Developed with teachers in mind, DEL’s new DanceMaker app features activities and resources useful for everyone teaching, learning or otherwise enjoying the art of dance.
The app is freely available on iOS with an Android version coming soon. To get it, search “Dancemaker” (one word) or use the link below.
How it Works
The app’s main feature is a Movement Sentence tool for planning and running dance lessons. We’ve built a massive and growing database of action words you can explore by topic, including everything from Outer Space to the 5 Senses. If you’re feeling hungry you can even make a dance about Chocolate. Once you’ve chosen your action words the Exploration feature lets teachers and students navigate the rich landscape of experimentation at the heart of DEL’s approach to learning while doing. When you’re ready you can even view your dances as a summary and project them onto a larger screen for students to rehearse. There are words for every grade level, but you can also use your own. The app adapts to you!
Who’s It For
Lead designer Henry Holmes says, “We want to empower teachers to lead movement experiments with the resources an entire community of dancers, educators and choreographers in hand, because we believe dance is for everyone and you can make a dance about anything.” Adds John-Mario Sevilla of 92Y, “This tool was designed to bring the creative process into the hands and bodies of teachers and students, giving them pathways to experimentation, discovery and artistry.” Asked for a one-word summary, DEL Faculty and Principle advisor Barry Blumenfeld offered “Everyone,” as in, “This is an app for everyone!”
MEET THE TEAM
DanceMaker is a bold new step for DEL and represents the cutting edge of 21st century dance education. The project was made possible through the wisdom and inspiration of DEL’s incredible community and the forward-thinking vision of DEL Founder Jody Gottfried Arnhold.
Henry Holmes, Lead Developer
Brooklyn-based designer & choreographer Henry Holmes has been working with GuideOne Mobile and the National Park Service on Park Mobile, Dance Education Laboratory 92Y on Dance Maker, Dance/ NYC Junior Committee on equity and inclusion in NYC movement arts, Gibney Dance Center’s Digital Technology Initiative on digital literacy and production support, Visual Country on IT and workflows, and others in designing and implementing human-centered digital systems.
Henry holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Computer Science certificate from the University of Wisconsin — Madison, where their work was said to “epitomize UW’s idea of the thinking dancer.” Their choreographic resume includes a Chez Bushwick Artistic Residency with Elena Rose Light, co-direction of a play with Handan Ozbilgin for Target Margin Theater’s Stein Lab, a senior center residency through SPARC with Hillary Rachel Ramos, two seasons of Mare Nostrum Elements’ Emerging Choreographer Series, a round of xyz nyc: chain creation at The Tank with Tori Iannuzzi, and a Status Book, an experimental choreographic project for the web. More at syntactile.com
Dimitry Knyajanski, iOS Developer
Dimitry is a Ukranian born App Developer who immigrated to the US from Israel when he was 21 years old. Before getting into Apps, he served as a diplomat in the Israeli embassy and earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance at Rutgers. He has since co-founded a college dating startup called SmileBack and a music messenger called YapTap. He’s also working on a new greeting card app called CardSnacks. His dedication and passion to building simple and thoughtful apps was a perfect fit for Dance Maker, where his user experience design wisdom proved invaluable
Barry Blumenfeld, Advisor, DEL Faculty
Barry Blumenfeld has been a dance educator in a wide range of environments including public schools, private pre-schools, studios, private K-12 schools and universities, including American University, Gallaudet University and New York University. Barry is currently on the faculty of Friends Seminary School in Manhattan where he created and built a K-12 dance program over the past 18 years. He is an adjunct professor at New York University and on the faculty of the Dance Education Lab of The 92nd Street Y. Barry holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Dance from American University and is a graduate of the Dance Education Laboratory of the 92nd Street Y; a certified Level 1 Teacher of Language of Dance®; a certified yoga instructor; and a Registered Dance Educator. Barry has served on the board of the New York State Dance Association, and he was the artistic director of TAPFUSION, a dance company combining modern dance and tap for a decade. With TAPFUSION, Barry’s work was presented in NY, Florida, Maryland and Washington, DC, and he was the recipient of a Choreographers Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Barry also writes the technology “Ask the Experts” column for Dance Teacher Magazine.