NDI Collaborative Blog

Why We Teach You

By Jennifer S Eisenberg, NDI Teaching Artist

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” –Tony Robbins

I am writing from the epicenter of the pandemic. In New York City, to date, there have been nearly 200,000 cases of COVID-19. As I began writing this post back in March, the streets were hauntingly quiet, with the sounds of sirens profoundly noticeable. Each day, the situation seemed to intensify.

Today, around the globe, people are experiencing fear, grief, devastation, hopelessness, boredom, confusion, and more. Across the world, our students are experiencing the full range of emotions and responses as well. Children have found themselves learning in new ways, separated from friends and normalcy and trying their best to adjust to the current situation. Students are adjusting – some school years have concluded and none of it was what we’d imagined.

I say the current […]

2023-01-21T10:57:23-05:00June 7th, 2020|
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Playing, Composing, and Arranging for Dance Changes Musicians…in a Good Way!

By Jerome Korman, NDI Music Director

A few weeks ago, which feels like an eternity, I was scheduled to post this blog post about the musical life playing for dance has gifted me. When my colleagues at National Dance Institute (NDI) asked me to finish the post, my first thought was that it seemed frivolous and perhaps not pertinent to the situation the world finds itself in. But it has become clear through all the social media postings that people need to connect and artists need to create. Now is a good time to learn new things, but it is also time to reflect on past challenges and give thanks for all that we have. In that spirit, I give you this post that articulates some of the important ways playing and writing music for dance has shaped my musical journey…in a good way.

To a musician […]

2023-01-21T10:57:33-05:00April 8th, 2020|
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STOMP Performer Carlos V. Thomas on the NDI Method

Carlos V. Thomas is a performer with STOMP, a music educator with the New York City Department of Education, and a new teaching artist with NDI. In this blog post, he talks about his experience at the 2019 Level 1 Teaching Artist Training and how the NDI Method has enhanced his teaching.

What were your biggest takeaways from the Level 1 Teaching Artist Training Intensive?

My biggest take away was meeting a new family of teachers, artists, dancers & musicians, and learning with other trainees from around the world. Through this training, not only did we learn NDI teaching styles but, through our professional interactions, we learned and shared our own teaching styles with one another.

Above all, being able to work directly with children was at the heart of the entire two-week training.  Their presence and involvement at the training was a game […]

2020-02-21T10:13:33-05:00February 5th, 2020|
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Professional Development as a Lifeline

“Curriculum doesn’t teach people. People teach people.”
–Daniel Ulbricht, Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet

The Journey Begins

I was twenty-three when I had my first job teaching dance to children in a New York City school. I naively figured that given my rigorous dance training and time in a professional company I was equipped to lead engaging classes for children. I spent many hours at night focused on the ‘what’ of teaching – What steps would I teach? What music would I use? What choreography would we create? I felt prepared once I had a very solid curriculum written in my notebook. That all changed, however, once I was in front of a group of dynamic and excited children. I quickly realized that the ‘what’ of my lesson plan was actually less important than the ‘how.’ How was I going to capture the attention of this delightful and challenging group […]

2020-02-06T18:15:54-05:00January 3rd, 2020|
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