Sara Potler

Sara Potler
USA

“Watching the joy on the kids’ faces who Dance 4 Peace—the way they interact and relate to each other with empathy and compassion as we move through the curriculum…”

Dance 4 Peace is an innovative, global nonprofit that uses movement to teach young people to be leaders and peacemakers in their communities. The curriculum is a conflict resolution program that promotes tolerance, understanding, mediation skills, anger management, and emotional and civic engagement. Through exercises and activities utilizing movement, music, emotions, experiences, and thoughts, students are able to learn emotional and social competencies for peace.

Dance 4 Peace began in Bogotá, Colombia as part of my Fulbright Scholarship in 2007.

When I was 15 years old I almost dropped out of high school to perform in the Music Man on Broadway. Dance, music and theatre were what I spent 30 hours a week doing, so it made sense for me to accept a role in the city that didn’t sleep. After sticking through high school and deciding against going to more traditional arts conservatories, I spent four years at the University of Virginia, performing with the Drama department and choreographing and dancing as Vice President of the Virginia Dance Company, all while interning at the United Nations and backpacking the Patagonia. I never imagined a blend of international development, education, peace building and the performing arts until my Colombian Fulbright professor really pushed me to develop a project of my own in Bogota.

While a Fulbright Scholar, I designed, implemented and evaluated the Dance 4 Peace curriculum in public schools in the outskirts of Bogotá. Today, what was then just an idea is now a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC with programming in three D.C. public schools; a charter school in the Bronx, NYC; select public schools in Bogota, Colombia; and a youth community center in Nepal.

We work through grassroots, local, and international-scale partnerships to bring Dance 4 Peace programming to new contexts. Through educational support, monitoring, and evaluation we build sustainable peace in the communities we serve.

This fall in the U.S. alone we are affecting 100 youth- 75 in D.C. and 25 in NYC. Our programming is a combination of school day and after school hours. Our goal is not just to reach students; we plan to train teachers, school administrators, and after-school providers how to utilize creative movement to build a more peaceful community.  Ultimately, the schools will not require Dance 4 Peace PeaceMovers to facilitate workshops. Communities will have the tools to Dance 4 Peace themselves.

In addition to the students and teachers whom we affect, we are also training university student facilitators to be PeaceMovers in their local communities. This fall we have trained seven university graduate and undergraduate students in D.C. and NYC to implement our peace education curriculum in local schools, thereby fostering leadership and empathy in the university community. University students are empowered to lead the program and serve as connectors between the academic institutions and the students dancing 4 peace. We plan to continue to grow this model, further bridging university students with the populations they serve.

Watching the joy on the kids’ faces who Dance 4 Peace—the way they interact and relate to each other with empathy and compassion as we move through the curriculum—makes me just as happy as when I rock out to the reggaeton music alongside them. Being back in D.C. and taking Dance 4 Peace to new sociocultural contexts and world regions, it feels good to know that I didn’t leave dance when I chose not to pursue it professionally or that I’m not a “selfish artist” when I skip a work conference to make my ballet class. I’m learning that there are ways to fuse your passions even when it may not be obvious at first, even if I still cry every time I’m in the audience on Broadway.

To learn more about Dance 4 Peace, please connect with us online:

www.dance4peace.org

www.facebook.com/dance4peace

www.twitter.com/dance4peacenow

www.youtube.com/baileparalapaz