Riverside-Brookfield High School teacher Mindy Haines has been named Dance Educator of the Year by the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education. Haines has taught dance at RB for 15 years.
“It’s exciting, it’s very exciting,” said Haines, who received word of the award on Monday. “I was very surprised. It’s just a nice feeling. It’s always good to feel that you’re appreciated. It’s nice to be recognized. I’ve never really thought that these awards ever really said a lot … but when you receive it, it’s a really great feeling.”
Haines was nominated for the award by Diane Rawlinson, a dance teacher at Wheeling High School.
Haines teaches a range of dance classes at RB including dance technique, choreography, an instructional dance internship and repertory dance ensemble (an honors class). Haines also teaches the dance portion of RB’s fine arts survey course and directs RB’s Orchesis dance group, focusing on contemporary dance with a modern jazz background.
Haines’s students have performed in “Dance Chicago,” Wheeling High School’s “Dance for Life’s Next Generation” and at many public events at Riverside-Brookfield High School.
– Bob Skolnik