:
2005 University of Oregon Department of Dance
2004 University of Oregon Department of Dance - Trier, Germany:
2003
- Utrecht, Holland:
2002 With support from the U.S. Embassy of the Netherlands; produced by FIDODA
- Rho/Milan, Italy:
2001
- Eugene, Oregon:
1999 WOW Hall
1998 WOW Hall - Buenos Aires, Argentina:
1997 Produced by Danza Sin Limites