Whether the residency is focusing on a dance or theater project or in classroom arts integration strategies, the students and teachers will be afforded a rich and creative experience. Her expertise in incorporating Multiple Intelligences and expressive arts strategies into pre-existing curriculum will afford the teachers and students the opportunity to enrich their learning experience and create efficient models of teaching. Her methodology is especially effective with schools highly populated with English Language Learners. Founded in the belief that the expressive arts foster positive growth and healing both communally and individually, the residency will focus on the express needs of the school community and the individuals it will be serving. Students and teachers will explore in class curriculum goals through various forms of theater/ dance/movement techniques, improvisation, art and music. The goal of the residency is to educate the students about a broad range of theater/dance techniques in order to have a basic foundation in acting/dance methods which then can be used to work in small groups on testing strategies, cross curriculum enrichment and Common Core Standards. These techniques will also enable students to identify and express emotions appropriately, increase the ability to self-sooth and calm, increase positive teamwork and increase self-confidence. For example, through improvisation, students may express their feeling through character in order to discover problem-solving methods, learn positive coping skills, and develop a stronger sense of self. Goals will be defined for each  session and focused on throughout the residency. Progress will be documented at the end of each session. Available to conduct teacher workshops.

Rebecca received a Masters in Arts in Dance/Movement Therapy from UCLA in 1999, and currently holds an advance license in the American Dance Therapy Association is a registered Yoga Therapist, a past A+/ Great Expectations Fellow  and has worked extensively across the US and Arkansas in education reform as an artist in residence. A member of the Arkansas Arts Council since 2005 and owner of her own consulting firm, Art Smarts Can, Rebecca specializes in professional development and in classroom implementation of expressive arts integration strategies that align with Arkansas Frameworks and Common Core Standards. While residing in Los Angeles Rebecca has worked primarily with severely emotionally disturbed populations as a dance/movement therapist. She also has continued to work with at-risk youth creating dynamic and therapeutic dance and theater projects. After receiving her B.A. in performance from Purdue University, Rebecca spent several years working with outreach theater organizations, discovering that the process is much more important than the product when working with at-risk and emotionally disturbed populations. She has worked with outreach theater and dance companies in the Midwest and the West coast, taught drama and dance at an alternative school in the Ozark Mountains, and worked with the school system in Sun Valley, Idaho.  In the past, Rebecca has founded two theater companies, performed and worked as a dancer and actress, and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild while residing in Los Angeles. Rebecca also teaches workshops in yoga, movement, and expressive arts interventions, is an adjunct psychology professor and conducts a private counseling practice in NWArk.