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Advocating for your dance program

This is an excerpt from Core Teaching Practices for Dance Education With HKPropel Access by Emily Enloe.

As a dance teacher in the public school system, you are building relationships, managing a classroom, and maintaining your professional responsibilities. Just as these are ongoing practices, so, too, should be advocacy. Advocacy is not a one-day or one-time event. It is not attending a single state-wide rally and then hiding in your classroom the rest of the year. It is also not complaining about the difficulties of teaching while in the teachers’ lounge. It is a reciprocal process in which dance teachers must be constantly engaged in order to create change for their students. As Milling (2019) puts it, advocacy is a “perpetual journey of unlimited opportunities” (p. 87).

To effectively advocate, a dance teacher needs to combine data with storytelling. There were approximately 6,000 schools in the K-12 sector that offered dance in 2018 (Schupp, 2018). Each one of these schools and teachers has a unique story to share about their student population. Combined with any data demonstrating the impact or importance of dance, teachers can create a strong argument aimed toward legislators and district officials on the need to keep their classes. Additionally, with the high visibility of commercial dance, educators can use this to their advantage to demonstrate the need for and marketability of dance programs in the K-12 arena. The combination of data showing the career opportunities for dancers and stories from students about their experiences in dance class can be a powerful tool for advocacy as well.

In addition to combining your data and stories, Milling (2019) shares three premises to guide advocates in dance and dance education. The first is to view the multiple roles we each hold within the larger arts education system. This means you have multiple modes of influence and people to connect with in order to influence or gain their support. This could be the staff at your school, the families of your students, the district officials you work for, and the surrounding community of your school. Finding various ways to connect to these groups and gain their support is important in your advocacy work.

The second premise is to know how to share information, such as your data and stories, in various ways. You need to know whom or what you are targeting, along with the goal of that targeting, in order to create an effective advocacy practice. The data and stories you share with district officials, who may be looking to reduce the job force and end dance programs in your school district, will need different information from you compared to your local business community whom you may be asking to support you with donations. Although it may include the same statistics or the same student information, you need to know how to showcase that information in a way that each of these groups of influence can connect to.

The third premise from Milling (2019) is to continually shift your frame of thinking or action plan because stakeholders and policies are also continually changing. This means that instead of thinking of repeating the information you have on your program, you need to constantly revise it to meet the current needs of your community and match the community’s current frame of thinking. One example is considering the political or economic trends in your area that may affect conversations surrounding what programs are important to keep in schools. Teachers who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic can think about this time as one example in which advocacy for their programs was centered more on how to keep all students safe and healthy. Now that the pandemic is over, those same stakeholders may be focused on cutting programs to save money lost during that time, and advocacy efforts need to adjust to meet these challenges.

Once you understand the three premises for advocacy, it is important to think of the various ways to advocate for your dance program. Considering the different spheres of influence and ways to communicate, the following list from Ward and Snyder (2022) describes some things you can do as a teacher:

• Use credible data when sharing information with stakeholders.
• Host parent- or community-focused nights showcasing your program and its successes.
• Use school-wide announcements to promote dance-related activities.
• Present at your local school board to highlight your program or multiple programs within the district.
• Use social media, television, and radio to promote district agendas regarding dance and arts education.
• Create partnerships with dance and arts organizations both locally and nationally, or internationally, when possible.
• Send home regular updates and information that engages families using words and images.

When possible, it is also important to include connecting with local and state legislators for long-term advocacy. Get to know the legislators you are speaking with, and work to be collaborative while recognizing differences. These are the ones who are passing the laws regarding much of what happens in schools, and by getting to know teachers more personally, they can use your information and support to pass better laws. You will need to learn some of the terminology associated with legislation to better communicate with these stakeholders before providing conceptual knowledge. However, by remaining a constant presence by sending information or providing clarification when you can or are asked, you create a stronger relationship for your advocacy efforts. Be sure to send thank-you notes to these legislators when certain laws or regulations have passed through the legislative process. You can also use resources from groups such as Americans for the Arts, the National Dance Education Organization, and the Arts ARE Education organization to find materials to assist you with your advocacy work.

More Excerpts From Core Teaching Practices for Dance Education With HKPropel Access

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