Sonja Travick is well-known in Oakland as a leading high school dance teacher. Since 1997 she has been bringing dance to Oakland Tech students expanding their knowledge, experience and interest. Her efforts to make dance accessible to students and build confidence in them as artists are her proudest endeavors as an educator.

Sonja feels it is her responsibility to show her students that the Bay Area is like a “passport to the world of dance,” and designs her program so that they interact with the local dance scene. They are required to take class at six different studios in the community and she annually invites six dance artists to lead classes and workshops for the whole school. During “Dance Week” students can request a pass from their teacher to take classes throughout the day in Salsa, West African dance, Bollywood, Hip Hop, Belly Dance, Tahitian, and other forms. “I am a constant advocate of the rigour of dance and helping the community understand what dance is and what it does for kids on many levels: physical, psychological, and emotional.”

“From Luna I have learned how to demystify dance, allowing students to enter dance in a way that is not intimidating. Luna makes dance accessible and sparks student creativity.” Students have always loved the creative and composition aspects of Sonja’s classes, and she now weaves it into her curriculum throughout the year to develop student choreography. One of her students’ most recent projects was inspired by uncelebrated African American women in history. Sonja is very curious about how to use creative dance to explore technique, engage students deeply in discovering the meaning and foundation of their choreography, and advocate for arts for students who don’t have access. “I want to learn to ask more questions to help students dive deeper into the meaning and foundation of their choreography. How do I help them unlock that and get to something that is their own voice, something connected to issues and to who they are?”

Performances, from fun flash mobs to formal productions, have become the forums for showcasing student choreography and creative expression, and dancers of all levels and learning ability are encouraged to perform. Sonja finds these types of activities build confidence, community, and let other students in the school see that perhaps they could dance too. “It’s important to be inclusive and help students push beyond their fears. . . [I find that] the community is so tight that they help each other. I appreciate that in dance class. Dance builds a relationship in which you will take care of someone else.”

Sonja also values taking care of the artist within. When her daughter was born she took time off from teaching to spend time with her, and meanwhile worked at City Center where she took cultural dance classes and managed the center. She nourished her dancer self again when she participated in Luna’s Summer Institute and Advanced Summer Institute from 2006 to 2011. Now she cultivates her creativity through explorations in Cuban dance and culture. Often dance educators toggle back and forth asking how their artist self and educator self can support and inform one another. Sonja has found a way to enrich the artist and educator, and, as a result, her students are able to get the most out of their dance experiences.

“The human body is a wonder. The kick is to see the wonder of that body in all different forms. Dance gets to push us and the more we expose kids to this, what the body can do, the emotion, it changes people’s consciousness, lets them experience what is possible in this world. So as a teacher I hope that I have exposed kids to enough things to give them the ability to choose and know what is out there.”

Physical Education teacher Laura Richey has found a way to bring creativity to all of her teaching. “In traditional PE training 15 years ago that was not the approach. [Luna’s Summer Institute] was almost like a rebirth as a teacher. Or an awakening, gosh, why haven’t I been teaching this way the whole time?” By participating in the Summer Institute (SI) in 2013 she was not only able to learn the language of dance but how to invigorate student learning. Now her teaching approach no longer is just a unit on dance, rather dance is interwoven into all of her curriculum, because she is using a creative lens in which to teach sports concepts. “So many of the dance concepts (pathways, changing directions, levels) you can apply throughout the whole curriculum, whether you are talking about soccer, lacrosse, or a tag-game. The start of the school year is full of Luna, because it is the springboard for some of the other concepts taught.”

Laura has been a PE teacher for a long time. Prior to teaching in Piedmont Unified in 2009, she taught in southern California in public and private schools. She has a long history in the field of Physical Education and has experienced the pedagogical shifts. Thinking about PE from a Creative Dance approach was a mental shift that now shapes her present teaching approach and in many ways she feels is her greatest achievement, bringing creative movement to the physical education setting where students typically are instructed on the “correct” way to move. “The goal of physical education is to create lifelong movers with high levels of physical literacy and self-efficacy related to their movement ability.”

Her first challenge was to overcome her feelings of hesitation because she did not identify as a dancer. The act of jumping right in would give her firsthand information on how her students might feel and how to support their learning, and Laura willingly took the plunge, saying: “You are never too old to re-invent or discover a new part of yourself.” As a SI participant she learned how to create a safe environment for students to experiment with movement concepts, develop a teaching progression for introducing dance concepts that bridge the gap between dance instruction and physical education, and embrace the idea that there can be no right/wrong way to move in PE class settings. “This new approach allows all students to experience success without a winning or losing atmosphere. This is important because students perceive success and failure in public and the more skilled sports movers typically dominate.” This creative approach is aligned with her physical education goals. Laura reflects that by giving students the power and responsibility to create movement and “be in charge,” they challenge their mind/body connection, therefore increasing their physical literacy.

Thinking about PE from a creative dance approach also shaped her role as a leader in Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD). In collaboration with her colleagues, she is working to shift instruction in PE in PUSD because she sees how “creative dance concepts weave beautifully into the CA physical education state standards and provide building blocks for movement concepts needed for students to be successful, competent movers.” She works with over 500 students TK-5th grade at Havens and other elementary schools. She shared that many of the PUSD PE team have taken courses through Luna and have adopted a creative dance, integrated approach to teaching. Now, spreading dance instruction throughout the district at all levels is important to them. They have become a support network and advocates for each other in the district. For example, when they heard that the high school dance teacher’s position was in jeopardy, all of the PE teachers lobbied on her behalf. “We have created and become allies and a community to each other.” They are also connecting high school dance teachers to elementary schools to provide opportunities for student showing, allowing elementary students to this is what dance can look like later in their school career. “We take elementary students to HS students’ performances and HS students will teach classes to the elementary.” Presently, PUSD is restructuring the PE department and program and the PE team is working together to advocate for a creative approach to instruction and expand dance. The process has its set of challenges but all of them are committed to shifting the paradigm. On this personal and professional journey into creativity Laura has found meaningful ways to impact those around her.