Perpich Center Plans Dance Summit in Golden Valley

Diane Aldis has made a career out of her passion to dance. This performer turned educator, has a colorful background in post modern dance with stops in Texas, Europe and Minnesota.

About eight years ago Aldis, now a dance education coordinator at Perpich Center for Arts Education, realized there was something missing in her field.

“There was no statewide conference for dance educators,” she said. “I realized there was a need for educators to get together and share ideas and get a glimpse of how dance is taught by different people.”

From that idea, an annual dance summit was born. What started with a group of about 40 educators seven years ago, has now grown to one hundred educators. Hosted at the Perpich Center for Arts Education, Aldis says this summit brings together educators in all facets of dance.

“College professors, dance studio owners and program leaders all come together to talk about how they teach,” Aldis said. “We talk about what works, what doesn’t, what trends are hot right now and what students seem to be most interested in.”

For dance teachers like Colleen Callahan, the conference inspires her to try new things in her classroom at Southwest High School.

"I think the conference really fuels teachers," she said. "It's so important for us to stay connected and share ideas."

Callahan says the conference is also a good place for networking. "I hire about a dozen people throughout the year to help me in class so the conference is a great way to get possible leads for jobs as well."

The one-day summit will be held on February 11 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.  For more information, check out the Perpich Center for Arts Education website. 

Following the conference there will be a “dance summit cabaret,” where a mix of dance and art will be showcased. This mini show is free and open to the public. It starts at 3:30 p.m. at the Perpich Center on Highway 55.