HARTFORD, CT – September 26, 2019 –  Tools for a Moving Classroom  enrollment is now open for the Connecticut Dance Educators Forum, which will be held on Tuesday, November 5, from 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM at Naugatuck Valley Community College. The college is co-presenting the Forum, which features three rotating workshops presented by Diana Dart Harris, Merly De La Hoz-Cookson and Cheryl Wirth Santulli.

Tools for a Moving Classroom  will also include a luncheon roundtable discussion facilitated by Stephen Pier, Director of the Dance Division at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford and featuring workshop presenters and Connecticut Dance Alliance board members.

Cheryl Wirth Santulli , who serves on the dance faculty at the Waterbury Arts Magnet School, will lead a workshop on the Simonson Technique in the K-12 Classroom. This workshop will guide teachers through the main principles of Simonson technique - an organic approach to movement that prepares the body to dance in a way that is anatomically intelligent and somatically aware - and also touch upon ways to integrate these principles into their classroom.

Merly De La Hoz-Cookson , a Colombian-born dance instructor and choreographer who has performed in over 400 local, regional, national and international dance showcases, will present Afro-Colombian Dance: Immerse in a Cultural Excursion. Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to acknowledge cultural diversity through traditional Colombian dance and explore its meaning and transcendency throughout history while learning teaching methods to make the dance experience relevant. 

Diana Dart Harris , an adjunct professor of dance at the University of New Haven and Naugatuck Valley Community College, will lead a workshop on nutrition for dancers. Harris, author of  the college textbook  Beginning Musical Theatre Dance   and  The Healthy Dancer  blog, will present information on balanced eating; nutrition for optimal health before, during and after exercise; the effects of sugar on the body; and proper hydration. Suggestions for helping students develop healthy relationships with food will also be provided, as will information about eating disorders and the role of the educator when an eating disorder is suspected.

The Connecticut Dance Educators Forum is free for Connecticut Dance Alliance Members, $35 for non-members, and $10 for college students. Registrations must be received by Friday, October 25.  Space is limited, and early registration is recommended. To register and learn more about the workshops and presenters, visit  https://www.ctdanceall.org/ .

About Connecticut Dance Alliance (CDA)

Connecticut Dance Alliance, Inc. (CDA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public awareness of dance in all its forms and serving the needs of the statewide dance community. Since 1999, CDA has created and presented numerous events such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Dance – a day celebrating African-American dance traditions, CDA Distinguished Achievement in Dance Awards, Healthy Dancer Seminars and workshops on Planning a College Career in dance. In 2011, CDA founded and developed a successful summer scholarship annual competition, the  Connecticut Classic , a competition for pre-professional classical ballet students. CDA also administers the Elena Delvecchio Rusnak Dance Education Scholarship. CDA’s current project,  The Dance History Project.  Through grassroots networking, the project endeavors to capture and share, through the art of photography and scholarly writing, a cultural and historical documentation of the rich and vibrant dance heritage in Connecticut. Using the 2,000 images submitted by the dance community, the curated  Connecticut Dance exhibition has toured the state since 2017. In addition to the  Dance History Project , other CDA initiatives include the further development of regional network consortiums to increase communication, partnerships, and opportunities for Connecticut’s dance community; dance education programs; and the new statewide dance resource database.

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