For the sixth year in a row, a dance education student from Teachers College has been recognized with a Graduate Student Literary Award from the National Dance Association (NDA). Allison Bazin, a master's student in the Dance and Dance Education Program, won an honorable mention for her essay "Dancing to the music of Dewey...in Rudolf Laban's Kinesphere."

The National Dance Association "seeks to increase knowledge, improve skills, and encourage sound professional practices in dance education through high quality dance programs." Each year, NDA presents literary awards to students whose papers exemplify the high standards in content and quality in dance education research.

Bazin's paper, written for her curriculum design course taught by Professor Susan Koff, reveals how the development of Rudolf Laban's theories of dance parallel the philosophies of John Dewey. She opens the paper by posing the question, "What might have happened if John Dewey was assigned the task of teaching a dance class?" She answers this question throughout the essay discussing the similarities in teaching and thinking these two "great minds" shared.

"It appears that both Laban and Dewey shared a need for flexibility with respect to their ideas and expected their concepts to grow with an ever-changing society. This open-ended element has prepared their work for an endless future of examination and development thereby enabling it to endure in a world of change, trends, and fly-by-night fads," said Bazin.

Bazin is no stranger to literary excellence as she continues to excel as a successful businesswoman as the Manager of Store Marketing for Barnes & Noble Booksellers, though she also danced with the Leap of Faith Dance Company in New York City and founded CreativeSoup, an artistic jam session for dancers, poets, musicians, and singers. She exemplifies the TC Dance Education student with her achievements as a scholar, researcher, teacher, and dancer. Bazin was also recently honored for her choreographic work at the American College Dance Festival held this past March.

"Being in the TC Dance Program means so much to me and I am very happy about these recent events," Bazin said after receiving the news. "It's wonderful when you work hard at something you love and someone takes the time to recognize it. I have to thank my fellow dance students, Claire Porter, and Professor Koff-their support is so inspirational."

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001