2nd/3rd Grade Teacher

Kimberly Gladysz has been working creatively with children and families for the past twelve years as a teacher, dancer and dance movement therapist. Her joy for dance and psychology met as she earned her M.A. in Somatic Psychology at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. In this time, she worked with preschool children with developmental disabilities and as a lead teacher of a preschool class. While in Colorado, she fell in love with West African dance, and traveled to Guinea to study traditional dance and kora music. Originally from NY, she returned to the city to dance with members of the Guinean African Ballet as she taught literacy classes in the public schools of Manhattan. She spent her time in NY as well working with a foster care agency in the Bronx as a family therapist.

In her passion for creating experiential ways of learning, Kimberly developed DanceAfricaLive, a multi-arts-in education program which teaches third graders about West African history and culture. She toured with DanceAfricaLive throughout the state of Virginia to over 40 public schools. While in Virginia, she also served as a full-time gifted education specialist in an elementary school. Then…Kimberly followed her ever present love for nature, and moved to Hawaii where she lived on a banana farm and led a second grade class at a parent co-op.

Her deep respect for indigenous ways of life have brought Kimberly to travel and to study with healers and dancers in the Native North American, Tibetan Buddhist, Polynesian, Peruvian, Brazilian, West African and Mayan traditions. She enjoys bringing this respect and love of many perspectives into her teaching. She also loves learning together in a community while encouraging each other to contribute one’s unique gifts in creative and spontaneous ways.