Dance Education Laboratory (DEL)
at Jacob’s Pillow
Art at the Heart of Teaching™
DEL at Jacob’s Pillow connects dance educators, college dance students, classroom teachers, and professional dancers to the DEL model of dance education—situated alongside Jacob’s Pillow’s year-round resources as a center for dance research and development.
Jacob’s Pillow collaborates with the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) as a satellite of the nationally renowned dance teacher education program, founded by Jody Gottfried Arnhold with Ann Biddle as Founding Faculty and Joan Finkelstein as Founding Director. DEL is celebrating over 29 years at the 92NY in 2024.
“I had always wondered how I could creatively bring dance history and appreciation to my studio and students, and DEL’s at Jacob’s Pillow offered a clear and exciting way to do so.”
About Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Founder of Dance Education Laboratory (DEL)
Jody Gottfried Arnhold, M.A., C.M.A., Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) 92NY, Founder, is a luminary in dance education and an advocate for dance. She created DEL in response to the need for a practical and focused dance pedagogy program. Through DEL, Arnhold aims to inspire and prepare teachers to work with children and teens. She continues these efforts as Executive Producer of the New York Emmy Award-nominated documentary, PS DANCE!: Dance Education in Public Schools, and PS DANCE!: THE NEXT GENERATION premiered in July 2022 and currently streaming on PBS. Both films raise awareness about the power of dance education in public schools and advocate for her mission, Dance for Every Child. Read Jody’s full bio here.
About Ann Biddle, Director of DEL at Jacob’s Pillow & Director, DEL Institute 92NY
Ann Biddle M.A., Dance Education, Columbia University, B.A., English Literature, Kenyon College and Fulbright Scholar. Biddle has been a dance educator, staff developer, curriculum consultant, writer and choreographer for the past 30 years. She is the Director of the DEL Institute- Teacher Certificate Program, a national and global year-long professional learning and career advancement program. Biddle has designed and taught numerous courses for DEL including Foundations in Dance Education, DEL Essentials, Planet Dance- Multicultural Dance Education, Dancing in Early Childhood, Dance and Nature, Teaching from Transformation to Inspiration (Tina Curran), Dance and Literacy (Barbara Bashaw), DEL: The Next Generation, the DEL Facilitators Training Program, Dance for Social Change and DEL Essentials OPDI course for the National Dance Education Organization. Read Ann’s full bio here.
About Felice Santorelli, DEL Facilitator
Felice Santorelli (Ed.M Dance Education, B.F.A. Dance and Choreography) is the Dance Department Leader at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School (PVPA) and the Artistic Director of the school’s contemporary student dance company, Catalyst. Santorelli’s teaching experience ranges from K-12 in various schools to higher education at Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University. She has developed numerous dance courses in contemporary, ballet, jazz, improvisation, composition, dance education and dance history. These courses blend skill-building in technique, creative dance making, improvisation, and dance theory and history that draw connections between dance and the world and other art forms. Read Felice’s full bio here.
Contact Us
For more information or questions about accessibility, contact community@jacobspillow.org.
DEL at Jacob’s Pillow is made possible by Jody & John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation. Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) is founded by Jody Gottfried Arnhold.
DELving into Dance History
The DELving into Dance History courses guide participants in an embodied and interactive movement-based learning approach to re-imagining dance history through a more equitable and culturally relevant lens. Drawing from the extensive resources of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, participants engage in meaningful dance learning activities that explore diverse dance artists, genres, and eras within a cultural, historic, and social context. Multi-modal teaching strategies include movement observation, embodied reflection, reconstruction practices, collaborative research, and collective dance-making. This series includes expertise from guest experts in the field of dance performance, dance history, and dance education, who represent a wide range of dance forms and styles.
DELving Mini-Workshops
DELving Mini-Workshops focus on exploring a choreographer’s voice through the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) model. DEL facilitators guide participants through an exploration and investigation of a choreographer’s work through multiple entry points in order to design accessible lessons and activities for all dance learners. DELving Mini-workshops may link to the work of the Pillow Lab Artists or dance companies featured during the Summer Festival. Participants may be invited to attend a showing (in person or live streamed) of a work in progress by a Pillow Lab artist where they may engage in an interactive dialogue with the artists or receive a discount to attend a performance during the Festival.
DELving into the Archives Workshop
The DELving into the Archives workshop is designed in partnership with Jacob's Pillow Director of Preservation, Norton Owen, and Associate Archivist, Patsy Gay, and focuses on introducing dance educators of diverse ages and teaching contexts to the wealth of material that exists in the newly expanded Pillow archives. Participants will explore the archives in an interactive and embodied way and have opportunities to apply the DEL methodology to bring dance history to life in innovative, culturally relevant, and creative ways.
DEL Essentials
Immerse yourself in this two-day intensive course on the DEL Model of Dance Education: Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), collaborative dance making, lesson planning, human development, strategies for effective teaching, and linking dance to curriculum for children and teenagers.
DEL Dance for Social Change
DEL Dance for Social Change examines varied approaches for empowering dancers and dance educators as advocates for social change.
DEL Next GEN Teaching Assistant Program
DEL is committed to preparing the next generation of dancers to participate in the field of dance education and has created the DEL Next GEN Apprenticeship program designed to support this initiative. Open to high school students (16 years or older) and college students who have completed one of the foundational DEL courses taught by Ann Biddle (DEL Essentials, DEL FUNdamentals, or UMASS Introduction to Dance Education) to apply and assist in DEL courses and workshops at Jacob’s Pillow in order to continue their dance education training through a practicum experience. Participants will receive a small honorarium per course or workshop for assisting and participating.