Utah's Bonnie Pierce, dance teacher at Bountiful's Viewmont High School, is National Dance Educator of the Year, an award bestowed yearly by the National Dance Association and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - otherwise known by the intimidating acronym NDA/AAHPERD.
Having succeeded as Southwestern Region Educator of the Year at a convention in Reno, Pierce went to Washington, D.C., for the national convention, along with five other regional winners, for her award-winning interview.Now in her 13th year of teaching at Viewmont, Pierce has developed an outstanding dance program and is also adviser to the Vykelle drill team, a frequent contest winner.
Each year, as she will on April 28-30, Pierce has directed the Viewmont dance department and dance club in a three-performance spring concert. Programs will be nightly at 7:30 in the school auditorium, 120 W. 1000 North in Bountiful. Admission is $4, $3 students ($3.50 at the door) and $15 family.
As the years have gone by, Pierce's focus in teaching and performing has evolved.
"I used to teach technique," said this slim, vibrant young woman with a mane of long hair, who could almost pass for one of her students. "But I have changed during the past four years. It's important that dance should change these students for the better, not just entertain them."
Accordingly, in each of the past three years the concert has had a thought-provoking theme. And by bringing dance to bear on a current event, a contemporary issue or an enriching area of study, the 150 students performing (give or take a few) acquire supplemental knowledge and grow in understanding.
Participants are from Pierce's six classes, including beginners (sophomores), intermediate (juniors) and advanced (seniors), as well as the dance club, which now has four or five boys. Children from the mentally and physically challenged classes also participate.
This year's theme is "Art in Motion," a celebration of the arts through dance. Dances have resulted from the study of many art forms - photography, literature, humor, folk music, chamber music, musical theater - and Pierce sees this integrative concept as a powerful and creative component of the learning process.
Artists studied included painter Henri Matisse, focusing on his painting, "La Danse"; Peter Townshend and his rock opera "Tommy"; and Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of "The Secret Garden."
Additional insights have been given by choreographers Angela Banchero, Rosie Bancher and Roz Newmark, folk musicians Maggie Beers and Julie Marks, and writer Terry Tempest Williams.
Opening night profits are assigned to a recipient, usually an agency in need of funds that parallels the focus. This year's beneficiary is the Central City Youth at Risk dance education program.
Themes of former years and their contributions included: 1990-91, "Fall of the Berlin Wall"; 1991-92, "Envirodance," with intense study of devastation of the rain forests, $350 to the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C.; and 1992-93, "And Justice for All," study of human rights, $500 to the Davis County Women's Shelter to upgrade the nursery.
"I realize that my personal philosophy has changed," said Pierce. "I see the power of collaboration, of working with other specialists for integrative learning. The kids who danced in that program learned all about the rain forests. This year our kids can tell you the story of `Tommy' and its significance in the '60s.
"Human rights was a heavy topic, but after that program they knew much more about what's going on in Argentina, for example, or about the Amerasian children of the Vietnam War. They had to study and bring in resource information.
"It is so important to stimulate creativity, and in dance the student is always right, never wrong, because there is no wrong way. Dance is therapeutic, an outlet for expression, and movement therapy produces a more whole concept, it enforces events with feeling.
"These kids work their hearts out, and they learn an incredible lot. Each one has to turn in a paper - neatly written, with good spelling, as would be expected in an English assignment, an example of how the different mediums of learning support each other."
She feels lucky at Viewmont, where "the administration doesn't refuse us anything," she said.
Pierce did not major in dance at the University of Utah, where she took a B.S. in physical education with dance emphasis. She also holds a master of education from Utah State University. "I was a gymnast, and when I did my first teaching at Ben Lomond High, I expected to teach gymnastics. But the job was entirely dance," she said. "I fell into dance, and I love it."