UNITY Unites Dance Educators.

Yes, they're still together and getting better all the time.

MORE THAN a hundred years ago, United States teachers of dancing or "dance masters" had become concerned about the quality of instruction that was being offered to dance students. Their solution was to form groups or associations to share information and techniques with one another, establish rules of conduct and collegiality, and set standards and awards for achievement and mastery of skills in certain dancing genres.

As these associations enlarged into full-blown organizations representing professional dance teachers, they added officers and executives, formalized teacher-training programs, produced publications, and established regional or national conferences and treasuries.

As with various religious sects, members became devoted to their associations--who was closest, who served them best, where their friends or mentors belonged--and in some cases, they became exclusionary, maintaining that they alone had the right way or the correct system. Distance, competition, struggle for dominance, and outright antagonisms sometimes developed.

From time to time, individuals tried to overcome this divide, but the efforts simply died on the vine. Until recently, that is. In 1995, representatives from several dance teacher associations from around the country, led by Rhee Gold, who was then president of the national chapter of Dance Masters of America, met informally to talk over mutual concerns. Leaders of the individual organizations recognized that they could benefit from working together as a united community, and they persuaded their members to support the formation of an organization called UNITY. Meeting first in New York City in August, 1995, and then in Memphis in August 1996, Boston in August 1997, Raleigh in August 1998, and Chicago in 1999 (biennial meetings are also held in New York City), they began a dialogue about what goals and problems they had in common and how, by working together, they might achieve more. That group is now called UNITY, Inc: Uniting America's Dance Organizations.

At its most recent biennial meeting in New York City on January 8 and 9, UNITY members reflected on their accomplishments and set new paths. There are twenty-three full-member (voting) organizations, but meetings are open to interested individuals and to representatives of dance teachers' organizations that are considering membership. (An associate member organization category also exists for those who serve the dance community, and are supportive of the dance education process and of UNITY's goals.) Dues are $150 per year; member organizations also paid all or part of the delegates' expenses to attend the meetings.

As an extension of UNITY's mission statement to display a united public front, representatives of the three major music licensing organizations, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, which collect fees for public performances of live and recorded music (dance instruction is interpreted by them as a public performance and therefore subject to fees for music use), have been invited and have attended to explain their companies' positions, take questions and protests. At the January meeting, negotiations were continued with William R. Lee, SESAC, Inc. director of licensing operations, to extend a special rate agreement to those members of organizations belonging to UNITY who wish to participate. The advantages of a lower rate can be offered because of the potential large number of teachers to be included in the group contract. Dance Masters of America and Dance Educators of America have in the past negotiated reduced rates for their members with music licensing organizations, but never has such a large segment of the profession as UNITY brought their collective power to the table.

One common concern shared by UNITY, Inc. members is the welfare of the dance student. How to insure the best outcome for the student and the teacher is approached in many ways by different organizations, and even governments, across the spectrum of for-profit businesses, nonprofit academies or organizations, public and private schools. The members of UNITY have agreed that the best way to accomplish this is through dissemination of useful and appropriate information to the student and parent or caregiver, as well as raising awareness of the public of what constitutes a good dance teaching-learning situation. But principally, teacher organizations strive to enable educators to teach better by establishing training schools, guidelines, benchmarks, syllabi, and publications for their use.

Because most of the member organizations have already developed materials, UNITY concentrates on those areas where understanding and information needs to be developed. Two standing committees of enormous import, Pre-School Syllabus Development Committee and K-12/Studio Partnership Committee, have spent long hours meeting online and developing information and consensus from the membership of their organizations. Half-day sessions for each committee preceded January's annual meeting.

The Pre-School Syllabus Development committee, chaired by Nancy Sommers of Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, is already compiling universal information for the teacher on physical and emotional benchmarks in child development from birth to school age (approximately [5.sup.1/2] to 6 years). Since this pediatric material has already been developed by other professions, the task is to compile the information in a usable form, and then to suggest how to apply it to teaching of age-appropriate movement skills with an emphasis on retaining the joy of dance for the child and teacher. No small task for Jane Bonbright of National Dance Education Organization, Fran Frederick of Chicago National, Elsa Posey of the National Registry of Dance Educators, and Sarah Pullen, Royal Academy of Dancing, but members are passionate about doing a good job and they know it w ill take a long time.

The K-12/Studio Partnership committee, chaired by Susan McGreevy-Nichols, a dance teacher at Rhode Island Middle School, is yielding more immediate results. The proposal submitted by UNITY for Dancing in the Millennium: An International Conference, to be held July 19-23 in Washington, D.C., has been accepted. A panel of private studio and kindergarten through twelfth-grade dance educators will demonstrate the value of this "perfect partnership," hoping to model and extend their newfound understandings to the hordes of dance professionals who are expected to attend. The panel will include a moderator and five panelists from various teaching backgrounds who can demonstrate why their cooperation is beneficial. Attention is being paid; a similar program has already been booked for two other major dance education conferences.

RELATED ARTICLE: STAND AND BE COUNTED

FOR THE first time this century, dance teachers in the United States have the opportunity to be counted and acknowledged. When the 2000 Census occurs--April 1 is the official census day--American residents are required to complete a simple seven-question form that allows the federal government to verify the total population present in the United States on that date. If you do not mail back your census form, an agent of the U.S. Census Bureau will come to your residence and ask you the questions in person. In addition, a portion of the population will receive more detailed questionnaires during the next years as interim counts with various focuses. These basic numbers are used to redraw voting district boundaries, to decide the number of government representatives that are based on population, allocation of tax dollars and funds, and are the basis for statistics that are used to calculate and project all sorts of trends and public needs for the next ten years.

Here's where you have the chance to stand out. To Date, when you go to look for statistics or information on dance teachers, you find none. There's information on music, drama, and (visual) art teachers, but until this year dance teachers have not been included with these other fine arts teachers. Dance and its professionals continue to be un-or under-represented. Now, with the mandated reclassification of dance school businesses to fine arts schools ("establishments primarily engaged in offering instruction in the arts, including dance, art, drama, and music") in Category 611610 under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), dance educators are acknowledged as the professionals they have long been. This is a change for businesses from being classified with dance halls, pool halls, and other entertainment and recreation. Similarly, individual dance teachers should respond to the query about occupation-not as "housewife" or "small business owner," but with the proud reply of "Dance Teacher".