Released: October 6, 2005

CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Assistant Director to Receive National Dance Education Awards Friday

National Dance Education Organization to Present Awards at 7th Annual Conference in Buffalo

(Greater Hartford) – The National Dance Education Organization has named the CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts the first recipient of its new Outstanding School for Dance Education Award and the academy’s Assistant Director, Kim Stroud, as the first recipient of its Outstanding Dance Educator Award.

The awards will be presented at a banquet on Friday, October 7 at 7 p.m., the second day of the group’s four-day annual conference.  The 7th Annual NDEO Conference is being held at the Buffalo/Niagara Marriott in Buffalo, New York and at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Both awards will be presented annually to a school/program that excels in advancing dance as an art in education – and to an individual who embodies the mission and objectives of the national organization in their teaching and interactions with students, colleagues, administrators and the public.  NDEO requires a recommendation letter from a graduate of the program as part of the award nomination packet.

Kristen Schoen-Rene, a 2003 arts academy graduate and now a sophomore at Fordham University, wrote of the role her four years in the dance department played both in her personal growth from a “shy and introverted” freshman to a “confident and mature young woman” pursuing her dream in the dance world – as well as in her educational growth, which included learning new dance skills, ballet vocabulary, music, composition, dance history and auditioning techniques.

“I have had exposure to so much more than most by having attended [the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts]…Most of my peers at Fordham have been exposed to only ballet or maybe some modern and have never had to create their own movement or entire dance piece,” she wrote.  “I know I will carry everything I gained from this program with me for the rest of my life…I honestly do not know where I would be right now in life or who I would be as a person if I had not attended this program.”

“We sincerely believe that the dance program at the CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts is exemplary and will be a model for our colleagues across the country,” said Sara Lee Gibb, President of the National Dance Education Organization.  “Kim Stroud is, in fact, an outstanding dance educator, and we know that her work at the academy and her many professional accomplishments will inspire others to further their own contributions to dance education.”

“We are very proud of Kim and know that she is a key reason that the school, too, is receiving an award from NDEO,” said Academy Director Herb Sheppard, who will accept the school award with Dance Chair Linda Burns.  “To be the inaugural recipient is high praise for Kim and for the strength of our program in developing not just the technical aspects of dance, but also in imparting knowledge of the creative and the educational aspects, including history, music and composition.”

More than 40 students major in dance at the academy each year, with many classes open to non-dance majors.  Dance has been offered at the academy since it was founded by CREC in 1985.

Stroud has worked at the academy for nearly 12 years, including responsibilities with the CREC Center for Creative Youth.  She has administered Dance Programs for City Youth through the School of the Hartford Ballet and served as head of the Diversity Committee for the International NETWORK of Performing and Visual Arts Schools; as an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Purchase; on the faculty at Hartford Camerata Conservatory, the University of Hartford, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.  She was a Principal Soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company for 11 years, touring the world.

About NDEO
The National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) is an autonomous non-profit organization dedicated to promoting standards of excellence in dance education by providing the dance artist and the dance educator a network of resources and support, a base for advocacy, and access to programs and projects that focus on the importance of dance in the human experience.  For more information, please visit www.ndeo.org.

About CREC
CREC is a non-profit, regional educational service center serving 35 Greater Hartford public school districts.  It was founded in 1966 by local school districts working together to solve common problems.  Today, CREC administers more than 100 programs and services spanning the entire educational spectrum with the same goal in mind.  CREC’s Division of Magnet Schools strives to offer the highest quality educational opportunities that reduce racial, ethnic and socio-economic isolation of students by initiating, developing and managing innovative educational programs.  For more information about CREC and the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, please visit www.crec.org/academy.