Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Course

DEL Foundations

Felice Santorelli, Ed.M and Catherine Gallant, MFA

The DEL Foundations online course provides an overview of the key components of the nationally acclaimed DEL model of teaching dance in a wide variety of learning contexts.

This 12-week asynchronous course is based on the highly popular DEL Foundations course that has been taught at DEL 92NY in New York City since DEL’s inception in 1995. Developed by DEL Founder, Jody Gottfried Arnhold with Ann Biddle as Founding Faculty, the course has evolved and adapted over its long history. This current iteration has been updated by Ann Biddle and Catherine Gallant and reflects current 21st-century dance education practice and pedagogy.

Updated and modified as an asynchronous learning experience, participants in this course explore DEL’s comprehensive and inclusive model of dance education with a specific focus on applied Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) as a framework for dynamic dance making and scaffolded lesson planning. Participants interact in the online community by engaging in collaborative dance making, practice teaching, and self and peer reflection. In addition, participants gain an understanding of broad developmental benchmarks and effective and inspired teaching strategies to support diverse learners in a culturally responsive environment and align with local, state and/or national dance standards. Finally, participants in this course articulate a vision statement that represents their core Teacher’s Heart and consider applications of the DEL Model to one’s unique teaching context.

The DEL Foundations curriculum is aligned with the NYC Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts: Dance Pre-K – 12 and the National Core Arts Standards in Dance (NCCAS).

Please note: This course is offered asynchronously through DEL’s online learning management system. Access to the course opens to participants at 8 am ET. Students taking the course for credit are expected to complete assignments on a weekly basis. Audit students may access course materials at their leisure and are not expected to complete course assignments.

$535 until Oct 16 / $595 after

Must register by Wednesday, November 1, 2023.

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This program is part of the Harkness Dance Center, which recognizes the ongoing generosity of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

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Instructors

Catherine Gallant

Catherine Gallant, MFA was the assistant director at 92NY Harkness Dance Center from 1994-96 just as DEL was beginning and has been on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory since 2003. She has presented her work at The 92nd Street Y, New York Harkness Dance Center, WestFest and American Dance Guild. Recently Catherine Gallant/DANCE performed in Ireland and in Scotland at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Catherine is also the director of Dances by Isadora which, since 1989, performs, teaches and collaborates with dancers throughout the world. They have appeared on the Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out Series, Battery Dance Festival and at Green-Wood Cemetery. Catherine appears in the US version of Jerome Bel’s Isadora Duncan. She began her study of the technique of Isadora Duncan in 1982 with Julia Levien and is a founding member of the Duncan Archive. Catherine is the dance educator at PS 89 in Manhattan. She and her students were featured in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, PS DANCE! Ms. Gallant is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University.

This instructor is currently teaching the following classes:

DEL The Works and Process of Merce Cunningham: Endless Possibilities

Felice Santorelli

Felice Santorelli (Ed.M Dance Education, B.F.A. Dance and Choreography) is a full time dance educator at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School (PVPA) in Western Massachusetts. Felice’s teaching experience ranges from K-12 to higher education and in various styles of dance. Felice brings experience designing dance curriculum that blends skill-building in technique, creative dance making, improvisation, and dance history, and draws connections between dance and the world and other art forms. Felice is the Artistic Director of PVPA’s Catalyst Dance Company, a student choreography group that focuses on the development of young dance artists and dance makers. Work from this student group has earned recognition and awards at the Regional and National level. At PVPA, she leads the DEL PVPA dance mentoring program, established by DEL Founding Faculty Ann Biddle with generous support from the Arnhold Foundation. Her work and the work of her students is featured in the film PS Dance! The Next GENeration (Nel Shelby) which premiered in 2022 on PBS. Felice is a DEL facilitator with DEL 92NY and DEL at Jacob’s Pillow, leading professional development for dancers and dance educators. Additional work includes Pilot Teaching for the National Core Arts Standards for Dance (NCCAS), numerous presentations at the National Dance Education Organization Conference (NDEO), mentorship for the DEL Institute, as well as contributions to curriculum writing projects for the NYC DOE.