Blog

Luna uses our blog to tell stories from the families, children, and teachers we’ve worked with, reflect on our own learning, continue discussions started in our panels and forums, and more. Keep visiting back to discover what’s new!

Testimonials from our community celebrating Luna

Stories That Move Us

Pebble in the Pond: Teachers Creating Change

Rossana Alves is known for her warm smile and generous welcome, ideal qualities...

Meg Glaser Terán has always loved her teachers. Both in childhood and in...

Tamara Irving has an enthusiasm for dance and learning that is contagious. Her...

Luna introduced me to the educational potential of dance and allowed me to see...

Summer Institute ’14 alum Jennifer Dennehy knows her way around a hoop. A...

Bonnie Lewkowicz, a long time Berkeley resident and one of the founders and...

“Three years later I landed the job that people told me I would never...

Erica Rose Jeffrey holds a powerful vision of dance. With degrees in both...

“Planting the seeds of a dance education is pivotal for the next generation’s...

A veteran dance teacher with 20+ years of experience, Valerie has taught pre-k...

Sonja Travick is well-known in Oakland as a leading high school dance teacher....

Physical Education teacher Laura Richey has found a way to bring creativity to...

Rosemary first encountered Luna through founder Patricia Reedy when they were...

Grass Valley Elementary School teacher Paula Mitchell had a vision for school...

When Rebecca first came to Luna in 2009 she was teaching dance in a public...

Ruth Torres Walker, Arts Integration Specialists with Los Angeles Unified...

Dance educators and artists are impacting the field of arts education in many...

Christina Ayala lives and teaches in Oakland, CA. She first learned about Luna...

Fresh out of graduate school in 2012, Rebecca was working at the Larkspur Corte...

Luna’s partnership with New Highland Academy began eleven years ago when we...

When Annika started her new role as Education Director for AXIS Dance Company...

What’s On Our Minds

Zoe Huey reflects on their first few months as a teaching artist with Luna. My...

Teaching Artist Moriah Costa reflects on her first year teaching with Luna. My Luna Journey began...

by Heather Stockton shared from the Grass Valley Elementary Makers Blog Last fall I was...

by Heather Stockton In February I had the honor of speaking on two different panels as a dance...

Luna’s Professional Learning Manager Jochelle Pereña (JP) and Director of Community & Culture...

Luna Teaching Artists reflect on teaching and learning at Luna during 2019-20.

by Amanda Chiado, SI 2018 On October 8th I had the great pleasure of facilitating a Practitioner Exchange...

Facilitator Victoria Albaracin and participant Aiano Nakagawa reflect on the September 10, 2019...

Spring is here and in the dance world that means a colorful blooming of performances, festivals and...

The 2018-19 Summer Institute (SI) cohort includes 12 dance teaching artists and classroom...

by Kristin Burke Some conversation take-aways & tips As early childhood dance teachers, we find...

by Lisbeth Woodington Preparing for the Practitioner Exchange with my Summer Institute colleague Mershon...

by Cherie Hill Talking about race is not easy, especially in the workplace. The subject is controversial...

by Natalie Ashby In today’s climate it is essential that young people have the means to speak their...

by Eden Flynn I recently co-facilitated/participated in a Luna Dance Practitioner Exchange with a small...

by Emily Ban On October 9th, a small but mighty group of dance educators gathered at Luna for the...

by Mandy Possel Mandy shares what she learned from co-facilitating our September 2018 Practitioner...

by Deborah Karp Seven classrooms gathered for a dance sharing at our partner school, Grass Valley...

Extract from Nancy Ng’s Keynote Presentation California Dance Education Association (CDEA) Conference...

On Saturday 1/27/18 I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the state-wide conference of the CA...

by Nancy Ng 17 activities marked the conclusion of Luna’s participation in back-to-back...

by Deborah Karp In early August, I had the honor of presenting at the Kennedy Center-VSA Intersections...

by Patricia Reedy Nancy and I were invited by Dance...

This blog was written by dance teaching artist, Meg Glaser Terán about her experience with family dance....

By Patricia Reedy March 2015 I was invited to give a keynote address at an Embodied Parenting conference...

By Nancy Ng Segregating artistic, administrative and development departments are the typical...

As a child, I loved the transition from summer to fall as it indicated the beginning of school. Crisp air,...

Imagine seven different points within the body: the ankles, knees, hips, elbows, shoulders, ears and top...

At the 2010 annual conference of the National Dance Education Organization, Jane Bonbright and colleagues...

It’s rehearsal. My collaborator and I are in the studio, surrounded by cover letters, calculators and...

10-10-13 The other day there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a business...

11/21/12 It was an unexpected moment in middle school dance teaching when one of my special education...

3 October 2013 Today marks the third day of the United States government being shut down for the most...

26 September 2013 The other day our volunteer librarian, Sarah and I were talking about our...

Consider dance educator, AG*. Like many dance educators in California, a state without a teaching...

Tuesday, 17 September 2013 “Children at play are not playing about. Their games should be seen as their...

September 12, 2013 Today was the first day that I adhered to my new schedule, allocating Thursdays to...

Wednesday, September 11, 2013 As a dancer and choreographer, I have always enjoyed the use of space. At...

Monday, September 9, 2013 What happens when an organization loses funding from a government agency with...

Thursday, September 4, 2013 As teachers, we want to see engagement. Yesterday, day two of our annual...

Wednesday, September 3, 2013 Back to School! That is what yesterday felt like in every way. The day...

As a new teacher to Luna, I was excited to participate in Luna’s first Open House in our “forever” home...

I recently read an article about parents threatening a lawsuit over yoga in schools because they were...

It was an unexpected moment in middle school dance teaching when one of my special education classes took...

Southern California dance educator, Ruth T, my coachee, colleague and friend, is passionate about dance...

It started out as a typical monthly assembly at New Highland Academy (NHA), one of Luna’s partner schools....

COVID Time Capsule

Dance teaching stories of perseverance, resilience, adaptability & creativity

2020-22 were years of immense challenges and surprise opportunities, and through it all dance educators made dance happen for their students and community–learning video editing to teach asynchronously, building home studios for synchronous teaching, figuring out the ins and outs of hybrid and concurrent teaching, setting up tents to teach outdoors, and sometimes doing this all simultaneously. This Time Capsule shares the stories of these teachers, the obstacles they overcome, and the moments of inspiration and joy, and celebrates their perseverance, resilience, adaptability, and creativity.

“Working with and learning alongside children has been a life-worthy...

“Our elder women’s ensemble Impromptu No Tutu did not miss a beat when we...

“One of the greatest challenges I faced was becoming well-versed enough...

“In September of 2020 just as schools were starting with all their...

“I’m most proud of my students’ willingness to have candid...

“I love that teaching kids on Zoom brought me into their homes and closer...

“With all my Zoom classes from K to 5th, I knew I had to show them...

“I was concerned about reaching my students this year and staying...

Ask a Fellow

In the spirit of inquiry, our 2020-22 teaching artist fellows Rossana Alves, Samad Raheem Guerra, and Alisa Rasera, engaged with practitioner peers to answer questions related to teaching practice. Explore the questions and responses below.

Alisa Rasera Holden

Alisa Rasera Holden, former member of AXIS Dance Company and Summer Institute alum ’02, returns to Luna to continue her investigation of dance and disability and improve Luna’s capacity to work with students in special education and integrated classrooms. Her fellowship research expands on work begun when she taught for Luna (2007-2014) and conducted a six-year inquiry on creativity in special education.

Rossana Alves

Former MPACT intern and Summer Institute alum ’09, Rossana Alves, returns to Luna as a family dance fellow. After completing her studies at Luna, Rossana headed back to her native Brazil to launch family dance programs in various structures and research how to bring dance to mothers and babies. She is developing leadership skills in program facilitation, including supporting our current MPACT interns.

Samad Raheem Guerra

Samad Raheem Guerra, Summer Institute alum ’19 and director of World Dance at San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, is extending his inquiry on cracking open what performance is for his students and continuing to develop his principles/form curriculum for cultural dance. Samad is part of the inaugural cohort of the CA dance teacher credential program, and is integrating his learning as a student, teacher and artist.

I would think...

And if so, do you...

What does it look...

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