City partnership expands dance education at Minneapolis Public Schools

HOST: A new partnership is providing dance education at every Minneapolis Public Schools elementary school. The city is set to approve $350,000 per year so the district can expand dance programming. Joining me now to talk about what this will look like is Lori Ledoux, the K through 12 arts content lead with Minneapolis Public Schools. Thanks for being here, Lori.

LORI LEDOUX: Thank you for having me.

HOST: And we're also thrilled to be joined by Anat Shinar, the artistic director with Young Dance. That's the organization that's providing the programming within the district. Thank you for being with us, Anat.

ANAT SHINAR: Thanks for having me.

HOST: Lori, I just want to start by talking a little bit with you about what it is about dance in particular that made you want to include more of it in your programming.

LORI LEDOUX: Oh, this is an excellent question. So, I started with Minneapolis Public Schools in 2009 as an elementary dance specialist. So this is very near and dear. And I would not be the educator and the arts leader I am without access to dance and dance organizations such as Young Dance or the Cowles Center.

HOST: And so what brought you to working with Young Dance and then deciding, we've got to partner up with somebody?

LORI LEDOUX: So in 2023, I had actually reached out to Jessi Fett, who was the director at the Cowles Center for dance. And we had a long-standing partnership since 2015 with a residency program called First Moves. And we sat down, and we wanted to create a K-12 dance residency program that would introduce dance into all PE classrooms and strengthen existing dance programs with more intensive dance residencies.

Well, in the spring of 2024, the Cowles Center announced its closure, and we were able to connect with Anat and Young Dance right away. And we were able to shift to Young Dance, but still keep the original goal and vision intact.

HOST: Great. Anat, what did you think when the district approached you to work together?

ANAT SHINAR: Well, I had also been working with the Cowles Center. And Lori and I also have a history of working together just as dancers and educators. And so it was when the Cowles Center announced that they were closing, that I immediately started talking to Jessi and the staff at the Cowles about transitioning some of their programs over to Young Dance.

And the partnership with MPS was one of the ones that was important to us as a community of dance educators and to me as a teaching artist. And so that was an important one for us to keep going after the Cowles Center closed.

HOST: And what does it look like when you all partner up in the schools, Lori? How is it incorporated? Is it, you said, mostly in gym class?

LORI LEDOUX: So it can look a couple of different ways. So, one thing that is great about MPS is we have a lot of wonderful arts offerings. And we have dance programs in seven sites. And so one way is that Anat connects with existing teaching or dance specialists within our districts and figures out, what are they interested in for their students to increase, say, creative composition for fourth graders?

The other avenue is naturally integrating additional movement within our physical education classes for pre-K-5. And so now, we will be able to embed dance and movement within PE. And then also, if you are a classroom teacher who is looking for arts integration content, say, for movement and math, once again, Anat has teaching artist and the expertise to be able to co-plan, co-facilitate arts integrated lessons within the general classroom.

HOST: Cool.

LORI LEDOUX: So it can look a bunch of ways.

HOST: Anat, I'm curious to know if you plan different segments or ways to teach, depending on which grade level or developmentally where the students are at? How do you account for all the different students of different ages?

ANAT SHINAR: Absolutely. Whenever we do a community partnership, we know that the partner-- the place we're coming into, they know their students best, and they know what their students need. So we never try to impose a specific curriculum or way of doing something. We engage in a lot of conversation with the planning staff at any site that we're coming into about what their goals are, what their desired outcomes are, what their student body is like, any challenges we might be facing.

Something that Young Dance is known for is what we call our All Abilities Dancing Initiative. And it is a program and a curriculum that integrates people with and without disabilities. And that is something that's core to our mission, is to really understand the needs in the room and come in with a plan, but also come in being very flexible, and learning how to read the room, and be transparent, and work with the community to understand their needs and their ways of learning.

HOST: OK yeah, that makes sense. Lori, I mean, we know that school districts are suffering generally. There are cuts being made Minneapolis, no exception there. Was it difficult to obtain this repeat funding? I mean, sometimes people say that the arts are the first thing to get off the table. So how were you able to make this happen?

LORI LEDOUX: I will say this is where the relationships that you have within your community, the dance community and those who are leaders within it, specifically within the city of Minneapolis, are so important. I was able to connect with Ben Johnson, the Arts and Cultural Affairs director, early on. And we had these conversations around his vision, my visions, the impact that the dance community was experiencing with this closure.

And because of that, he was able to approach myself and Anat and say, hey, we've got this opportunity. And what do you think. And from there, we said, Yes, we're on board. How do we make this happen? And without those connection points with the city and Minneapolis Public Schools, I'm not sure what this could have looked like.

HOST: So, when you look at these programs, Anat, and when you're with the students, what are you hoping that they take away from dance as an art or maybe even a sport in many cases?

ANAT SHINAR: Well, we hope, first and foremost, that kids just feel comfortable in their bodies. And dance education is so much more than dancing. We talk about the three C's, which are creating confidence, community, and creativity. And those are three skills that serve people in all aspects of their lives.

HOST: Yeah. And Lori, exactly how many students do you know are going to have access to this? I read every site, every elementary school?

LORI LEDOUX: Yes. So if we're looking at our current enrollment numbers, that would be approximately 15,000 pre-K through fifth grade students. And depending on how we're able to fully implement this for the next coming school year, it could be upwards of 20,000. I mean, we have 28,000 students right now, so the potential is great.

HOST: Wow. Anat, I mean, what do you think when you think of how many students you'll be able to reach? Have you ever reached this many at once?

ANAT SHINAR: No. And it's amazing. It's just-- it's so lucky. I have two kids in Minneapolis Public Schools, and I just love this as a parent and as a dance educator. I'm so excited for how access to dance education is just going to be such almost a casual part of the education of Minneapolis kids. That is so cool. It's just going to be one of the things that everybody does. It's amazing.

HOST: Yeah, like it's not an extra. It's a part of the actual--

ANAT SHINAR: Yeah.

HOST: --curriculum that they'll be in. Lori, before I let the two of you go, what about summertime? Anything that you're working on as we approach summer to keep the kids engaged that way?

LORI LEDOUX: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we have a great summer school program. And we've had some initial conversations around, what could this look like in the summer? But all I can say is, once we get this signed, sealed, ready, Anat and I will be sitting down by the end of May, trying to scope out June, July, August, and then being ready for students in September.

HOST: You are both very busy. Thank you for coming by and sharing all this with us.

LORI LEDOUX: Anytime.

ANAT SHINAR: Thank you for having us.

HOST: Thank you. Have a great end to the school year here. That was Lori Ledoux, the K through 12 arts content lead with Minneapolis Public Schools, and Anat Shinar, the artistic director with Young Dance.