Dancecast

Advocating for Inclusive Dance in the Public SchoolsIn this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews New York-based dance educator and advocate Sandi Stratton-Gonzalez. Sandi shares her dance beginnings and describes how she always identified as a teacher, even as she pursued performance opportunities, which directly led to her career as a dance educator in the public schools. She ended up working for 20 years at the first fully inclusive public school in the country, where there was also a robust performing arts program. Sandi reflects on the value of those experiences and how they informed her later work in city-wide efforts to represent dance educators and advocate for students with disabilities. She talks about how she’s staying active in the field post-retirement and adapting to online spaces.Text by Emmaly Wiederholt, founder of Stance On Dance. Sandi Stratton-Gonzalez taught dance to children with special needs in inclusion and self-contained classrooms for more than 20 years at PS 372 in Brooklyn. Recen