By Kari Dickinson
On a Friday afternoon in late February, a couple dozen educators gathered in the gym of Van Hise Elementary School in Madison for a dance workshop with Chell Parkins.
On their professional development day, the educators — all teachers of K-5 music or K-8 physical education in the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) — chose to attend this workshop to learn new ways of bringing dance into their classrooms.
As they sat in a circle on folding chairs, Parkins spoke about using dance to help students more fully connect with music, social-emotional learning, and literacy.
“There’s such a high need for arts education right now, especially coming out of this time of COVID social distancing and disembodied learning,” says Parkins.
She explains that no matter what students are learning, “coming back to the body” can help them engage more deeply.
Parkins moved to Madison from New York City in August 2022 to start work as the inaugural Arnhold Director of Dance Education in the School of Education’s Dance Department. This new position was made possible by a gift from dance advocate, educator, and founder of the Dance Education Laboratory Jody Gottfried Arnhold (BA 1965) and her husband John Arnhold. Their support was matched by the School of Education’s Impact 2030 initiative.
When asked about her goals, Parkins says there are three paths she walks advocating for a “reemergence of dance education” — at the university, in public schools, and also at the state policy level. Long term, she would like to see a dance education program at UW–Madison and stronger dance offerings in public schools, including non-dominant dance styles. Statewide, she wants to bring dance more fully into the conversation about arts education in schools.
It’s a big job, and Parkins is tackling it one step at a time.
In this first year, her focus has been on building relationships with everyone from superintendents to public school arts teachers, arts education advocates, and the directors of community arts programs.
“One of the things I’m trying to do is connect across the state with administrators and other arts educators and bring dance to their language and awareness,” she explains.
Through this process she has found some surprising connections that have led to unexpected and fruitful collaborations — such as the dance workshop with MMSD teachers.
“These connections have been really wonderful,” says Parkins. “They’ve helped steer a course for me.”
She adds: “It’s rewarding the conversations I’m having. There’s a lot of interest in what I’m doing across the state, and not only from people in dance.”
“I mean, dance to me … it’s such a no-brainer,” Parkins says. “Everybody needs to move. We need to be grounded in our bodies right now.”
