NHDI YEAR-LONG PROGRAM

REGISTER HERE

The NHDI Year-Long Program brings weekly dance instruction to children at school, during the school day, under the direction of professionally trained NHDI teaching artists with piano accompanists. Through the rigors of dance and the energy of live music, children directly experience the value of discipline, concentration and collaboration. The sense of mastery and self-confidence that students feel when meeting a difficult choreographic challenge provides the groundwork for improved performance in other curricular areas, and in other areas of their lives.

Each school year, the Year-Long Program has a curricular theme that is linked to academic subjects of students in grades four through eight. This theme serves as a springboard for a year of exploration and discovery. Past themes have included the water cycle, the wonders of the world, forms of communication, the plight of monarch butterflies, and children’s literature.

The Year-Long Program culminates with the joyous annual Event of the Year performances over Memorial Day Weekend at the Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College. Students perform in t-shirts (each school/special team with a different color), jeans and sneakers. The special t-shirt design is chosen from among entries from the dancers in our t-shirt design contest. Costumes that follow the artistic theme of each dance are worn by all students with each school and Special Team in a variety of colorful and creative costumes.

Each year, the Event of the Year is an original theatrical production, written by NHDI Artistic Director Kristen Leach with music arranged and conducted by Peter Mansfield, NHDI’s longtime Music Director, accompanied by a live orchestra. The professional stage at the Redfern has been the home of the Event of the Year for 35 years, and is the cornerstone of NHDI’s commitment to giving the children of the Year-Long Program a powerful, authentic performance experience that they will remember for their entire lives.

To register for one of our Year Long Program Schools, click the link above!

Financial Assistance-

NHDI strives to give all children a chance to dance! NHDI has a limited amount of financial assistance available to eligible students. The Financial Assistance Application must be completed by October 31st to be considered. All information you provide on the Financial Assistance Application is strictly confidential. Please contact the office at nhdi@nhdi.org for more information.

Financial Assistance

NHDI Year-Long Program Schools

If you have questions about the NHDI Year-Long Program at your child’s school, you may contact the School Coordinator directly (see below), or contact the NHDI Office at nhdi@nhdi.org.

Chesterfield School

Cutler School

Megan Naso — mnaso@mrsd.org

Emerson School

Nikki Tommila — ntommila@mrsd.org

Great Brook Middle School

Siobhan Leclerc — sleclerc@conval.edu

Marlborough Elementary

Michaela Hayston — mhayston@sau29.org

Mountain Shadows School

Anna Petrova — apetrova@antioch.edu

South Meadow School