Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Workshop

What will we be like when we get there

Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Workshop - hosted by Deborah Damast and Yard Director of Education and Community Programs Jesse Keller Jason - is open to all educators looking to spice up their lesson plans with fresh and exciting ideas rooted in dance.

Email Jesse Keller Jason jessekeller@dancetheyard.org to RSVP by Friday, July 19th

Dance Education Lab's Story

Jody Gottfried Arnhold founded Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) in 1995, with Joan Finkelstein as Founding Director and Ann Biddle as Founding Faculty. These three visionaries saw a need for a practical and focused dance pedagogy program outside of a university setting. An experimental laboratory, DEL is a safe place for new and experienced dance teachers to enhance their skills, develop sequential curriculum, and learn from one another. For over twenty years, DEL has been training and supporting the work of dance educators, equipping the teachers of today with the tools they need to succeed in the classroom.

Why DEL?

DEL offers a variety of dance education courses: weekend workshops, intensives, and a summer institute for educators and artists interested in developing as dance educators. All DEL courses align with the NYC Department of Education Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance Grades K-12. The approach is built on Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), a language and system developed by Rudolf Laban. The LMA vocabulary provides a mode of clear communication, in addition to guiding unit and lesson planning. Course topics include technique, improvisation, composition, classroom management, conflict resolution, dance history, and anatomy.

Mission 

The mission of DEL is to bring dance into children’s and teens’ lives and education by inspiring teachers to be life-long learners, by encouraging experimentation and observation in teaching, by promoting the artistic development of teachers and by empowering teachers to give students ownership of the art form as a means of communication, collaboration and problem-solving, as a key to understanding their cultural heritage and as a medium for personal aesthetic expression. DEL…art at the heart of teaching™

Deborah Damast (BFA Dance: SUNY Purchase, MA Dance Education: NYU, EdD Dance Education in progress: Columbia Teachers College) has been teaching in the Dance Education program at NYU since 2002. She has taught technique, pedagogy, creative movement, production, and choreography, is the Program Director and Artistic Advisor of the Dance Education program where she also directs the dance concerts and Kaleidoscope Dancers . She founded and directs a study abroad program to Uganda each January since 2007 and has brought several Ugandan artists to the U.S as well as over 180 NYU students to Uganda. She has participated in motion capture studies, Internet Arts Collaborations, and in spring of 2019 received a collaborative Faculty Challenge Grant with Yoav Berger and Allegra Romita for the 2019-2020 year to begin research on data and dance literacy. Deborah is currently on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory, LREI, The Yard, and the NYC DOE DELTA leadership team, has taught and directed programs at Peridance Center, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Harvey School, Dance in Education Fund, and has taught for New York City Ballet, the 92nd St. Y, Temple Habonim, Harkness Dance Center, Innovative Learning Centers, and others. She has created creative dance videos for children, Move N Groove Kids