Share Dance In Practice 2025/26
What is the purpose of In Practice?
This program is designed for dance teachers and leaders, offering continued education, peer-to-peer exchange, and opportunities to share knowledge across the dance community. Our goal is to empower dance leaders to create an environment where everybody in the dance studio feels safe, cared for, welcomed, and valued.
Workshop & Symposium
This season, we’re thrilled to offer:
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A workshop with international artists from PuSh Festival
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Our first-ever In Practice Symposium!
In Practice with PuSh Festival
with Cherish Menzo & Jennifer Piasecki
January 24, 2026 | 12 - 3 pm
Q7 Studios, Vancouver
Join international artists Cherish Menzo (Co-Artistic Director, GRIP) and Jennifer Piasecki (Production & Tour Management, GRIP) for a conversation on well-being and collaboration within artistic organizations.
Leadership In Practice
Symposium 2026
March 22, 2026 | 10am – 4:00pm
The Roundhouse, Performance Centre, Vancouver
Limited to 30 participants
A one-day gathering for dance artists, educators, choreographers and leaders who are curious about how leadership can be more responsive to the dance world we’re shaping together.
Who is In Practice for?
This program supports dancers, teachers, choreographers, rehearsal directors, movement leaders, and dancers transitioning into leadership roles within dance and studio/rehearsal hall spaces. It's designed for those interested in leading with empathy, care, and best professional practices through skill development workshops, facilitated broad discussions, and case studies. The work we’re diving into is applicable across so many fields of teaching and facilitation and many participants have joined in who don’t identify as dance teachers.
The roots of the program... In Practice
In Practice started as an extension of the Share Dance program in response to the community and the needs of our teachers. In the 2022-23 season, New Works took the next leap to offer In Practice, a professional development series for dance teachers and leaders which was envisioned and co-curated by artists + teachers Carolina Bergonzoni, Marco Esccer, and Lisa Gelley. The dance classroom can be an isolating space where teachers are often lesson planning, teaching, and problem solving with very little feedback. This series brings teachers together to question, investigate, and expand their own teaching practices.
In 2023-24 the In Practice series returned in partnership with The Dance Centre, continuing to broaden and deepen topics of conversation and diversify voices in the room. We deepened our exploration into the needs of dance educators and leaders, focusing on diversity, inclusion, and trauma-informed learning. While each workshop, panel discussion, or community conversation may shift in format to best support the chosen topics, each is led by a selection of experts and artists from across the dance community and beyond, and offers up meaningful learning for all dancing humans.
In Practice 2022/23
In Practice began in 2022 as a place for critical conversations around teaching dance. In this inagural season, the series was broken into a series of professional development workshops focused on skill building, and big-picture conversations focused on fostering broader conversations around teaching as creative practice. The season included eight workshops, curated by Marco Esccer (Fall), and Carolina Bergonzoni and Lisa Mariko Gelley (Spring).
In Practice 2023/24
In Practice continued to grow as a space for continued education, peer to peer exchange, and knowledge sharing among dance teachers and leaders. This season was co-presented in partnership with The Dance Centre, and included six workshops over the course of the season. The Fall workshop series was curated by Kay Huang and Marco Esccer, and the Spring workshops were curated by Carolina Bergonzoni and Lisa Mariko Gelley.
In Practice 2024/25
Building on the insights and experiences of our previous seasons, the 2024-2025 In Practice program continues our commitment to creating a supportive, inclusive, and innovative dance environment. We aim to address the essential question: What does good practice and support look like in these environments?
In Practice 2025-26 is presented with PuSh Festival and the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, and it is generously supported by public funders and individual donations. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Metro Vancouver’s Regional Cultural Project Grants program, the City of Vancouver and the Province of BC, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada and the National Arts Centre who has supported the Spring Conversation Series. Without them this program would not be possible!
Photos: Share Dance In Practice Workshops, 2023. Photos by Carla Alcántara. | Cherish Menzo portrait photo by Sayna Ghaderi.