BILINGUAL DANCE PROGRAM for Pre-K STUDENTS
Our Bilingual Dance Program is Directed by Carolina Hernandez, a professional artist and educator in Washington, D.C. Classes are taught in Elementary Schools in Ward 4.
Our unique curriculum, piloted through the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities Creative Spark program, expands yearly and now serves over 500 youth in the area. Rather than teaching "how to dance," Dance Loft aims to ignite a creative spark in students and engage their artistic exploration through arts integration in line with developmentally appropriate core curriculum standards. Our lessons allow students to create their own movement sequences that explore ideas, expression, characters, animals, and academic concepts from books selected in partnership with classroom teachers, and/or from standard curricula that classroom teachers are mandated to cover. We focus on organic, explorative movement through the imagination. Students learn about dance while building creative skills, practicing multiple learning strategies, and developing positive self-confidence.
Preschool students are able to benefit from learning dance education, technique, and foundations that help fine-tune motor skills and improve both cognitive ability and confidence. Additionally, students learn dances in both English and Spanish, which helps break down barriers for ESL students and teaches English-speaking students a second language. This creates a well-rounded cultural experience for these young preschool students in their early childhood development and helps broaden their experiences and horizons.
About our program director:
Carolina Hernandez is a dancer born and raised in Colombia. She has been working as a dance instructor for all ages for more than 10 years and has taught bilingual dance programs since 2016 after moving to the United States in 2015.
Find out how to bring our Bilingual Program to your school by emailing madison@danceloft14.org.
