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College of Arts & letters
Nancy Kupka
Office: KH5106
The one constant throughout my 25 year teaching career here at Cal State has been the dedication and tenacity of Cal state students. Typically, their first choice of major has not been the arts. With time and discipline, they see themselves attaining artistic condfidence and competence to a degree they had never even dared dream of. Again and again, I watch as they take that brave step of changing majors to a dance option degree, often over parental objections. They taste the power of communicating through the arts. They find the truest expression of their physical, mental and emotional selves through the medium of dance. And, they are empowered by dance to follow the path that has given their lives focus, meaning and direction. These students have been my heroes and inspiration.
In the last decade, at the urging of students commited to both dance and education, my teaching passion has been centered around building an aggregate of substantive dance education courses. My mission is to mentor elementary educators to use dance in the classroom. DANC400, Developing Dance Arts Literacy, trains teachers to use creative movement to explore core curriculum. DANC477, Multicultural Approach to Dance, looks at diverse cultural beliefs, traditions, music and dance, viewing cross cultural themes as a point of our united humanity and, as a reason to celebrate. DANC401, Dance techniques for the Elementary Educator, presents dance technique for the elementary children, stressing the inherent self-discipline required to master dance as an art form. DANC484, Dance Education Tour, is the capstone service learning course for all dance education studies. Students are out to school sites experiencing continuous interaction, feedback, reflection and assessment as they move towards competency as an artist/educator in our California Public Schools. Students interested in dance artist/educator training can take a Minor in Theatre Arts and Dance. Call me at 3-5125. Or, come to KH5106. I really want to meet and encourage all students with an interest in arts education at the elementary school level!
It is my firm commitment that every child in Los Angeles County elementary schools has access to substantive, comprehensive, sequential and standards-based arts instruction in dance education. To this end, my goal is to nuture creative, risk-taking, positive problem-solving, inner-directed, fearless and resilient teachers equipped with creative tools to reach all learners. My three published textbooks offer an innovative method of teaching core subjects through dance/movement and dance/history. Developing Dance Arts Literacy, Children Dance in the Elementary Classroom, and Multicultural Approach to Dance guide teachers and children in exploring all subject matter areas. Representative Professional Activities
MA Dance 1979 BA PE-Dance 1975
SCHEDULE
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UCLA