Dance education has the power to transform your classrooms and school.
Design Dance brings SEL-based dance residencies to more than 6,000 students across PreK-12th grades every year. Our team works to deeply impact our school partnerships through student-driven programs that center racial equity, classroom community and individual voice. Our school partners tell us we're more than just a dance program. Your classroom teachers will see growth in their students’ social-emotional learning, as our arts programs promote communication skills, empathy, creative confidence and self management. Whether your school is new to incorporating SEL practices or looking to add another resource for your students, our programs are here to advance the soft-skill growth in your students.
Why partner with Design Dance?
HASSLE FREE
Design Dance facilitates 150+ classes per week at 50+ schools and community spaces. In our 12 years, we have had a 90% retention rate in each of our partner relationships. Our polled administrators have attributed this largely to the positive experience they have had working with the detail oriented, organized and accommodating administrative support and program management at Design Dance.
STUDENTS LOVE IT
Each of our programs features movement games that allow students to engage in healthy and happy community with peers, improvisational activities that allow students to be themselves and create original movement free of self-censorship and technique based dance activities that allow students to grow in their love of dance. Between our classes and performances, our kids leave class happy, active and stress-free!
ACADEMIC IMPROVEMENT
Many of our programs integrate dance with literacy, history and cultural studies. We know when the arts are applied to classroom curriculum we see marked improvement in academic engagement and test scores. We also know that each student learns differently; Design Dance provides each student the key to success by allowing learners to digest academic information through physical learning and development.
ACCESSIBLE
We're proud to say we've never turned down a school due to lack of funding. We're committed to finding a way to make dance education a reality for all children, regardless of age, ability, or circumstance. Through our scholarships, individual sponsorship program, corporate sponsorship program and community partnerships, we make this promise a reality throughout the Chicago area.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Design Dance programs successfully address social emotional learning standards during every class period including developing self-awareness and self-management, social awareness and interpersonal skills, and utilizing responsible decision making skills. From engaging in partner dancing to utilizing performance opportunities to reinforce active and respectful listening, our students develop as part of the whole in each class.
STAFF YOU CAN TRUST
Design Dance employs an active community of dance teaching artists through mentorship and internship programs. By implementing a training program that encourages tiered development, Design Dance has built a staff of 30+ teaching artists who are committed to lifelong learning, the development of the next generation of dance teaching artists, and the curriculum and structure of Design Dance programming.
J at School is pleased to collaborate with Design Dance to bring the performing arts to our Chicago Public School partners! Their approach to teaching dance is fresh and fun and the leadership and staff are always willing to try new things. Overall, their demonstrated commitment to the communities they serve is impressive.
Valerie Oguss, J at School
They are organized, efficient, and know exactly how their program is run.
Blaire Strom, Catherine Cook School
Design Dance did an amazing job of listening and collaborating with our students to provide them a unique experience. Through staff’s positive reinforcement of what skills our students brought to the table, the program came together in an amazing way. Our students’ commitment, confidence, and enthusiasm skyrocketed and culminated into a program that they felt proud of.
LaKisha Hoffman, Perspectives IIT Math and Science Academy
Want to transform your school with dance?
MOVING LITERATURE
Bring the literature of your choice to life for your students as they create a dance inspired by analysis of the chosen text!
PreK-5th
In-School Residency
POETRY IN MOTION
Students create and embody their own self-expressive poetry, transforming it into a dance performed for the student body.
Grades 3rd-12th
In-School Residency
CULTURAL DANCE
In partnership with classroom teachers, students explore folk tales from around the world while learning folk dances from the areas of study.
Grades PreK-12th
In School Residency
SCIENCE + DANCE
Students gain an understanding of planetary motion by embodying that motion through dance.
Grades PreK-5th
In-School Residency
TRADITIONAL DANCE
Choose dance style(s) and bring them to your school: ballet, hip hop, modern, tap, jazz, latin, breakdance, folk, and ballroom.
Grades PreK-12th
In or After-School
HEALTHY CLASSROOMS
