Dagmar Spain, born in the Czech Republic, is a dance educator and dance artist collaborating with filmmakers, visual artists and writers at different institutions around the world; University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic, where she designed the course The Power of Words, teaching the art of monologue writing, DanceWorks Berlin, Germany, a BFA dance program, where she teaches modern/ contemporary dance and designed the course “Applied Learning” for pre-professional dancers; and previously at the National Czech/Slovak Museum & Library (NCSLM) in Iowa, where she developed a program with the focus on embodied democracy. She specializes in interactive dance movements in conjunction with film, theater and literature. Dagmar conducts experiential workshops for all populations to unleash the healing power of embodied expressions with a dialogic approach, including at different Transformative Learning conferences, Michigan State University (2022), Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece (2023) and in an upcoming conference at the University of Siena, Italy. In the U.S., she taught as a dance artist and visiting professor at Brown University, PennState University, Montclair University, and from 1999-2007 at the 92nd St. Y, Harkness Dance Center. She received her BFA in dance at the College for Dance and Performing Arts, Frankfurt, Germany, and her MFA in dance and choreography at Tisch School of the Arts, N.Y.U. Ms. Spain completed her EdD in dance education with a holistic focus on dialogic research & pedagogy at Teachers College/Columbia University in May 2024. Dagmar lives in Berlin, Germany.

Dialogic Spaces in dance education provide an open atmosphere in the dance classroom and a multiplicity of voices to be heard. They can guide us into meaningful dialogues with the infinite otherness (Wegerif, 2011, p. 189). How can this “otherness” be accessed by dance students in higher education? What kind of leadership stance supports this type of pedagogy? Co-creational and co-learning spaces are examined and their specific qualities and my teaching and research are inspired by dance educator Eeva Antilla and her dialogic pedagogy, Jaqueline Smith-Autard, Adesola Akinleye, and past educators bell hooks, Elliot Eisner, John Dewey and Paul Freire. I want to forge my path into dialogic spaces in dance education and how they enhance dance learning settings with non-intimidating, healthy, and inclusive classroom cultures.