National Dance Education Organization: Building a Future for Dance Education in the Arts

Abstract

The field of dance arts education in the United States is in an entirely different place today than it was at the turn of the century. Much of this change is due to a convergence of events that involved: federal and state legislation, policy, and funding that supported dance in arts education; a forty-year transition of dance out of departments of physical education into the colleges of fine and performing arts; and the establishment of the National Dance Education Organization, which provided infrastructure (standards, assessments, research, certification, teacher training, professional development, and programs and services) that was needed to support dance taught as an art form. This infrastructure has become an integral component to building, nurturing, and sustaining strong arts-based programs over the years at local, state, or national levels.