Dance/NYC Announces 2021 Symposium Education Track Speakers, Sessions, and More

Dance/NYC announces Jody Gottfried Arnhold as the Lead Dance Advocate of the 2021 Symposium.

As Lead Dance Advocate, Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Founder of Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at 92Y, and the Arnhold Foundation will support Dance/NYC's mission to create a just, equitable, and inclusive dance ecology, ensuring the participation of dance workers, dance educators, and students at the virtual Dance/NYC 2021 Symposium, Wednesday, March 17 - Saturday, March 20, 2021.

With the support of the Arnhold Foundation, Dance/NYC will provide subsidized ticket rates for students, artists, teaching artists, and dance educators enrolled in or working within the New York City Department of Education K-12 schools, or colleges, universities, and conservatory programs based in the metropolitan NYC area*.

Considering the substantial hardship many in the field are facing, this support is crucial for Black, Indigenous, Peoples of Color (BIPOC), immigrant and disabled dance workers which Dance/NYC research suggests are less likely to earn living wages from their work and have been hardest hit by COVID-19, rendering the true event cost prohibitive. Dance/NYC's Executive Director, Alejandra Duque Cifuentes offers, 'The Arnhold Foundation has been a true partner to Dance/NYC. Jody's leadership and personal investment in dance and in advocating for quality dance education for every child in every school has made an indelible mark in the New York City dance community.

Dance education is one of the most vital aspects of a healthy dance ecosystem and one of the main reasons dance remains at the center of our City's cultural fabric.' As the only gathering of its kind for the dance community in the metropolitan New York City area, the Symposium is an opportunity for the dance field to exchange ideas, expand networks, sharpen organizational practices, and deepen the inquiry around New York City's legacy and trajectory of dance-making. Student tickets cost $10 and are limited; Dance worker tickets cost $25; Group rate packages for New York City Department of Education K-12 schools, or colleges, universities, and conservatory programs based in the metropolitan NYC area are also available.

For more information, visit Dance.NYC/DanceSymp and register.

This year's theme of Justice. Transformation. Education. will invite participants to reimagine the dance ecology with emphasis on advancing justice, civic engagement, and the whole dance worker, in the context of the global health crisis and social justice uprisings of 2020. The 2021 Symposium will offer content tracks in alignment with its theme, with the Justice Track aimed at rooting out oppressive practices and historic marginalization, the Transformation Track aimed at inspiring change at the individual, organizational and field-wide level, and the Education Track aimed at providing business of dance and dance education tools.

Sessions and speakers in the Justice Track have been previously announced; sessions and speakers in the Transformation Track will be announced at a later date.

Sessions in the Education Track include:

KEYNOTE: The Studio to Stage Pipeline: a Story of Racism, Tendus and Black Death, moderated by Gregory King, Assistant Professor of Dance at Kent State Universitywith speakers Melanie George, Dance Project & Associate Curator at Jacob's Pillow, Maura Nguyen Donohue, Professor, Hunter College, City University of New York, Ingrid Silva, Professional Ballet Dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Founder of EmpowHerNY & Co-Founder of Blacks in Ballet, and Jesse Phillips-Fein, Choreographer, performer, and dance educator.

Workshop Series: Dance Education In Focus curated with Ana Nery Fragoso, Dance Educator and Dance Director for the NYCDOE Office of Arts and Special Projectsand speaker Olivia Mode Carter, Founder and CEO, Dance Ed Tips.

Session: Changing the DNA of the settler colonial state: Decolonising syllabi, archives, canon, and the guards of intellectual property curated by Emily Johnson, Choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow with presenter Colette Denali Montoya-Sloan, Archivist/Librarian, Adelphi University's Manhattan Center and CUNY's Guttman Community College.

The Education track will be accompanied by a thematic guide, to be included in the program book, curated by Maura Donohue. This guide will feature essays, resource lists with related media, and reflection prompts providing deeper pathways to explore the Symposium topics.

Visit Dance.NYC/DanceSymp for more information.