Community

The Community In Motion Program addresses the need for children in our community to gain skills for school and life through ongoing creative and affirming dance classes. This program is at the heart of our mission and unique to Birmingham and the dance education field. We teach more than 800 students each week during the school year and an additional 200 students each summer. It has two components:

Movement to Music for preschool children and children with disabilities and

Arts In Education which includes Dancing With Words, Math In Motion, and Brain Body Balance.

Movement to Music includes classes for preschool children and children with disabilities. Classes are active, fun, and tied to building developmentally appropriate skills! Through dance, music, and creative play, teaching artists and musicians weave storytelling, dance, and songs together to transform the classroom into a world of imaginative learning. For the child with disabilities, these Movement to Music classes provide a joyful way for the child to take physical, cognitive, and social skills they practice with therapists and try them in a new setting. Working alongside our partnering organizations such as The Bell Center for Early Intervention, we see children with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, or other cognitive and physical delays.

Our Arts In Education Program has three elements:

Dancing With Words (DWW) is TDF’s initiative for 1st and 2nd grade students with limited English proficiency and students needing language arts support by harnessing the active and improvisational energy of dance. Classroom and program teachers collaborate with TDF teaching artists to determine language skills to strengthen, either to help students work towards grade level reading skills or to assist students learning English with language acquisition and participation. Click here to check out our on-demand, digital teaching tool for Dancing With Words…

Math In Motion is a re-imagined curricula based on a previous school touring program linking math and dance which was performed throughout Alabama for many years. With the interest to support STEAM programs, Math In Motion explores math concepts with 3rd-5th grade students through movement, making them memorable and more easily understood. Symmetry, rhythm, patterns, shapes, ways to represent numbers, problem solving and math outside the classroom are all explored through active learning. Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems.

Brain Body Balance is a new curriculum designed to promote wellness, harnessing mind, body and spirit to develop a healthy sense of self and social – emotional connection with others for K-12 students. Launched in 2020, this integrated curriculum responds to educator requests for ways to encourage healthy communication skills and social-emotional learning. By exploring nonverbal communication using dance and music, carefully designed curriculum and series of lesson plans will help students gain healthy tools of expression. Body Brain Balance provides fun and interactive ways to meet these goals: improve student attitudes, behaviors, individual responsibility, confidence, engagement, emotional awareness, and communication skills such as active listening and mindful response.

Our Movement to Music Partners:

Bell Center for Early Intervention

Brookwood Forest Elementary School*

Canterbury Child Development Center

Canterbury Day School

Cherokee Bend Elementary School*

Crestline Elementary School*

Elizabeth Perry Rushton Child Development Center

First Church Early Learning Center

Hall Kent Elementary School*

Harris Early Learning Center

James Rushton Early Learning Center

Mitchell’s Place

Mountain Brook Elementary School*

South Highland’s CDC

YWCA Child Care Center

YWCA Kids Corner / Child Care for Kids in Distress

*early intervention programs

Our Arts in Education Partners:

Booker T. Washington Elementary School

Burkett Center

Hall Kent Elementary – R.I.S.E. Program

West End Academy

Our Additional Partners:

Alabama Dance Council

Forge Breast Center Survivor Center

Greater Birmingham Arts Education Collaborative

People in Motion

UAB Early Start

We welcome you to contact us to learn more about these programs and how to participate!