Corinna Bisgaier of West Windsor has been instrumental in getting the MetLife Dance for Life project to New Jersey, and, more specifically, in helping Parkway School in Ewing allocate funding to make the project come to fruition. She has been the education director for West Windsor-based Young Audiences New Jersey since 2002.##M:[more]##
“Although the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standard include arts standards in dance, it is rare for a district to have a certified dance teacher,” says Bisgaier. “More often, physical education teachers are asked to teach dance although they may have no formal training at all. In this program, we have the opportunity to bring professional dancers into physical education classes to work with students and their teachers. Teachers not only participate in the dance workshops, they also explore how children learn in dance, and how they can incorporate dance into their classes.”
The dance project, created by MetLife Foundation and Young Audiences, takes place in select schools throughout the country. It is now at Ewing’s Parkway Elementary School, where third and fourth graders are studying with professional dancer Lori Katz during a 20-day jazz immersion residency. The program culminates with a final student performance.
“Dance is a great way for children to learn, and yet in New Jersey, it is rarely taught in schools — and even less so now, in the current era of high-stakes testing,” Bisgaier says. “Through dance, children learn by using their bodies and their minds at the same time. For some children, this is the best way to learn. While their teachers and parents may have thought them hyperactive or lacking focus, when they see how they concentrate and excel in dance, they often realize that this is a child who needs to be engaged in a different way.”
Born in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Bisgaier attended the Hun School as a boarding student. As a child she played the violin, sang in the school chorus, and acted in the drama club.
A graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she majored in English and African-American studies. Her master’s degree in English education is from New York University.
“In 1998, I studied the uses of Shakespeare performance and drama in the English classroom at Oxford University and developed curriculum to encourage my student’s creativity in the inner-city schools where I taught,” she says.
As a teacher of English and creative writing at St. Benedict’s in Newark, she brought the arts into her classroom as a way to engage students with the material. She is a founding member of the Empire Theater Company. She lives with her husband, Peter, a professional actor, and their two dogs, Sadie and Otis.
“For the average child, dance is important because it is a fun, engaging way to be physically active,” Bisgaier says. “We all keep hearing about the escalation in childhood obesity rates and having this opportunity to get children involved in physical activity is one of the main reasons that MetLife has funded this project all around the country. Young Audiences New Jersey is already working on identifying schools who would be interested in participating in the MetLife Dance for Life program next year.”
For more information visit www.yanj.org.
