Sequencing Folk Dance Skills for All Students

Successful folk dancing can teach a lot of skills but doesn’t magically happen in one lesson. This webinar will help teachers understand how to sequence folk dance skills from kindergarten to upper elementary, including strategies for including special needs students. Learning objectives include how to explicitly teach partner skills, how to introduce locomotor and non-locomotor movement in shared space, how to build teamwork and social-emotional skills no matter the age, and how to modify dances for different populations including students with little to no dance experience. We will use music of many different cultures to scaffold teaching skills while learning about music and movement from around the world. There will also be information on how to incorporate popular music and student-created dances. Folk dancing can teach so many musical and social skills, and this webinar will demonstrate how to deliberately teach skills so that all students can be included in the fun!

Kelly Mraz is in her 22nd year as a K-5 general music specialist and lead teacher in Gwinnett County, Georgia. She was recognized as a county semi-finalist for Teacher of the Year in 2025 and 2015. She received her bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Percussion Performance from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and her master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also has a Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Piedmont University in Demorest, Georgia. Her performing and teaching experience includes orchestra, steel band, Latin jazz, West African drumming, and marching band. Kelly has been published in Activate Magazine and Teaching Music, a publication of NAfME. She has presented workshops and webinars for state music conferences, the Atlanta Area Orff Chapter, and the NAfME Academy. She has completed three levels of Orff-Schulwerk training. Kelly currently serves as the Past-President of the Atlanta Area Chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association.

NAfME presents this live virtual event at no charge to all as a service to the music education profession. To register, you must enter your NAfME member information or create a nonmember account. After registering, check your email for instructions. A recording of this program will be available to all registrants for one week following the live event. Members can also view archived NAfME webinars in the NAfME Academy.

The views expressed are those of the presenter; they do not necessarily reflect the views of NAfME.