internship summary
Founded in fall of 2017, iCANdance is an adapted dance program located at Siri's School of the Performing Arts in Harmony, PA. Siri's School of the Performing Arts is an inclusive, recreational community dance studio for children ages 3-18 and their mission is to provide students with knowledge and skills for lifelong enjoyment of the performing arts. iCANdance's vision is to establish programs that create accessibility for all persons to participate in dance that parallels technique class experiences of typically developing peers. As the program director, I have been in charge of expanding the opportunities provided by iCANdance for the community and professionals interested in the field through meeting the Adapted Physical Activity (APA) graduate program outcomes. The APA graduate program outcomes are communication and technology, professional proficiency and application, critical thinking and problem solving, advocacy, and leadership. As an emerging professional, it is essential to assimilate the skills the outcomes are rooted in. The following content will go in-depth on various artifacts and experiences during my internship that outlines myself as an APA specialist who is proficient in each of the designated outcomes.
Communication and technology came into play in many ways throughout this process. In the start of my internship experience, communication, and technology was used to connect with the community through emails, phone calls, social media design, website design. I reached out to local disability organizations and programs via email to spread the word about iCANdance summer camp offerings. My emails addressed the need for a fun, low-impact form of physical activity for community members and a new resource for information for community memebrs about opportunities in the area. iCANdance's website was created in addition to updating and adding to Siri's School of the Performing Arts' website as well to promote the program in its entirety. iCANdance strives to be a resource for information for other instructors establishing adapted dance programs, so the use of technology is a way to network with other programs nationwide.
In the physical activity facilitation of iCANdance summer camps,k communication and technology was established through the use of instructional aides such as posters, charts, class schedules, and pre-recorded videos. To reinforce the flow of the class, posters were created and hung in the space to identify the parts of the class. Throughout classes, I would refer to these posters to show my students what we have done so far and what we still have to do before the end of class. Posters displaying positions of the feet for ballet, and other foundational dance movements were hung on the wall or shown to the students as they were taught. Pre-recorded videos were used to support instruction when I was working one-on-one with students and as another means of representation while teaching my classes for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This provided a less distracting channel to communicate information to students.
communication and technology
In my internship experience, I created all the neccesary paperwork regstriation, lesson planning and choregraphy to provide successful, fun expereince for all particpants in iCANdance summer camps and resedncy at Envision Blind Sports Camp. As an emerging professional and the program director of iCANdance, it was my responsibility to showcase my knowledge to work with multiple special populations while paying close attention to the modifications to typical dance training to meet the individual needs of each specific population. In my experiences over the summer, I taught to classes for children and teens with intellectual disabilites, Autism Spectrum Dirsorder, and viual impairments. I also taught a seated ballet class to educate students at Siri's School of the Performing Arts about people with physical disabilities. Many lesson plans were created each week of camp that I revised after each class to reflect on my experiences, entice my students to enjoy new material, and to adapt to the pace that my students were learning. General lesson plan templates for intorductory techinique-based classes were created as an online resource for others in the field for future endevours.
professional proficiency and application
critical thinking and problem solving
Modifications to dance technique for special populations comes in many forms and as an instructor it is essential to make them on the spot. On the spot and preporatory modifcations are closely tied to lesson planning, population served, and the physical environment the dance class will take place. I have created a list that provides strategies and modifcations to dance classes for other professionals to use as a starting point. There are very few evidence-based practices in the field of adapted dance available for use. This list provides practice-based evidence solutions I have used in my professional experience working in this field.
Applying my critcal thinking and problem solving skills, I used floor markings to aide my intructional of movements such as a jazz square. The picture to left show floor makrings I used to in this experience. In my explanation to my students I asked them to step on 1 with their right foot , 2 with their left foot, 3 with their right foot, and 4 with their left foot in a sequence. Some of my students did not have a strong sense of their right and left and when this was the caseI explained verbally "cross, cross, back back." The students would then use the floor markers to follow the number in sequencial while using the dircectrional orders of "cross and back".
advocacy
Adapted dance is an emrging field that combines adapted physical activity and dance. The infancy of the field has its pros and cons, one of them being advocacy. The need to define what adapted dance is and why is it a seperate entity from dance therapy is a new discussion in the dance world that needs more research and prgramming to be done to influence popularity and success.
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Dance is a form of physical activity that introduces its students to skills that are seamlessly transferred into activities of daily living. Physically, dance promotes gross motor skill development, spatial awareness, body awareness, cordination, strength, and balance. Cognitively, dance promotes critcal thinking skills, communication skills, discipline, and respect. Emotionally, dance teaches confidence, expression, and trust.
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My internship experience allowed me to reach out to organizations in the Greater Pittsburgh Area to advocate the need that adapted dance programs adress in the local community. I did an interview with FamilyFun Pittsburgh in June 2019 to discuss the opportunities provided by iCANdance. The article highlights the specific focus of dance classes for each special population. Working with FamilyFun Pittsburgh has opend up doors for networking and advocacy that I am contuing after the internship process to promote opportunites for all children.
As the program director for iCANdance my title exemplifies the leadership role my internship experience provided. I was in charge of all parts of the expansion of the program offerings for iCANdance. I created and taught 3, week-long dance camps for 3 specific populations, an inclusive technique class experience for studio students, and choregraphy for campers at Envision Blind Sports Camp.
In my leadership role, I again explored the realm of video recording to provide teaching tools, and save phrasework/movement sequences that are easy to teach to multiple populations at home or in the studio. I also created a seated ballet experience that was an educational class introducing teens to working with individuals with physical disabilities that impact the use of the lower limbs. I was able to create online resources found throughout this website for other professional to use in their classes. It is important as a leader in this field to make information available to promote research and create evidence-based practices in the future.