High School Dance Teacher

Position Type: Full-Time
Location: Waltham High School

Position Overview

Waltham Public Schools is seeking a dynamic, creative, and student-centered High School Dance Teacher to join the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Waltham High School. The successful candidate will provide standards-based dance instruction that centers creative movement, student voice, storytelling, collaboration, cultural expression, and personal artistic growth.

This position is designed for an educator who understands dance as a powerful form of communication, identity, and creative expression. The ideal candidate will support students in using movement to tell stories about themselves, their communities, their experiences, and the world around them. This is a creative arts education program, not a studio-based dance program focused only on technique or performance. While students should develop foundational movement skills, body awareness, choreographic tools, and performance confidence, the heart of the program is helping students create, interpret, reflect, and express meaning through dance.

The ideal candidate is an enthusiastic, collaborative, and equity-oriented educator who is excited to work with a diverse high school student population, including students with disabilities and English Learners. The teacher will help build a welcoming dance classroom where students of all experience levels can participate fully, take creative risks, develop confidence, and see their identities and stories reflected in the work.

Responsibilities

• Plan and deliver engaging, standards-based dance instruction for high school students.
• Teach creative movement, choreography, improvisation, body awareness, movement vocabulary, performance skills, and reflection.
• Support students in using dance and movement to express personal stories, cultural experiences, identity, community, and social themes.
• Create a positive, inclusive, and well-managed classroom environment where students feel safe taking creative risks.
• Design learning experiences that prioritize student voice, choice, collaboration, and original movement creation.
• Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students with a wide range of dance experience, learning needs, language backgrounds, and comfort levels with movement.
• Teach foundational dance concepts across a variety of styles, traditions, and movement practices while maintaining a focus on creative expression rather than studio-style replication.
• Guide students through the creative process, including brainstorming, movement exploration, revision, rehearsal, performance, feedback, and reflection.
• Assess student progress using performance-based, process-based, and reflective measures.
• Help students develop confidence, creativity, collaboration, communication, body awareness, and artistic decision-making skills.
• Build opportunities for students to connect dance with other art forms, academic content areas, personal narratives, and community experiences.
• Collaborate with colleagues in the Fine and Performing Arts Department and across Waltham High School.
• Support school performances, showcases, interdisciplinary projects, and community arts opportunities as appropriate.
• Maintain instructional materials, music resources, movement space, and classroom expectations that support a safe and respectful learning environment.
• Align instruction with the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Frameworks and department expectations.
• Communicate clearly and professionally with students, families, colleagues, and administrators.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Dance Education, Dance, Performing Arts, Theatre/Dance, Movement Studies, Arts Education, or a related field.
• Valid Massachusetts teaching license in Dance, All Levels, or appropriate related licensure.
• SEI Endorsement, or the ability to obtain the endorsement.
• Demonstrated knowledge of standards-based dance instruction and the creative process.
• Strong understanding of student-centered teaching, culturally responsive practice, and inclusive arts education.
• Ability to teach students with varied dance backgrounds, including students with little or no formal dance training.
• Strong classroom management, communication, collaboration, and organizational skills.
• Commitment to creating an equitable learning environment for students with disabilities, English Learners, and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience teaching dance or creative movement at the middle or high school level.
• Experience designing dance curriculum focused on student voice, identity, storytelling, and original choreography.
• Experience teaching improvisation, choreography, movement composition, and reflective artistic practice.
• Experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse students.
• Experience supporting inclusive performance opportunities or arts showcases.
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines and develop interdisciplinary arts learning experiences.
• Understanding of trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and social-emotional learning practices in the arts classroom.
• Interest in helping grow a creative, inclusive, and student-centered high school dance program.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to:

• Deliver effective, engaging, and inclusive dance instruction.
• Create a classroom culture where students feel respected, represented, and creatively empowered.
• Support students in developing original movement and personal artistic voice.
• Use movement as a tool for storytelling, reflection, communication, and community-building.
• Differentiate instruction for students with diverse learning profiles and movement experiences.
• Provide clear feedback that supports both technical growth and creative development.
• Use assessment practices that value process, creativity, reflection, collaboration, and performance.
• Communicate effectively with students, families, colleagues, and administrators.
• Maintain a safe physical learning environment for movement-based instruction.
• Collaborate productively with the Fine and Performing Arts Department and the broader school community.

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, resume, transcripts, proof of Massachusetts DESE license, SEI Endorsement, and three current letters of recommendation.

Salary

As per the WEA contract. Salary ranges can be found on the Waltham Public Schools website under Contracts and Evaluations.

Non- Discrimination Notice: Waltham Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, disability, national origin, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Waltham Public Schools has partnered with the Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education (MPDE) in our effort to welcome diverse candidates to our school system. We value and prioritize the hiring of educators who bring a wealth of perspectives and experiences to our schools, and who reflect the diversity of the students we serve.

MPDE is a collaborative of public school districts with a 40-year uninterrupted history committed to supporting the interest of its members to increase the numbers of teachers of color for their schools by providing recruitment support and related services.