Dance: Positively Changing Lives of Urban Youth

Ask anyone who dances and they will likely tell you dance has been a positive force in their lives. Board certified dance/movement therapist Dr. Charné Furcron uses her doctoral skills in measurement and assessment to quantitatively evaluate the impact of dance on lives of youth in Atlanta. One courageous young woman has given Dr. Furcron permission to share her personal story to demonstrate the effectiveness of dance and dance/movement therapy in her life and to encourage other youth to take heart, embody change, and resist the status quo.

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For over thirty years, Dr. Charné Furcron, LPC, BC-DMT, BCC, ACS, has worked in the Metro-Atlanta Arts and education community, in youth development organizations and in the mental health system as a counselor, educator, and dance therapist. A board certified dance/movement therapist and a licensed professional counselor, Dr. Furcron provides counseling and dance therapy for at-risk youth and their families, as well as psychiatric and chemically dependent adults and adolescents, the elderly, mentally challenged and emotionally disturbed children. She has extensive experience in developing and implementing educational programs that address communication skills, substance abuse, violence prevention, learning styles, coping with change, team building, and conflict resolution.

In addition to her role as as Director of Outreach Programs at Moving in the Spirit, she is a Founding Teaching Artists Educator for The Teacher Training Institute (TTI) in Atlanta, Georgia. Teachers Training Institute (TTI) is a training program that certifies academic instructors that commit to dance and kinetic learning techniques as tools to access and develop learners that may be challenged by traditional cognitive teaching models. Her involvement in Moving in the Spirit and Atlanta Arts and Education community allows her to integrate her lifelong interest in dance, dance therapy, and evaluation. Her mission is to provide evidence that proves that the arts reinforce education and enhance positive youth development and academic achievement.

Dr. Furcron holds a BFA in Modern Dance from Texas Christian University, two Masters degrees (from Goucher College and Georgia School of Professional Psychology) and a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Argosy University/Sarasota. She is an active member of the American Dance Therapy Association, serving on the ADTA Nominating Committee and also as the Director of Education, Practice, & Credentialing for the Black Americans and African Descendants (BAAD) Affinity Group of the ADTA.