6-week Course offered through the National Dance Education Organization.

Dance teachers in every setting have long used touch as a teaching method. It is employed for correction or support, to provide a goal, impart kinesthetic feedback, or other reasons. With disclosures of sexual misconduct at top artistic institutions, the rise of the #MeToo movement, and an emphasis on trauma-informed methods of teaching, we must address the role touch plays in dance class. Different approaches, such as imagistic language, prop work, or other types of touch may provide for safer learning environments, student agency, and/or provide new depth to the creativity and teaching practices already employed. This course combines knowledge of best practices of power, consent, and physical contact from Intimacy Direction, with Laban/Bartenieff Touch-for-Repatterning practices and low-touch/no-touch teaching options. Those enrolled in the course will be encouraged to strategically offer opportunities for students to practice consent and exercise agency when touch is employed. The course encourages personal reflection and choice-making for effective teaching. The material is applicable to dance teachers in any environment.