Biography
Betsy Blair is the author of Dance Songs for Young Children (2008) and Down the Road Dances: Level I (2009). These books, which she calls yB dance booklets, include text/CD/DVD elements.
Both of these books have been positively reviewed by the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and are currently for sale through the Regulator Bookshop (www.regulatorbookshop.com)in Durham, NC, Dance Design (www.dancedesignonline.com) in Chapel Hill, and through the NDEO bookstore (ndeo.org) as well as through Betsy Blair Workshops, held regularly in the Raleigh-Durham area.
In 1980, Ms. Blair coined the word dance designer as a way to describe her innovative, integrative approach to the field of dance education. For more than thirty years, she has advocated for the importance of the inclusion of creative dance principles in the teaching of children and youth. She has been a performer, choreographer, teacher, product designer, video producer, writer, visual artist, costume designer and workshop presenter. All of these aspects have contributed to her ability to envision a future in which the field of dance education would have a broadly based, multi-arts, multi-media literature.
Betsy Blair performed with the Easy Moving Company in the late 1970's and then became The Sprite for the WRAL-TV daily children's program from 1981-1985. She helped to write format for the show as well as performing and choreographing. During this period, she was also teaching as a adjunct professor in the Duke Dance Program and was instrumental in the formation of the Rainbow Dance Company, a multi-age community dance group. With Lemma Mackie, she wrote the grant initiating the Arts Together summer program which evolved into the community arts school.
Betsy Blair continues her professional affiliation with Arts Together in Raleigh, which has hosted her teacher training workshops the past few years. Ms. Blair's creative work also benefits from her association with the Carolina Friends School in Durham. Betsy has developed a collaborative relationship with Annie Dwyer, Dance Director at Carolina Friends School, during the school year and for the past ten years has been a children's workshop leader for the CFS Summer Programs.
For more information, please contact betsy@betsyblairdesigns.com
