Luna Dance for all Children

Today, I picked up a bahn mi from Saigon Sandwiches and attended the arts education brown bag meeting at the SF Library for a presentation by Jochelle Pereña about how Luna Dance Institute inspires creativity, builds community, and motivates change.

There is much about Luna Dance to be impressed with.

• They are committed to developing their own teaching artists and the teachers they work with. Jochelle told multiple stories of teachers reconnecting with their own practice as artists and gave examples of how present learning is for everyone in their community.
• Joy is valued and ever-present. You can see it in the videos of kids dancing around their classroom or joining together for an all-school dance.
• The art is kept intrinsic to all learning in their students. This is exemplified in their policy of having the classroom teacher be present and participate in lessons when their teaching artist dancers visit a class.
• Art is used to build relationships. One of Luna’s programs is to teach mothers who have been separated from their children (often by the criminal justice system) to reconnect with their kids through dance. 

Clearly, Luna Dance Institute is nailing the best practices laid out by the Wallace Foundations “Something to Say” report.

And the organization has many programs going on. Clearly, they have kept their own creativity alive as they find many ways to better the world through dance.

The next arts education brown bag meeting will be May 20. Contact Rica Anderson at ricaa@berkeley.edu to get on the mailing list.