92Y Unveils Free 'Dance Maker' Choreography App

92Y DEL (Dance Education Laboratory) announces the release of the free Dance Maker app. Developed with teachers in mind, the app features activities and resources useful for anyone teaching, learning or otherwise enjoying the art of dance. Dance Maker is available on iOS, with an Android version in the works.

How does Dance Maker work? Start at the top by clicking "Movement Sentences" and choose from one of many pre-selected themes like Animals, Earth, the 5 Senses, Outer Space and more. You'll be prompted to a word cloud filled with relevant action words. Put them together into a movement sentence, apply elements from Laban Movement Analysis - "Body," "Effort," "Space" and "Relationship" - to develop and choreograph a dance.

The "Idea Machine" section provides tips to enhance your choreography, such as "try whatever it is backwards." This section offers a platform for experts in the community to contribute advice for teaching and choreography.

Dance Maker helps with lesson plans for any grade level and resources to get connected to DEL's community.

App developer Henry Holmes comments, "We want to empower teachers to lead movement experiments with the resources an entire community of dancers, educators and choreographers in hand, because we believe dance is for everyone and you can make a dance about anything."

92Y's John-Mario Sevilla notes, "This tool was designed to bring the creative process into the hands and bodies of teachers and students, giving them pathways to experimentation, discovery and artistry."

Jody Gottfried Arnhold, DEL Founder adds, "The mission of DEL is Dance for Every Child. With Dance Maker teachers and children can experiment and play and make dances. DEL is committed to developing innovative tools that have a deep and broad impact. A resource like Dance Maker intends to support these values and make teaching and creating dance fun!"

About Henry Holmes - Dance Maker App Developer

Brooklyn-based choreographer & designer Henry Holmes, whose unique background includes both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Computer Science certificate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where their work was said to "epitomize UW's idea of the thinking dancer." Henry has been working with GuideOne Mobile and the National Park Service, Gibney Dance Center's Digital Technology Initiative, Visual Country, Dance Education Laboratory 92Y and others to design and implement human-centered digital systems. Henry's choreographic resume includes a Chez Bushwick Artistic residency with Elena Rose Light, co-direction of a play with Handan Ozbilgin for Target Margin Theatre's Stein Lab, a senior center residency through SPARC with Hillary Rachel Ramos, two seasons of Mare Nostrum Elements' Emerging Choreographer Series, a round of xyz Chain Creation at The Tank with Tori Iannuzzi, and "a Status Book," an experimental choreographic project for the web. Their website is syntactile.com.

About Barry Blumenfeld - Dance Maker App Advisor

Dance Maker Barry Blumenfeld, MA, RDE, has been a dance educator for 20 years in a wide range of environments. He has worked as a teaching artist in NYC public schools in residencies ranging from "Math Dance" and "Reading Dance" to teaching children in a mental institution via videophone. He has also taught in private pre-schools and studios. Barry was an adjunct professor at American University, in Washington, DC, where he also taught at-risk youth in a housing project as part of a HUD grant and deaf college students at Galludet University. Barry is currently on the faculty of Friends Seminary School in Manhattan where he has built their dance program over the past 13 years. He is also an adjunct professor at New York University and on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory of 92nd Street Y. He holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Dance from American University and is a graduate of Dance Education Laboratory of 92nd Street Y; a certified Level 1 Teacher of Language of Dance; a certified yoga instructor; and a Registered Dance Educator. Barry serves on the board of directors of the New York State Dance Education Association and is the Artistic Director of TAPFUSION, a dance company combining modern dance and tap.

About John-Mario Sevilla, Director, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, DEL Director

John-Mario Sevilla, BA, MA, MFA, directs the Dance Education Laboratory at 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center and teaches at New York University Steinhardt and Gallatin. John-Mario has danced in the companies of Pilobolus, Rebecca Stenn, From the Horse's Mouth, Daman Harun, Erin Dudley, Lisa Giobbi, Nikolais and Louis, Shapiro and Smith, Janis Brenner, Anna Sokolow and Bill Cratty. John-Mario also performed with juggler Michael Moschen, film animator Laura Margulies, drag artist Sherry Vine, poet John Unterecker and Navajo sandpainter-healer Walking Thunder. John-Mario's choreography has appeared in New York City at LaMaMa, NYU Steinhardt, Movement Research at Judson Church, 92nd Street Y, Dance Theatre Workshop, Columbia University, ABC No Rio, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, The Asia Society, Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, as well as at universities throughout the country. He was the Director of Education at New York City Ballet. He hails from Maui, is a dance student of BetTy Jones and has studied the hula with Kumu Hula June Ka'ililani Tanoue and H?k?lani Holt.

About Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Founder, Dance Education Laboratory

Jody Gottfried Arnhold is a dance advocate and educator. She taught dance in New York City public schools for over twenty years, founded Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at 92Y, supports the dance program at the New York City Department of Education, created the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, and is the visionary benefactor behind the Doctorate in Dance Education at Teachers College Columbia University. Jody supports and mentors countless dance teachers many of whom now lead the field. She champions and supports many NYC dance companies including Ballet Hispanico where she is Honorary Chair. She continues these efforts as Executive Producer of the NY Emmy nominated documentary, PS DANCE!, to raise awareness and advocate for her mission Dance for Every Child.

Funding for Dance Maker is provided by Dance Education Laboratory.

92nd Street Y is a world-class, nonprofit cultural and community center that fosters the mental, physical and spiritual health of people throughout their lives, offering: wide-ranging conversations with the world's best minds; an outstanding range of programming in the performing, visual and literary arts; fitness and sports programs; and activities for children and families. 92Y is reimagining what it means to be a community center in the digital age with initiatives like the award-winning #GivingTuesday, launched by 92Y in 2012 and now recognized across the US and in a growing number of regions worldwide as a day to celebrate and promote giving. These kinds of initiatives are transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action both locally and around the world. More than 300,000 people visit 92Y annually; millions more participate in 92Y's digital and online initiatives. A proudly Jewish organization since its founding in 1874, 92Y embraces its heritage and welcomes people of all backgrounds and perspectives. For more information, visit www.92Y.org.???????