Sarasota Teacher of the Year: From dance student to dance program director

Courtney Smith knew when she was 12 that she wanted to dance professionally. Convincing her parents was a different matter.

Determined to show them the power of dance, she urged her parents to attend a performance with her. It was held at Booker High School, and her plan worked. The performance opened their eyes, and soon Smith was enrolled in the dance program that she now directs.

Smith, a top-three finalist for the Sarasota County Teacher of the Year, loved studying dance in the Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) program at Booker. She found herself in a diverse, nurturing, creative environment, where what she was most passionate about was truly valued.

“I always knew this was a special and magical place,” Smith said.

After graduating from Booker High School in 2001, Smith studied dance at the University of Florida, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In New York City, Los Angeles, and cities across Florida, she danced professionally, choreographed shows, directed performances, and began teaching dance.

Smith would always return to Sarasota, her home base. During these stays, she picked up teaching gigs at Booker High School, helping students in the same program that had meant so much to her.

During one visit home, Smith learned there was an adjunct position available at Booker High teaching dance. With her wealth of real-world experience, her belief in the power of creativity, and her own history in the program, she decided to apply.

Today, Smith serves as the director of the very program that fueled her love for dance. For 16 years, she has dedicated herself to the program, to the school, and to her students.

Smith is convinced that the arts are essential and must be nurtured in all students. While some of her students plan to dance professionally, most won’t. Smith knows that dance and other arts prepare these students for life after high school.

She cited findings that CEOs of top companies consistently list creativity as an essential, if not the most essential leadership quality they look for in their employees.  Her dance classes require students to creatively problem solve, imagine, create and test new ideas — all vital skills that will help her students succeed in their lives beyond high school.

Smith referenced dancer, choreographer, and author Twyla Tharp, who has written about the importance of cultivating creative habits. Smith disagrees when students claim they’re not intrinsically creative or artistic. She believes that they need to work to develop their creativity, and she has created a space for students to cultivate those habits.

Smith has a rule in her class – students are forbidden to say one word: can’t. She sees in students today a mindset that if they are unable to do something instantly and successfully, it’s impossible. Through her instruction, she motivates students to take risks, persist and ultimately be proud of their work.

Teaching, like dance, doesn’t come easy and requires practice, hard work, and innovation. Smith approaches teaching as she does her own dancing — always workING to get better. As Smith said, “The kids are changing, and we have to change with them.”

This fall, she enrolled in a graduate program through the University of Florida — Teacher Leadership for School Improvement. While the new program means she sleeps a little less, she loves it. She is learning new ideas and techniques that she can immediately apply in her own instruction and share with her peers.

Programs such as this one, as well as mentors, have helped Smith grow as a teacher and have provided valuable support and inspiration. As a teacher, she seeks to do the same for her students. Indeed, being a parent now with her own children in the school system has, Smith said, “deepened my understanding of the need to be a support for my students.”

Smith has worked hard to cultivate a place where her students feel supported and valued. There are no desks in her classroom, just a dance floor, mirrors, and banisters. It’s an open space where her students collaborate, create and discover through movement.

“It’s so inspiring to see the students grow – not just as dancers, but we have really in-depth conversations – and providing them a place where they can feel vulnerable is so important,” she said.

At Booker High School, Smith experiences today what so appealed to her when she was a high school student.

“Year after year,” Smith said, “I just see the same kind of magic that I experienced—the diversity, the ability to have different perspectives in the same place, to be honored and valued for the artistic work that you’re doing, and to have a home.”

About the Education Foundation of Sarasota County

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County sponsors the Ignite Education Teacher of the Year annual recognition in conjunction with Sarasota County Schools. The Education Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization whose mission is to enhance the potential of all students, promote excellence in teaching, and inspire innovation in education, guided by strategic philanthropy and the belief that education changes lives. Find more at EdFoundationSRQ.org.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Teacher of the Year: From student to program director