The 2018 DEAW Conference is Just Around the Corner!

Dance Saves Lives: Awakening Radical Joy through Movement

September 29-30, 2018
Delridge Community Center
4501 Delridge Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106

As movement specialists, we know dance has the power to change lives. It has shaped our own and those of our students. During DEAW’s 2017 conference, we dug deep into the work of confronting biases in our field and making access to dance equitable. As a result, we are more aware than ever that nurturing joy through equitable education creates opportunities for lives to change for the better.

We need joy in our work because the experience of moving and dancing is inherently joyful. However, there are still teaching practices, structures, and stigmas that exclude and dishearten students. Those need to be challenged and replaced.

We need joy in our work because experiencing self-love, empowerment, agency, hope, gratitude, resilience and acknowledgement is a vital and radical aspect of how we develop as individuals, how we form trusted communities, and how we change the world.

*Mad Robin Music will have a pop-up shop for teaching resources on Sunday. 

2018 Dance Educator of the Year

The board of Dance Educators Association of Washington is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2018 Dance Educator of the Year Award:

SHANNON BARNES
Will be honored at this year’s conference.

Shannon Barnes is a dance teaching artist and arts administrator with over twenty years of experience in dance education. Shannon has worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Community Education Programs since 2002 and is currently the Community Education Programs Curriculum Manager and a teaching artist for the programs working primarily in Seattle Public Schools. In addition to her work at PNB, Shannon’s experience includes creating inclusive dance opportunities for people with and without disabilities, an internship with Candoco- a London-based inclusive dance company, and working as a dance specialist in primary schools in Bath, England. Shannon served on the Board of the Dance Educators Association of Washington for five years and is adjunct faculty for Cornish College of the Arts Dance Department and a guest instructor for Seattle University. Shannon earned a B.A. in Dance and Psychology from the University of Washington and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Dance in Community from Laban, London. Dedicated to inclusivity, accessibility, and equity, she facilitates opportunities to empower students to be dance artists, critical thinkers, and collaborators and works to support schools and teachers in developing creative learning cultures.

Shannon works with young students in the public schools, mentors emerging dance teachers, creates developmentally appropriate lessons for all students - including seniors and students with disabilities, and teaches classroom teachers how to incorporate movement into their classroom. Her nominators shared numerous stories and examples of how Shannon exemplifies the mission of DEAW.

“Shannon is making space for dance to exist where it has not yet before. She does this with clarity and passion. She is kind, flexible and patient with her students, and always finds time to infuse humor while getting work done.”

 CONFERENCE LODGING

This year, we want to deepen our state-wide community ties by connecting out-of-towners with Seattle locals for homestays over the conference weekend.

If you are a Seattlite with a guest room, air mattress, or free couch and you’re interested in hosting someone from out of town the weekend of September 28-30, please fill out the "Room to Offer" form.

If you’re coming from out of town and would like to stay with a local member of the dance community, please let us know with the "Seeking Room" form.

If you’re coming from out of town and homestays aren’t your thing, we encourage you to reserve at room at The Grove West Seattle, a great hotel with reasonable rates just nine blocks from the conference location. Additionally, hotels and hostels on or near 3rd Avenue in Seattle’s Downtown and Belltown neighborhoods are an easy bus ride away.