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  • Theory of Change
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    • For Children
      • Early Childhood
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  • Theory of Change
    • Advocacy
  • What We Do
    • For Children
      • Early Childhood
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      • Teen Choreo Lab
      • Summer Dance Camps
    • For Parents
      • MPACT
      • Early Childhood
    • For Artists & Educators
      • Professional Learning
      • Building Cultures of Dance
    • With Schools & Organizations
      • Building Cultures of Dance
      • Professional Learning
      • MPACT
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Blog

Luna uses our blog to tell stories from the families, children, and teachers we’ve worked with, reflect on our own learning, continue discussions started in our panels and forums, and more. Keep visiting back to discover what’s new!

Testimonials from our community celebrating Luna

Testimonials from our Community

Nadia Adame, Artistic Director of AXIS Dance Company

June 30, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Heidi & Schuyler Sawicki, a Luna family

May 27, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Julie Lebel, Family Dance Practitioner with Foolish Operations

May 26, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Ben Oldham, former Studio Lab student

May 26, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Kim Trudell, Early Childhood Dance & Music Educator & Summer Institute Alum

May 25, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Studio Lab Parent

May 23, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Lauren Aczon, Teaching Artist, Early Educator & Summer Institute Alum

May 13, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Early Childhood Educator & Summer Institute Alum

May 12, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Bernadette LaNoue, Early Childhood Teacher

May 12, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Jessica Kershner, Early Childhood Teacher

May 12, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Esme Kundanis-Grow, Dance Teaching Artist & Summer Institute Alum

May 9, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Maura Whelehan, Dance Teaching Artist with San Francisco Ballet

April 29, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Teacher as Creative Practitioner-Scholar – Creativity Alum

April 28, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

GiGi Tonyé, Dance Teaching Artist

April 27, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Karen Hogan, Dance Teaching Artist

April 26, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Summer Institute Alum

April 25, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Tamara Irving, Educational Consultant

April 22, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Early Childhood Educator

April 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Meg Teran, Teaching Artist

April 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Phoenicia Pettyjohn, Teaching Artist

April 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Samia Karimi, Teaching Artist

April 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Kirah Caminos, Dance Teaching Artist

April 15, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Jane Real, Dance Teaching Artist

April 14, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Erika Malone, Dance Teaching Artist

April 14, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Rebecca Prather, Speech Language Pathologist

April 12, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Summer Institute Alum

April 11, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Paula Mitchell, Maker Educator at Grass Valley Elementary

April 7, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Genoa Sperske, Dance Teaching Artist with San Francisco Ballet

March 31, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Grass Valley Elementary Students

March 30, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Summer Institute Alum

March 30, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Amanda Chiado, Teaching Artist & Director of Arts Education at San Benito County Arts Council

March 23, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Tom Fairchild, PE Coach with Berkeley Unified School District

March 23, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Early Childhood Educator & Love, Move, Play Alum

March 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Cindy Chan, Teaching Specialist

March 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Kirah Caminos, Dance Teaching Artist

March 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Michaela Summers, Performing Arts Educator

March 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Elissa Lee, Founder of Dance the Bay

March 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Gina Holmberg, VAPA Coordinator & Visual Arts Teacher

March 21, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Alisa Clayton, Dance Teaching Artist with SF Ballet

March 15, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Rosalina Macisco, Founder of Santa Barbara Dance Institute

March 15, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Lisa Wymore, Professor of Theater, Dance & Performance Studies at UC Berkeley

March 15, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Jasmine Yep Huynh, Associate Director of Youth and Community Programs at San Francisco Ballet

March 15, 2022
Testimonials from our Community

Christine Atkins, Experiential Arts Teacher in Oakland Unified School District

March 15, 2022

Stories That Move Us

Stories That Move Us

Story #25 – Chantal Sampogna

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #24 – Heidi and Schuyler’s Dance – Video by Heather Stockton

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #23 – Miss Agnes Lyons: An Impassioned Advocate for Children, Families and Seniors

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #21 – Vanina Doce-Mood (MPACT mother & intern) Interview by Cherie Hill

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #20 – Expanding the Realm of Movement: one student’s journey from MPACT to Luna’s Studio Lab

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #19 – Erin Lally, dance teaching artist & mother by Jochelle Perena

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #18 – From Luna Teaching Artist to Dance Therapist by Julia Marx

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #16 – Connections Sustained Over Time by Patricia Reedy

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #15 – Stepping Out…by Amelia Uzategui Bonilla

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #14 – Why We Love Luna! by Rochelle Vaughn (Studio Lab parent)

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #13 – An Early Student: Clio Korn Wallace by Nancy Ng

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #12 – Dance Educator Alisa Rasera by Heather Stockton

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story # 11 – Relationships that Span the Generations by Patricia Reedy

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #10 – Student Succeeds at Dance by Cherie Hill

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #9 – From Soloists to Duet – A Story of MPACT by Deborah Karp

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #8 – The Gift of Freedom and Dance, by Former Luna Dancer Ben Oldham

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #7 – Luna Holds the Thread by Nancy Ng

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #6 – “…I see their creativity come out in their play” – Interview with Studio Lab Parent Kim Carlyle

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #5 – From Dancing in MPACT to Playing & Studying Music by Nancy Ng

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #4 – Teaching Artist Jochelle Perena, interview & video by Heather Stockton

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #3 – Dance Builds Community by Cherie Hill

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #2 – Dance Perseveres by Bonner Odell

July 27, 2018
Stories That Move Us

Story #1 – Founder Story by Patricia Reedy

July 27, 2018

Pebble in the Pond: Teachers Creating Change

Teachers Creating Change

Rossana Alves

Rossana Alves is known for her warm smile and generous welcome, ideal qualities...
September 27, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Meg Glaser Terán

Meg Glaser Terán has always loved her teachers. Both in childhood and in...
September 26, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Tamara Irving

Tamara Irving has an enthusiasm for dance and learning that is contagious. Her...
September 26, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Cindy Chan

Luna introduced me to the educational potential of dance and allowed me to see...
September 26, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Jennifer Dennehy

Summer Institute ’14 alum Jennifer Dennehy knows her way around a hoop. A...
September 25, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Bonnie Lewkowicz

Bonnie Lewkowicz, a long time Berkeley resident and one of the founders and...
July 1, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

M.K. Victorson

“Three years later I landed the job that people told me I would never...
June 1, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Erica Rose Jeffrey

Erica Rose Jeffrey holds a powerful vision of dance. With degrees in both...
April 1, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Tom Mayock

“Planting the seeds of a dance education is pivotal for the next generation’s...
March 1, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Valerie Gutwirth

A veteran dance teacher with 20+ years of experience, Valerie has taught pre-k...
February 1, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Sonja Travick

Sonja Travick is well-known in Oakland as a leading high school dance teacher....
January 1, 2018
Teachers Creating Change

Laura Richey

Physical Education teacher Laura Richey has found a way to bring creativity to...
November 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Rosemary Hannon

Rosemary first encountered Luna through founder Patricia Reedy when they were...
September 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Paula Mitchell

Grass Valley Elementary School teacher Paula Mitchell had a vision for school...
August 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Rebecca Daly Mezzocchi

When Rebecca first came to Luna in 2009 she was teaching dance in a public...
July 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Ruth Torres Walker

Ruth Torres Walker, Arts Integration Specialists with Los Angeles Unified...
June 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Jakey Toor

Dance educators and artists are impacting the field of arts education in many...
May 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Christina Ayala

Christina Ayala lives and teaches in Oakland, CA. She first learned about Luna...
April 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Rebecca Prather

Fresh out of graduate school in 2012, Rebecca was working at the Larkspur Corte...
March 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Emily Blossom

Luna’s partnership with New Highland Academy began eleven years ago when we...
February 1, 2017
Teachers Creating Change

Annika Nonhebel Presley

When Annika started her new role as Education Director for AXIS Dance Company...
January 1, 2017

What’s On Our Minds

What's On Our Minds

Dance Makers at Grass Valley

by Heather Stockton shared from the Grass Valley Elementary Makers Blog   Last fall I was...
February 23, 2022
What's On Our Minds

Discovering a leader in myself

by Heather Stockton In February I had the honor of speaking on two different panels as a dance...
April 2, 2021
What's On Our Minds

Guest post: An open letter to teachers from Lisbeth Woodington

March 8, 2021
What's On Our Minds

A Conversation on Dance, Education, Leadership & Values

Luna’s Professional Learning Manager Jochelle Pereña (JP) and Director of Community & Culture...
July 30, 2020
What's On Our Minds

End of Year Reflections, Summer 2020

Luna Teaching Artists reflect on teaching and learning at Luna during 2019-20.
July 18, 2020
What's On Our Minds

Guest Post: Embodied Poetics – Writing & Dance

by Amanda Chiado, SI 2018 On October 8th I had the great pleasure of facilitating a Practitioner Exchange...
October 31, 2019
What's On Our Minds

Guest Post: Creating Space for Child-centered Work

Facilitator Victoria Albaracin and participant Aiano Nakagawa reflect on the September 10, 2019...
September 30, 2019
What's On Our Minds

A peek into dance-making by Deborah Karp

Spring is here and in the dance world that means a colorful blooming of performances, festivals and...
April 23, 2019
What's On Our Minds

The impact of the Summer Institute – reflections by the SI 2018 cohort

The 2018-19 Summer Institute (SI) cohort includes 12 dance teaching artists and classroom...
April 15, 2019
What's On Our Minds

Guest Post: Early Childhood Curriculum Exchange

by Kristin Burke Some conversation take-aways & tips As early childhood dance teachers, we find...
April 1, 2019
What's On Our Minds

Guest Blog: Inquiry-based Documentation

by Lisbeth Woodington Preparing for the Practitioner Exchange with my Summer Institute colleague Mershon...
March 5, 2019
What's On Our Minds

Talking Race & Equity: A Few Tips

by Cherie Hill Talking about race is not easy, especially in the workplace. The subject is controversial...
February 20, 2019
What's On Our Minds

Guest Blog: Writing & Dance-Making

by Natalie Ashby In today’s climate it is essential that young people have the means to speak their...
January 28, 2019
What's On Our Minds

Guest Blog: Nature-based Dance Curriculum

by Eden Flynn I recently co-facilitated/participated in a Luna Dance Practitioner Exchange with a small...
December 3, 2018
What's On Our Minds

Guest Blog: Policing & Releasing the Body

by Emily Ban On October 9th, a small but mighty group of dance educators gathered at Luna for the...
November 5, 2018
What's On Our Minds

Guest Blog: Prompting Children’s Reflections

by Mandy Possel Mandy shares what she learned from co-facilitating our September 2018 Practitioner...
October 1, 2018
What's On Our Minds

Celebrating a Year of Inclusive Dance

by Deborah Karp Seven classrooms gathered for a dance sharing at our partner school, Grass Valley...
July 1, 2018
What's On Our Minds

Our Legacy as Dancers, Educators and Change-makers

Extract from Nancy Ng’s Keynote Presentation California Dance Education Association (CDEA) Conference...
March 27, 2018
What's On Our Minds

Dance Across California: A state-wide conference

On Saturday 1/27/18 I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the state-wide conference of the CA...
March 19, 2018
What's On Our Minds

Conference Reflections on Practice, Community, and Change

by Nancy Ng     17 activities marked the conclusion of Luna’s participation in back-to-back...
December 1, 2017
What's On Our Minds

Addressing Equity: Disability & Inclusion

by Deborah Karp In early August, I had the honor of presenting at the Kennedy Center-VSA Intersections...
September 6, 2017
What's On Our Minds

Summer with DEL

              by Patricia Reedy Nancy and I were invited by Dance...
August 10, 2016
What's On Our Minds

The Relationship Enhancing Power of the Art of Dance

This blog was written by dance teaching artist, Meg Glaser Terán about her experience with family dance....
June 22, 2015
What's On Our Minds

THREES AND ME: REFLECTING ON DANCE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

By Patricia Reedy March 2015 I was invited to give a keynote address at an Embodied Parenting conference...
March 11, 2015
What's On Our Minds

Teaching Artists: Applying the Breadth of their Skills

By Nancy Ng   Segregating artistic, administrative and development departments are the typical...
November 18, 2014
What's On Our Minds

Considering June in September: The Practice of Backward Design

As a child, I loved the transition from summer to fall as it indicated the beginning of school. Crisp air,...
September 26, 2014
What's On Our Minds

Contemporary Dance Inspiration at Gibney Dance Center

Imagine seven different points within the body: the ankles, knees, hips, elbows, shoulders, ears and top...
July 7, 2014
What's On Our Minds

Common Core & Dance: A Perfect Match

At the 2010 annual conference of the National Dance Education Organization, Jane Bonbright and colleagues...
January 27, 2014
What's On Our Minds

Communitysourcing & the Art of Dance

It’s rehearsal.  My collaborator and I are in the studio, surrounded by cover letters, calculators and...
November 6, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Who is prepared for a windfall on behalf of children?

10-10-13   The other day there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a business...
October 10, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Middle School Magic & the Path We Dance

11/21/12 It was an unexpected moment in middle school dance teaching when one of my special education...
October 9, 2013
What's On Our Minds

That’s not fair!

3 October 2013 Today marks the third day of the United States government being shut down for the most...
October 3, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Social Media

26 September 2013   The other day our volunteer librarian, Sarah and I were talking about our...
September 26, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Deja Vu

Consider dance educator, AG*.  Like many dance educators in California, a state without a teaching...
September 19, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Serious Play

Tuesday, 17 September 2013 “Children at play are not playing about.  Their games should be seen as their...
September 17, 2013
What's On Our Minds

A Dancer Writes

September 12, 2013 Today was the first day that I adhered to my new schedule, allocating Thursdays to...
September 13, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Thinking About Space

Wednesday, September 11, 2013 As a dancer and choreographer, I have always enjoyed the use of space.  At...
September 11, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Shifting Accountability

Monday, September 9, 2013 What happens when an organization loses funding from a government agency with...
September 10, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Engagement

Thursday, September 4, 2013 As teachers, we want to see engagement.  Yesterday, day two of our annual...
September 5, 2013
What's On Our Minds

A New Day

Wednesday, September 3, 2013 Back to School!  That is what yesterday felt like in every way.  The day...
September 4, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Defining “family” at Luna’s Open House

As a new teacher to Luna, I was excited to participate in Luna’s first Open House in our “forever” home...
August 19, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Time for Yoga in Schools

I recently read an article about parents threatening a lawsuit over yoga in schools because they were...
January 17, 2013
What's On Our Minds

Expecting the unexpected

It was an unexpected moment in middle school dance teaching when one of my special education classes took...
November 29, 2012
What's On Our Minds

Family Dance Effects: Community v. Institution

Southern California dance educator, Ruth T, my coachee, colleague and friend, is passionate about dance...
October 31, 2012
What's On Our Minds

Dancing through the Lock Down

It started out as a typical monthly assembly at New Highland Academy (NHA), one of Luna’s partner schools....
March 15, 2012

Dance Leadership

Dance Education Leaders

Ruth Torres

Ruth Torres is the Arts Integration Specialist for Local District South in Los Angeles Unified School...
October 16, 2015
Dance Education Leaders

Rebecca Prather

Rebecca Prather is a Speech-Language Pathologist and Arts Integration Coach with the Larkspur Corte-Madera...
October 15, 2015
Dance Education Leaders

Jennifer Oliver

Jennifer Oliver holds a B.A. in dance from University of California, Irvine, and a M.A. in Expressive Arts...
October 14, 2015
Dance Education Leaders

Rosemary Hannon

Rosemary Hannon is a performer, choreographer and dance teacher. Since 1996, she has taught a variety of...
October 13, 2015
Dance Education Leaders

Greacian Goeke

Through dance, movement, music and T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Greacian Goeke has been inciting the abundant...
October 12, 2015
Dance Education Leaders

Yukie Fujimoto

Yukie Fujimoto was Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Mills College, Oakland from 2009 to 2014. She...
October 11, 2015
Dance Education Leaders

Rebecca Weisser Cervantes

Rebecca Weisser Cervantes has been teaching dance to kids and adults all over San Francisco since 1994....
December 10, 2013
Dance Education Leaders

Meg Glaser Teran

Meg Glaser Terán is a dance-teaching artist currently working with The Wooden Floor (TWF), All the Ars for...
December 9, 2013

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