Author and 30-year veteran dance educator honored with 2004 Dance Teacher Award

Marty Sprague, co-author of Experiencing Dance: From Student to Dance Artist and Building More Dances: Blueprints for Putting Movements Together, recently received Dance Teacher magazine's Dance Teacher of the Year Award in the K-12 category. Sprague teaches high school students at the Providence Academy of International Studies in Providence, RI, and serves as the artistic director of Rhode Island's Chance for Dance, a statewide, in-school dance initiative for 4th through 8th graders now in its 18th year.

Sprague's 30-year career in dance ranges from performer and artistic director to author and educator at the K-12 and university levels. Students, parents, friends, and fellow teachers nominated her for this award, while a distinguished panel of teachers, professional dancers, artistic directors, convention coordinators, and dancewear manufacturers went on to select her as the honoree in this category.

Recognized by her peers during an awards ceremony at the 2004 Dance Teacher Summer Conference in August, Sprague said of her commitment to the arts, "I know that dance changes lives, not only through modes of thinking, but by helping children become better observers and develop a strong work ethic."

After receiving a BFA in dance from the Boston Conservatory, Sprague earned an MA in dance education from Teacher's College at Columbia University. She has been a member of the Boston Dance Theater, Tanagra Movement Theater, and Rhode Island's Dance Repertory Company, where she also became artistic director. From 1994-2002 she danced, taught, and choreographed with Fusionworks, a modern dance repertory company. Sprague currently works with Arabella, which is a performance company of women ages 45 to 65.