DEL 2023 Highlights
There is so much to celebrate!
We had a great year here at DEL, full of exciting programs, projects, and community building.
This fiscal year, we held 42 courses and workshops, and reached 710+ unique educators/participants, and so much more…
January
Hosted a City-Wide Professional Learning with new Tracing Footsteps Curriculum
DEL collaborates with the Office of Arts to provide city-wide dance professional learning workshops for NYCDOE dance educators.
See highlights from our January 2023 workshop on the Tracing Footsteps – Journey Into Jazz Dance: Let’s Swing! curriculum below.
April
Launched the Multilingual Learners Dance Pilot
In spring 2023, DEL launched a Multilingual Learners (MLL) Dance Pilot Project in collaboration with NYC DOE Office of Arts for Diverse Learners. Using our Tracing Footsteps Journey Into Jazz Dance: Let’s Swing! curriculum, DEL customized lessons to build intentional practices for teaching language learners in grades K-5. Dance Educators and English as a New Language providers learn how to provide dance instruction with proven language strategies so all students grow creatively, and build dance and language skills.
May
Celebrated our inaugural DEL Lab Schools Honorees
Our DEL Lab Schools initiative is designed to honor and celebrate dance educators bringing the DEL Model to life in various teaching contexts. Our 2023 recipients are an inspiring group of educators! We honored them with a virtual ceremony on May 16.
(from left to right, top to bottom) Barry Blumenfeld, Randa Broughton, Tina Christina-Price, Deborah Damast, Daria Fitzgerald, Christina Fontanarosa, Catherine Gallant, Andrew Jannetti, Melinda Kasal-Canty, Susan Pope, Felice Santorelli, Pam Vlach
June
Jody Gottfried Arnhold was recognized with an award from American Dance Festival and an honorary degree from Hunter College
DEL Founder, Jody Gottfried Arnhold was awarded the 2023 Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching from American Dance Festival, and she also received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hunter College.
At DEL, we are so proud to work towards Jody’s mission of “dance for every child.” Alongside Jody, we envision dance education in every school, included in every curriculum, just as important as math, science, or social studies.
Video by Nel Shelby Productions
July
The DEL Summer Intensive was back in-person for the first time since 2019
We held three week-long in-person courses back-to-back: DEL Essentials, DEL Dance for Early Childhood, and DEL Tracing Footsteps: Journey Into Jazz Dance — Let’s Swing!
It was a wonderful three weeks of summer learning and dancing.
Also back in-person: The Arnhold Summer Fellows program!
We were so grateful to welcome 35 students and faculty from 13 universities to New York City for 3 weeks of in-person learning with DEL.
Photo by Danica Paulos
September
Launched the DEL Dance and Literacy Curriculum Project
Thanks to a generous grant from the New York Community Trust, DEL aims to combat the literacy deficit among NYC students through the creation and dissemination of a new DEL Dance and Literacy Curriculum for Pre-K-5th grade. DEL’s curricular model emphasizes integrated arts learning and dance literacy through the application of the Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) framework as an expansive movement vocabulary enrichment tool.
Further, DEL’s student-centered curricular model includes movement exploration and dance-making opportunities that reinforce literacy principles in an integrative and collaborative manner.
DEL will share module 1 of the curriculum, DEL Dance and Literacy: Poetry Move Me, with Dance Specialists at a New York City Dance Citywide Professional Learning Day in January 2024!
October
DEL presented at the NDEO Conference
Ann Biddle was a 2023 NDEO National Award Winner!
DEL Team members held three exciting sessions, and many fruitful Coffee with DEL! conversations.
Ann Biddle, Founding Faculty and Director of the DEL Institute, was a 2023 NDEO National Award Winner! Ann was a featured panelist at the event entitled Increase Your Impact.
Rachael Lieblein-Jurbala, Erin Lally, and Ann Biddle representing DEL at NDEO
December
Jody Gottfried Arnhold was awarded the 2023 Dance Magazine Chairman’s Award for her contributions to dance and dance education
A Chairman’s Award is chosen by Dance Magazine Awards Chairman Frederic M. Seegal and honors distinctive leaders behind the scenes.
We’re so grateful for such a wonderful year.
Be sure to continue to connect with us in 2024, we have some exciting upcoming courses!