UNITY MEETS IN NEW YORK.

New York--Some key issues that ignited the dance teacher movement called UNITY continue to challenge the organization five years later.

UNITY is a consortium of major dance teacher organizations that includes national Dance Masters of America (DMA), the Dance Teachers Club of Boston/The American Society, National Dance Association (NDA), the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters (CNADM) the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and eleven others. The groups have discovered many concerns shared by dance educators in the private sector, K-12 programs and higher education, including negotiating for better group rates paid for music royalty organizations ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. But at its semi-annual meeting held in August in New York, members agreed that many issues were more complex than they had thought initially.

Chief among these was the hot-button issue of dance teacher certification. A committee set up to explore the issue found it so complicated-necessity, qualifications, who does the certifying, etcetera--that it proposed a lengthy and thorough fact-finding process before it would be ready to make any recommendations.

"We don't pretend to have any answers up front," said Jane Bonbright, executive director of NDEO and head of the group studying certification. "We're developing a process where we can do some very careful thinking."

Other ongoing efforts include the development of a preschool curriculum that would provide uniform benchmarks of age-appropriate instruction and achievement, and forging partnerships between dance educators in the private sector, K-12 and secondary schools and higher education such as conservatories, colleges and universities.

Efforts to create dialogues between dance educators culminated in a series of educational and sharing programs during the past half-year. More programs will be held in the future, organizers said.

"Until you provide that opportunity to have a dialogue and begin an understanding, things are not going to get any better," said K-12 public school educator and administrator Susan McGreevy Nichols, a panelist for some of the programs. Some participants suggested expanding the time allotted and better planning to improve the effectiveness of the forums.

"Our members would have liked to have seen more discussion about the relationship between teachers in the private sector and those who teach K-12. And we need to hear much more from those in higher education," said Janette Brown, the newly elected president of DMA. Brown noted that the forum presented at DMA's Teacher Training School in July was more of a lecture demonstration by NDEO. Said Brown, "The more teachers can be reassured [that] we can all work together, the better. I certainly think these discussions are needed for everyone involved."

For more information on UNITY or the next semi-annual meeting, contact UNITY secretary Patricia Cohen at 212/580-8976.