Register Now: DT+ Teacher Talk, “Best Practices for Working With Students With Disabilities”

Get all the insight you need into providing meaningful dance education for students with disabilities in our next DT+ Teacher Talk, “Best Practices for Working With Students With Disabilities,” on Thursday, March 20, at 12 pm EDT. 

In this live hour-long Zoom discussion, Dance Teacher’s editorial director, Reanne Rodrigues, will be joined by experienced dance/disability educators Kay Gayner and Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez to discuss how to plan and implement an effective and inclusive class program, tailor your teaching strategies to meet the needs of students with different disabilities, and be adaptable and intentional about your approach, whether you teach in a K–12 setting, private studio, or community dance program. Attendees will be able to ask questions in real time.         

About the Speakers

Kay Gayner
Gayner is the artistic director of National Dance Institute (NDI). She began teaching at NDI in 2000, after having served as assistant to Jacques d’Amboise from 1987–90. She is responsible for the direction of NDI’s In-School Program, which currently serves approximately 6,500 children in New York City public schools, as well as all artistic programs at NDI, including the NDI Collaborative and Advanced Teams. Gayner was named associate artistic director of NDI in 2017 and was made the artistic director in 2021. She has also served as co-creator and co-founder of the NDI DREAM Project since 2014 and director of International Projects since 2011.

Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez
Stratton-Gonzalez (MA, dance education) is a facilitator at the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and writes curriculum for the P–12 dance classroom. She works with the Arnhold Support Program

for Dance Educators, providing professional learning opportunities for NYC Public Schools’ dance educators working with students with disabilities. Stratton-Gonzalez also teaches Dance for Children with Disabilities for the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and is a founding member of the NDEO Dance and Disabilities Advisory Committee. For over 20 years (1999–2019), Stratton-Gonzalez was the Dance Specialist at The Children’s School (P.S. 372) in Brooklyn, New York, the first fully inclusive public school in the U.S. Stratton-Gonzalez has also taught Dance in Elementary Education at Hofstra University (2008–18) and has mentored dozens of dance educators as a Cooperating Teacher for Hofstra and New York University.

Please note: This discussion is exclusive to DanceTeacher+ members. If you’re a member, click here to receive the registration link to sign up. We’ll also be sharing the registration link via email, so be on the lookout for it in your inbox.

Not a DanceTeacher+ member yet? Click here to take advantage of our one-week free trial and become a member today. We can’t wait to welcome you to our DanceTeacher+ community!

The post Register Now: DT+ Teacher Talk, “Best Practices for Working With Students With Disabilities” appeared first on Dance Teacher.

Tapas Das: Tapas Das, a young entrepreneur of our times started TWIST N TURNS in 2005. A person who is kind, generous, creative and down to earth wanted to start his own one of a kind dance academy. According to him, Dance is a language of movements that involves space, time and the human body. He was born and grew up in Kolkata, the cultural hub of India. Being appreciated in the field of dance all his life, he is extremely talented. He has been dancing since the age of four. Once he finished his high school, he learned jazz/modern and contemporary dance. His horizons were broadened even more when he started dancing Bollywood with Beat Busters for 4 years, which then was the most upcoming dance crew in Kolkata. After that exposure, he studied how to be a dance teacher, which later started helping him impart his knowledge about dance. Thus, in 2005, with the help of family and friends, he started TWIST N TURNS. Starting with a mere number of 40 students, today TWIST N TURNS currently has over 500 students. Over the time Tapas has taught and performed all over the country. He has performed in cities such as Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Jhansi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur etc. He has been an active participant in the Salsa India Congress in the cities of Bangalore and Bombay, and he has also visited various International Salsa Congresses in Europe, namely in Berlin ,Singapore, Hong Kong,Dubai. He is been also trained recently at Broadway Dance Center (New York), Alvin Alley (New York) and Steps on Broadway (New York). He is not only a dancer or teacher. He is a successful choreographer and has coordinated various shows without difficulty in our country. His leadership skills are exceptional, thus he is where he stands today. His aim in life would be to become a dance educator. He wants to share his tremendous knowledge in the right way to the right people. He is also, simultaneously running other brands like Zumba Kolkata, Bollywood Studio ArtistWala.com and India International Dance Institute.

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