Luna’s multi-year partnership with Marin County Office Education, Early Childhood (MCOE ECE) centers professional development that introduces early childhood practitioners to dance as an essential component of young children’s education, and recognizing the whole child. In collaboration, Luna tailors workshops for county-wide Early Learning Summits that explore MCOE’s themes of belonging and inclusion, play, and all aspects of early literacy. Preschool teachers and aides, family home day care providers, early and after school care providers, and all working with young children across Marin’s diverse communities join Luna’s Professional Learning in Early Childhood, and receive coaching and support in integrating dance. New components of this partnership are developed each year.

Luna is partnering with Kaiser Early Childhood Center (Oakland Unified School District) to strengthen the capacity for dance as an essential element of child-centered early education. Yearlong weekly dance classes for all children are paired with professional development for all teachers through workshops, focus groups, co-reflection and coaching. Classroom teachers participate in dance classes with their students through a side-by-side professional development model that supports them in observing their students in new ways, expanding their own creative experiences through dance, and integrating dance into their teaching and play. Kaiser is a unique early childhood site: it is an inclusion school with four out of its nine classrooms  designated Special Education; it is a diagnostic center for children with special needs; and it is one of two early childhood centers offering transitional kindergarten (TK) in the district. Luna is able to serve a diverse population of learners through our multiyear partnership with Kaiser, and we view this work as a model for what is possible in early learning.

Kaiser teachers during a dance professional development workshop.

Luna has a long history of partnering with Oakland Unified School District Early Childhood Education (OUSD ECE) to provide dance professional development (PD) to teachers, and extending the potential to bring dance to all children across the district. Since 2018, OUSD early education teachers have received PD services from Luna to support the integration of dance into their classroom to meet their  SEL, inclusion, literacy, and anti-bias teaching goals. Jessica Kershner (Special Education, Acorn Woodland) was the first teacher to study in-depth with Luna; followed by Bernadette LaNoue (Bella Vista). Recognizing that creative dance supported their students’ creative expression, self-determination, and liberation, these two teacher leaders sought to increase the number of early education teachers who would have the confidence and skills to integrate creative dance into a holistic curriculum that nurtures students’ choices and voices. Since 2020, over 75 OUSD ECE teachers have attended Luna PDs, including Myeisha Jones who participated in Luna’s Summer Institute (SI) 2022-23, and Mila Zuniga de Martinez, SI 2023-24. We do this by offering expanded PD to more teachers, and deeper learning about how dance is at the core of children’s social-emotional learning, and offers an antidote to systemic bias. Coaching a cohort of peer teacher leaders to advocate for dance is also part of this partnership, and cohort members assist in PD workshops, support coordination and logistics, lead dance Professional Learning Communities, and are mentored in their own dance teaching inquiry, which have included inclusive teaching practices, family dance, dance integration and more.

A family dance class at Acorn Woodland Child Development Center.

Stories from Oakland Unified ECE teachers

Watch and listen to the below videos illustrating the impact of dance in Oakland Unified preschools.