Dear NDI Community,
It is with great enthusiasm that I write to you as National Dance Institute’s new Artistic Director. I am beyond thrilled to take on this role at an organization so devoted to changing children’s lives through the arts. During my 20-year tenure, I’ve worked closely with our beloved founder, Jacques d’Amboise, as well as Ellen Weinstein, who brilliantly served NDI as Artistic Director for 26 years. I am grateful to both of these exceptional individuals for enriching my life, and this organization, in so many ways.
Jacques built the house, Ellen turned it into a home. And it is my honor to build upon their legacy, ensuring that anyone who comes through the NDI door is met with joy and love sparked by the arts. With our superb teaching staff, NDI has developed a proven teaching methodology that uses dance and music to improve children’s critical thinking, global perspectives, and social-emotional well being.
Through art, we discover parts of ourselves that words alone can’t capture. Jacques founded NDI in the belief that arts are crucial for every child’s education, and his extraordinary vision is the driving force that guides us still. I am energized by this opportunity to continue to center the arts in children’s lives as we return to in person learning and to the collective effervescence of live performance.
We have exciting developments to share this fall. NDI is strong, NDI is resilient, and we are poised to grow by leaps and bounds as we cross the threshold into this new school year.
With gratitude,
Kay
Kay Gayner
Artistic Director
Kay Gayner
Artistic Director
The children are heading back to the NDI Center for Learning & the Arts!
We are ecstatic to welcome members of the 2021-2022 Celebration Team to the studios, where hybrid rehearsals are ramping up toward a full-team gathering later this month. All safety guidelines and regulations are strictly in place for the children and staff. Thank you to the families of the Celebration Team and everyone who worked to make in-person rehearsals happen again!
Congratulations to NDI alumna Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, whose book “How the Arts Can Save Education: Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Instruction” will be published on October 22 by Teacher’s College Press with a foreword by Ellen Weinstein!
Erica is now the Chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Education. And she heads Whoopensocker, an education program in Madison, Wisconsin, public schools.
In 1984, Erica was among the first NDI SWAT Team members. Her time at NDI led her to a career at the intersection of the arts and education. In her book, she draws on 25 years as a researcher and teaching artist to share practices and strategies for engaging children with the arts. Erica will join the NDI Collaborative Workshop on October 26. Click here for details!
National Dance Institute sends our deepest gratitude to Con Edison for its enduring support of arts education at PS 40. With Con Edison as a partner, NDI has served this public school for more than 15 years. This summer, our culminating classes for four classes of fourth graders took place with the NDI Dancemobile (pictured above with Teaching Artists Kelly Buwalda and Dana Panepinto and PS 40 Principal Susan Felder), as a backdrop for dancin’ in the street!
NDI partner school PS 51, the Bronx STEM & Arts Academy, is led by a devoted principal, Dr. Min Hong, who fervently believes every child deserves arts education in school. As NDI prepares to return to PS 51 for our sixth year, during which third and fourth graders will be dancing in person, we spoke to Dr. Hong about her commitment to providing the arts, creating access, and giving all children opportunities to shine.
We celebrate Dr. Hong for all her work and for embracing our NDI Teaching Artists as full participants in the lives of the students. “They are a part of raising our children together,” she says. Click here to read a Q & A interview with Dr. Hong.
The NDI Collaborative is excited to announce our new Fall Workshop Series. Teacher Training Tuesdays will launch in October with three topic-based workshops followed by our fundamentals course in November. Check out NDI Collaborative for more information.
IN THE NEWS: Tune into the DanceWell podcast on October 13 to hear Emily Meisner, Director of the NDI Collaborative, discussing the importance of health and wellness for dancers and teachers of all ages.