Julia Barry, receives the IADMS Dance Educator Award

03 November 2026 16:58

Two women on a stage receive the Dance Educator Award as a large screen behind reads DANCE EDUCATOR AWARD with Julia Barrys name

RAD examiner Julia Barry was been presented with the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) Dance Educator Award for 2026.

Julia shared the news recently of her well-deserved award, along with an overview of the conference.

“I am thrilled and deeply honoured to have been presented this Award by IADMS president, Claire Hiller, at the 36th IADMS Conference in Melbourne which took place from September 24-27. I am not sure whether any other RAD examiners or teachers have received this award in the past, but it was a great privilege to be among so many outstanding winners, including Donna Krasnow, who was awarded the Lifetime Service Award, and was extremely kind and supportive of my research in dancer wellness and my work in teaching and teacher education.

You can read a post from IADMS about the award on Facebook.

I also presented a workshop at the conference on reviewing and revitalising dance teaching language to support student learning and wellbeing. I was privileged to be joined by esteemed colleagues and co-presenters Lindsay Ellman-Brown, RAD Examiner; Samantha Dashwood, Head of Learning at Sydney Dance Company; and Dr Joanna Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Dance at West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and co-founder of the new website Wellbeing for Dancers, which is a collaboration between WAAPA and the RAD.

The workshop was very well received, with participants from many different dance backgrounds commenting on how valuable they found it to consider a range of language concepts and discuss with others various teaching strategies and the effects of language on student engagement, wellbeing and learning. This workshop was a further development of the series of online workshops I have offered through the RAD over the past two years as an independent CPD provider.

Maggie Morris and Erin Sanchez from Safe in Dance International also invited me to be on the panel for their session following directly on from the conference on building and promoting positive experiences in dance. This was an in-depth discussion with a group of dance educators, considering key issues facing dance students and teachers in today’s world and sharing ideas and experiences in managing these challenges and finding positive ways forward.

Overall, it was an outstanding conference, with so much hugely valuable information from presenters from around the world on dancer health, wellbeing and education. I am feeling thoroughly uplifted by all the learning and by the very interesting conversations I had with other delegates and presenters. Fellow examiner Jane Inglis-Keen and PDPTC graduate, Sarah Dehn, and several RAD Registered Teachers also attended the conference, so the RAD was well represented!”