Danielle Staropoli

Bay Ridge Preparatory School

Danielle Staropoli, K-8

Bay Ridge Preparatory School

Danielle teaches K-8 dance at Bay Ridge Preparatory School where she founded the school’s dance program in 2017. She is passionate about incorporating children’s books in her lower school classes as a tool to ignite the choreographic process, explore social-emotional learning, and promote inclusivity. As students move through middle school, Danielle’s curriculum centers around choreographic workshops to enable students to develop and refine their artistic perspectives. Danielle believes in nurturing the creative process alongside skill development, ultimately cultivating a community of students who move confidently, think critically, and act with integrity.

Danielle Staropoli (MA, Dance Education, New York University; BA, Dance, Dean College) teaches K-8 dance at Bay Ridge Preparatory School and is the advisor for the middle school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA). She is President Elect, and formerly Director of Conferences, for the New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA). Danielle is an ABT certified teacher in Pre-primary through Level 3 of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum. She has been a guest speaker for professional development trainings at the 92NY and a guest lecturer at New York University, Steinhardt and at William Patterson University. She has been a member of NDEO since 2015 and served as the co-chair of the New York University Student Chapter. She has presented at NDEO in 2022: “Like a Dandelion: Exploring Cultural Assets for Dance-Making in Early Childhood,” in 2021: “I Am Enough: Using Social-Emotional Books To Inspire Dance Making In Early Childhood,” and in 2019: “Incorporating Multicultural Children’s Games Into Your Dance Curriculum.”