What do a professional arts organization and a literacy nonprofit have in common?
As the Director of Arts and Literacy Integration for The Learning Alliance (TLA), it seems obvious to me, but I recognize it isn’t always obvious to everyone else. So let me spell it out (see what I did there?)… On our personal journey to become literate, we learn how to decode text and make meaning of the squiggles and sounds of a language. We do this through a combination of direct instruction and practice. Learning to dance happens in much the same way: learn the steps, then practice them in combinations called choreography. In fact, according to neuroscientists, this is how ALL learning happens – bit by bit, little by little, until it becomes so natural we forget how we learned it in the first place! Comprehension is the goal of reading, and making meaning of words and ideas is an embodied experience.
But this wasn’t always obvious to me. I started my professional career as a freelance theatre director and stage manager in the thriving Washington DC arts community. I was also a Teaching Artist and Theatre Arts Educator, and as I worked with a broad range of students, I discovered that there are very specific ways that the performing arts can develop academic skills. Scriptwork develops fluency and strengthens comprehension. Improv grows resiliency and language skills. Dance makes challenging concepts and vocabulary accessible. This evolved into a role as an Arts Integration Specialist, through which I taught children and adults how to access their creativity through drama, dance, and music.
When The Learning Alliance brought me to Vero Beach as a visiting Teaching Artist, what I encountered here in Indian River County was unlike anything I had previously seen in over a decade of working with arts organizations and school districts in the DC area. A community committed to a goal: a goal for all our kids to become literate, compassionate, and creative learners. This Moonshot Goal energized leadership from dozens of organizations, including a professional ballet company, who saw that they had a role to play in achieving this collective impact. It inspired me to move here to contribute to the work.
Soon after, I met Adam Schnell, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Vero Beach (BVB), and ideas immediately started to spark. We began discussing how to iterate upon existing BVB programming that provided access and exposure to the ballet to students in the county through a matinee performance series; we wanted to redesign the experience to support developing literacy skills as well. There was never any need to make the case for this, as Adam and I were on the same page, so to speak, and he saw clearly how BVB could help the literacy efforts.
The Stage to Page program evolved out of these discussions. Open to all students in the county in grades 1, 3, and 5 for no cost, the program includes workshops that address arts and literacy standards through curriculum-aligned strategies in the classroom before and after seeing a professional ballet production. Launched in 2019, the program currently takes place on 12 campuses, reaching a record peak last year, serving between 1,500 and 1,800 students annually. We are on track to surpass that number this year. Every year we reflect and refine to ensure the highest quality student experience, and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together.
Additionally, I have the privilege of supporting Ballet Vero Beach’s Fellowship Initiative. Along with TLA Co-founder and Chief Academic Officer Liz Remington, I provide professional learning opportunities for the company, teaching the dancers about the science of reading and how what they do as artists can support student academic development. This provides the foundation for the dancers to become Teaching Artists who are able to deliver arts-literacy integrated workshops in the schools as part of the Stage Page program.
Ballet Vero Beach’s tagline – dance is a universal language – is more than a turn of phrase. It drives the artistic and creative vision from the top and across every member of the company. Dance as an art form, and creative movement as a learning modality, can build bridges and break down barriers, creating connections in classrooms and in the community.
Debbi Arseneaux
Director of Arts and Literacy Integration
The Learning Alliance
