Practitioner Exchanges create time and space for educators to connect, build a peer community, and explore issues of practice through informal conversations facilitated by Summer Institute alumni.
Get inspired with new ideas or perspectives, ask for help with your challenges, and share your own expertise. Each month centers on a different topic and a Practitioner Exchange is often paired with workshop offerings as an opportunity to integrate and revisit information throughout the year. Practitioner Exchanges are included in the cost of workshops as follow-up discussions. Take both Workshop and Practitioner Exchange for a full 4.5-7+ hour learning experience.
Practitioner Exchanges are held on the second Tuesday of the month, 4:30-6pm.
Upcoming 2019-20 Exchanges
SEP
10th
Creating Space for Child-centered Work
What does it mean to teach from a child-centered focus? How can I better listen to children’s voices & ideas and integrate them into my teaching? How do I balance children’s choice & inquiry with what I’m “expected” to teach? Join Oakland classroom teacher & Summer Institute alum Victoria Albaracin as she discusses these questions – and more! – in an informal peer-to-peer conversation that helps you get to the heart of your teaching philosophy. Bring your own questions & experience!
OCT
8th
Embodied Poetics: Writing & Dance
Dance Educator and California Poet in the Schools Amanda Chiado leads this invigorating conversation about the intersection of dance and writing. Join her as she explores such questions as How do dance and writing complement and inspire each other? How do I encourage my students to grow in both dance and writing simultaneously? How can dance help create writing that is more powerful – and vice versa? Talk with other artist educators and teachers curious about arts integration about how to play with both kinesthetic and written communication.
NOV
12th
Dance in Special Education & Inclusion
Join dance teaching artist Heather Stockton to discuss ways to move beyond compliance and into inclusion. She’ll be exploring questions like How can we truly facilitate an equitable experience for all children’s needs in the dance classroom, when the needs of each child are unique? What are some of the foundational tools that we can integrate in every dance class to be inclusive? Bring your own questions to this rich and casual conversation with your teaching peers.
DEC
10th
Creating Community through Dance
Daisy Valdivia is a dancer, classroom teacher, and community arts organizer. Join her in a conversation that addresses these questions: How does one cultivate and engage in a dance community? What conditions exist in one’s community to create and support a dance community? How can a dance community open up possibilities for healing, liberation and fulfilling a sense of purpose? What other possibilities can emerge? Share your own questions and experiences in building dance communities in the classroom, studio, and beyond.
JAN
14th
Aerial Dance & Creativity
Aerial dance pedagogy is still emerging and evolving. Join in this dynamic conversation led by Summer Institute alum and aerial dance educator Sonya Smith of Ashland’s Le Cirque Centre. She’ll be investigating the intersection of creativity and aerial dance technique and will ask questions like: Which elements of dance encourage the most unusual explorations in students? What are the most common movement qualities in aerial dance? What challenges do we face in expanding the qualities of movement students find accessible? How do we balance safety and creativity? At what age/skill level are you comfortable encouraging improvisation in aerial dance? What explorations and scores have you found effective? Bring your own inquiry to this informal peer-to-peer conversation.
FEB
11th
Dance & Self-regulation
How can creative dance support self-regulation – and what do we really mean when we say “self-regulation”? What happens when my student’s sense of regulation challenges my own line of “control”? How do I define chaos, control, and liberation in my classroom? How can dance be used as a tool to support the classroom environment? How can body awareness, music and movement support whole-child learning? Join early childhood educator and dance teaching artist Nia Fitzpatrick as she dives into these questions and more in this casual conversation amongst peers. Bring your own questions too!
MAR
10th
Dance Integration Across Curricula
What is true dance integration, and when is it successful? How can curricular subjects enrich, enliven and support what I do in dance (and when is it too much of a stretch)? How can I play with the conventional classroom so it is not a limitation and real dancing is always an option? Join preK-5 exploratory arts educator and dancer Omar Rodriguez-Diaz as he asks these questions and more in this informal but rich conversation between peers. Bring your own questions too!
APR
2nd
Special Topic: Teaching Dance from a Distance
Join Performing Arts Teacher Christina Ayala, Dance Specialist Nia Womack-Freeman, and Dance Artist Amelia Uzategui Bonilla for a conversation about how to continue learning and engaging with your dance students – from a distance. We’ll chat about various video conferencing/sharing platforms and troubleshooting, how to extend the learning beyond the screen, how to support community-building, and how to keep it creative for both you and your students. Share and brainstorm new curricular ideas, and bring your questions to this casual, free conversation for all who teach dance. Note: This Practitioner Exchange takes place 1:30-3pm on a Thursday as a Zoom Meeting, and is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
APR
14th
Agency & Power in Early Childhood
How do we as educators introduce ideas of consent, power, and agency? How can introducing these ideas in Early Childhood benefit not only the child but the community at large? How can we navigate these topics, even as we teach dance from a distance? Join dance educator & early childhood specialist Aiano Nakagawa as she discusses how dance can provide opportunities for young children to learn boundaries, practice consent, build empathy, and exercise power in non-violent and non-oppressive ways. Bring your questions and expertise to this casual conversation. All welcome. Note: This Practitioner Exchange is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
APR
21st
Special Topic: Teaching Dance from a Distance: Tweens & Teens
Join high school dance educator Avilee Goodwin and tween/teen dance teaching artist Heather Stockton as they lead this casual conversation about teaching middle/high school dance through virtual platforms. How can we engage our students in creative collaborative processes? What new performance and response methods have we discovered? What kinds of synchronous, non-synchronous, online, off-line activities have we experimented with? All welcome. Bring your own questions! Note: This Practitioner Exchange is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
APR
30th
Special Topic: Teaching Dance from a Distance 5-11 year olds
Join public school dance specialist Christina Ayala, and dance teaching artist Cherie Hill for this collegial conversation about the ins & outs of teaching dance from a distance for elementary-aged kids. They’ll be asking questions like What are the pros and cons of synchronous vs. asynchronous sessions? How do we advocate for the arts as part of essential work for students? How do we give feedback to students through these virtual platforms and during these challenging times – what feels authentic and appropriate? Bring your own questions! We’ll collectively generate new ideas and solutions. Note: This Practitioner Exchange takes place Thursday, April 30 and is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
MAY
12th
Cultural Relevancy in Dance
Dance teaching artist Aiano Nakagawa leads this casual conversation investigating questions like What does cultural relevance look like in online dance teaching? There is a new culture emerging around online teaching – how can we as educators help shape it? Who has access to this culture, and whose voices are missing? How can we engage in responsive teaching, and include more student voices, inquiries and ideas from a distance? All welcome to join in this conversation – please bring your own questions! Note: This Practitioner Exchange is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
MAY
19th
Special Topic: Teaching Dance from a Distance – Engaging Families
These days dance educators may find themselves teaching their students, plus siblings, parents, and even pets during online classes. How can we make the most of these new teaching platforms to engage families in dance learning? What new ideas can we experiment with to allow for connection, trust, and relationship-strengthening? How can we include unexpected family members of all ages – on the fly? Join family dance educators Julie Lebel, Rossana Alves & Aiano Nakagawa as they ask these questions and more in this peer-to-peer conversation. Bring your questions too! Note: This Practitioner Exchange is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
JUN
2nd
Special Topic: Teaching Dance from a Distance 2.0 – Where are we now, what next + practicum
As we continue teaching in this new terrain, dance educators are finding unique ways to cultivate creativity – for ourselves and our students. And new questions are emerging: How do we stretch our use of space in a 2D virtual platform? How do we sustain our excitement about teaching for the long haul when it feels so different, and often so one-sided? What kind of teaching and learning goals can we set? Bring your own questions to this casual conversation with dance ed peers, and we’ll collaborate to generate ideas. Also bring new curricular ideas you’d like to test out with fellow dancers in a practicum format – we’ll be using breakout rooms to experiment with each other. Hosted by dance teaching artists Maura Whelehan and Phoenicia Pettyjohn. Note: This Practitioner Exchange is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
JUN
16th
Dancers in Leadership
Dancers have the power to imagine possibilities and create change, and to step up as leaders to advocate for our art and our values. What does leadership in dance mean or look like in this climate? What is the role and possibility of dance now? How can I use my creative practice in how I consider leadership and advocacy? How do I listen deeply and examine my own biases when in a position of power? How do I balance this with my own vision? As leaders of color, what is our role in addressing equity and racism? How do black leaders prioritize self-care while dealing with systematic oppression in a white-dominated field? Join Rosalina Macisco, dance teaching artist and founder of Santa Barbara Dance Institute, and Cherie Hill, Luna’s Director of Community and Culture as they ask these questions and more in a collaborative conversation. Bring your own questions too! Note: This Practitioner Exchange is FREE for all. Email jperena@lunadanceinstitute.org for the Zoom link.
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