Diana Ford

Dance Teacher, Choreographer, & Coach

Summer is here, and there are so many things I’ve been up to lately! Here’s a quick recap:

Towards the end of the school year, it was decided that Valerie would accept a position as an assistant principal for the arts within the MAC family, working closely with both campuses, so I was promoted to dance department director at MAC. I’m humbled and excited for all the good things to come, and have already started working with her and our new assistant director, Teddy Talbot, to ensure a smooth transition and a great future for our dancers. It’s going to be great!

We finished off the school year with several guest teachers and even a lecture by amazing physiatrist specializing in treating dancers Kathleen Davenport, who spoke to our dancers about injury prevention and treatment. Our dancers really enjoyed the variety of styles they danced in the last weeks of school, and the small party we put together for the high school dancers to celebrate our graduating seniors was a great way to wrap up a successful year. During that time, I was featured on Voyage MIA Magazine in their Most Inspiring Stories section, where I talk a little more about my journey and what I’m up to. Right after that, we held our MAC Dance Wynwood Summer Intensive, where dancers participating had the opportunity to take class from several guest teachers and work on improving their technique in several dance styles. I really enjoyed two weeks of intense work with them, and wish them the very best in the remainder of their training this summer. In between those two weeks, I attended a certification training session for Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) in Tallahassee with Megan Berlint-Nicko, and learned so much about this new method to help dancers enhance their ballet technique! I loved every minute of it and am really looking forward to incorporating the method to all of my classes as a licensed and certified teacher in all three levels of PBT. I highly recommend the course for all dance educators looking to help their dancers really master muscle awareness and proper execution in ballet technique.

This week I will be teaching and choreographing at DCDA‘s summer intensive, creating short snippets of work for their end-of-the-year awards banquet. I’m really looking forward to working with these dancers and hope we learn from each other during out time together! After this week, I’ll have a little time to myself before teaching at more summer intensives. I plan on really taking the time to recharge the batteries, and enjoy a little summer fun before it’s time to get to work again. I’ll keep you all posted on my whereabouts via social media! Stay tuned, and check out my YouTube channel soon for uploads of some of my work from this season. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of my latest adventures, clips from MAC Dance Wynwood’s summer intensives, and check my IG for more updates!

For classes, coaching, and choreography opportunities, contact me!

xoxo,

DF