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Rachel Swenson is passionate about promoting dance in public and private schools. Mrs. Swenson has a BFA in Modern Dance and a MEd in Education, both from the University of Utah. She is a licensed Idaho k-8 teacher. She has presented for and taught at many schools in grades pre-kindergarten through twelfth in Utah and Idaho. Mrs. Swenson has presented for Idaho’s Arts Powered Schools, West Ada School District, EduFest, the Utah State Office of Education, Dance and Child International, Utah Arts Council’s Arts Networking Conferences, Idaho Dance Education Organization, and the National Dance Education Organization. Mrs. Swenson has been a committee member on multiple committees for the State Board of Education and West Ada School District for arts education standards revisions and arts education textbook adoptions. Mrs. Swenson has performed professionally in various venues in Utah. She was a guest performer for Ririe Woodbury Dance Company. She performed for choreographer, Meghan Durham Wall for the Paradigm Dance Project, and for Jim Moreno's Proving Ground Dance Company. Mrs. Swenson was as an Art Works for Kids teaching artist for seven years and taught creative dance through the University of Utah’s Virginia Tanner Dance Arts in Education program and studio program. She taught dance and visual art at Christine Donnell School of the Arts in Boise, Idaho for five years. She received the National Dance Education Organization Executive Director's Award for Outstanding Advocacy in 2017. Mrs. Swenson is a current teaching artist for Idaho Commission on the Arts and the Utah Arts Council. She was a committee task force member for the National Dance Education Organization "Priorities Pamphlet." Mrs. Swenson was nominated for the 2018 Governor's Awards in Art for "Support in Arts Education." She is a current dance specialist at Idaho Fine Arts Academy, past President and current Development Director for Idaho Dance Education Organization. She is co-director/co-founder of Idaho Screendance Festival. Mrs. Swenson teaches both the art of dance and how to use dance as an integration tool. Swenson was a costumer for television, features, commercials, and industrial films in Utah and California from 1995-2007, and has recently gotten back into the film business making dance film shorts. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Teachers College Columbia University in New York City.