Charné Furcron
Charné Furcron is Director of Education and Program Officer for Moving in the Spirit (MITS). She has been actively involved with MITS for over twenty-six years and currently manages program evaluation to provide evidence that proves the impact of the program on the dancers’ self-concept, youth development goals, and dance technique. She holds a BFA in dance from Texas Christian University, MA in dance therapy from Goucher College, MA in counseling from the Georgia School of Professional Psychology, and EdD in counseling psychology from Argosy University/ Sarasota. Dr. Furcron is a licensed professional counselor, board certified dance therapist, board certified coach, master addiction counselor, and approved clinical supervisor. In addition to her role as Director of Education, she is an Adjunct Professor for Liberty University Online in the psychology program and maintains a dance/movement therapy and counseling practice. Dr. Furcron has presented her work with Dance/Movement Therapy and Positive Youth Development locally, regionally and nationally. Her TED Talk-style presentation on Dance: Positively Changing Lives of Urban Youth was featured by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as the first in a series, “ADTA Talks.”
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Arts Disciplines: Dance
Core Content Curriculum Areas: Dance
Specialized Content Areas: Character Education, Social Justice Education, Mindfulness Strategies
Grade Levels: Pre-K, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, Higher Education
Special Populations: ELL (English Language Learners), At-Risk Students, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Students, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students, LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex) students, Exceptional Learners (students with disabilities as well as those who are gifted and talented)
Additional Populations: Arts & Early Learning, Arts & Persons with Disabilities, Arts & the Homeless, Arts in Juvenile Justice, Dance/Movement Therapy
Pre-Service Learning and Professional Development: Post-Secondary/Pre-Service Learning, Professional Development for K-12 Teachers, Professional Development for Teaching Artists
Geographic Availability: Metro Atlanta
Program Types:
School-based Classroom Workshop(s), School-based Afterschool Program, Community-based Workshop(s)
Community-based Afterschool Program, Community-based Residency Program, Community-based Summer Program
Hybrid Online and In-Person Content for Schools
Hybrid Online and In-Person Content for Communities
Program Fees:
- Workshop fees, Access to Online Content, and Hybrid Online & In-Person – For workshops with up to 12 participants, the hourly rate ranges from $125 to $150. An additional $100.00 will be charged for groups over 12 participants to add a facilitator to the workshop. An average workshop lasts between two and six hours.
- Residency Fees – The daily rate for a residency with up to 12 participants is $500. If there are more than 12 participants in your group, an additional $300.00 will be charged to add a facilitator.
- Performance fee: $1,500.00
Artistic Profile:
Moving in the Spirit is a nationally-recognized creative youth development program that uses the art of dance to positively transform the lives of children and teens in Atlanta, Georgia.
Through programs that integrate high-quality dance instruction with performance, leadership, and mentor opportunities, Moving in the Spirit helps young people develop the social, emotional, and cognitive skills they need to thrive.
Since its founding in 1986, over 5,000 young people have ‘grown up’ in Moving in the Spirit. On average, students stay in the program for seven years, and 100% of seniors graduate on time from high school and gain college acceptance.
Moving in the Spirit serves as the community arts anchor of MARTA’s transit-oriented development in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood. Positioned directly next to the MARTA rail line, our new performing arts center draws young people together from across our city, exemplifying how the arts can unite communities, spur economic development, and empower youth.
Teaching Experience:
Founded in 1986, Moving in the Spirit began with the vision of Dana Lupton, Genene Stewart, and Leah Mann, who believed they could combine their love of dance with their commitment to social justice. What began as a dance class for a small group of girls at Stewart Avenue Shelter has grown into a large and diverse organization impacting over 200 children throughout Atlanta weekly.
Sample Programs:
- Conflict Resolution Workshop: “Conflict Resolution” is a workshop designed to help participants enhance their ability to understand and examine maladaptive communication patterns in a creative and supportive environment. It teaches skills that transform destructive conflicts into healthy and assertive resolutions. The workshop utilizes nonverbal communication, creative and kinesthetic movement, role-play, and humor to help participants examine their behavioral patterns and relevant issues unique to their present experiences, i.e., peer pressure, honest versus dishonest behavior, and encounters with various authority figures (school administrators/teachers). The workshop presents a useful process for effectively managing conflict with assertiveness in all aspects of the participants’ lives. The workshop provides useful strategies for dealing with anxiety-provoking situations. The process will not guarantee an agreement, but it greatly improves the likelihood that problems can be understood, solutions explored and the advantages of a negotiated agreement considered.
- My Voice: A workshop on diversity and inclusion: Diversity and inclusion are values that students hear about all the time, but we often fail to provide the character development training students need to develop empathy. Following the Positive Youth Development model, this workshop will provide educators with a framework for cultivating understanding through creativity. The workshop’s curriculum will use current news headlines to create issue-based choreography. This workshop combines social studies (analysis of current events) with language arts (creative writing) and the performing arts (creative movement) to create a comprehensive framework for uniting different perspectives and modeling positive behaviors. After an initial group check-in, workshop participants will write a creative journal entry about the ways in which a current event/issue affects them personally. Participants will identify five action verbs in their writing related to the emotional struggle and five descriptive adjectives of personal qualities. Participants will then assign a corresponding movement gesture for each verb and adjective, and combine these gestures into a short sequence. After performing their gesture sequences in small groups, the entire group will come together to dialogue about the emotions they understood and connected with as they witnessed each other’s creative movement. During the dialogue, instructors will prompt analysis of the Creative Youth Development modeled behaviors – whether the dancer approached her challenges assertively (the positive behavior), aggressively, passively, or passive-aggressively (negative behaviors). The goal of the workshop is for participants to understand how creative processes help them better identify, communicate, and understand their perspective of the world around them.
- Talk to the Hand Workshop: Aims to help youth examine maladaptive communication patterns by enabling them to explore them in a creative and supportive environment. This workshop teaches skills that transform destructive conflicts into healthy, assertive resolutions. As part of the workshop, participants will be guided through nonverbal communication, creative movement, role-playing, and humor to examine their behaviors and relevant issues related to their recent experiences (such as peer pressure, honesty versus dishonesty, and dealing with various authorities). Youths learn how to effectively manage conflict with assertiveness during the workshop and strategies for dealing with anxiety-provoking situations. Although the process does not guarantee agreement, it improves the likelihood of understanding problems, exploring solutions, and examining the advantages of a negotiated agreement.
- Examining the Power Flower: Intersectional Identities workshop, participants examine their social identities and how they impact their relationships with others. Having a solid sense of self will help one recognize one’s values and needs. Through embodied experientials and creative arts therapy modalities, participants will gain an understanding of their relationships and self-care as well as review their experiences and multifaceted identities.
Sample Lesson Plan:
- Listing ID: 6001