Joan Kavadlo Cohen, growing up in Queens, NYC, knew from early on that she wanted to dance, after
seeing Mary Martin as “Peter Pan” wondrously and magically fly across the stage. To that end,
Joan’s mother sent her to study ballet and later, modern dance at the Long Island Institute of Music.
After many years there, Joan continued her dance studies at Queens College, followed by classes with
Deborah Damast and Beth Goheen at Peridance Studios in Manhattan. Having grown up with a sister
with a disability, Joan became a teacher of Special Education for the NYC Department of Education,
where dance found its way into the curriculum. Creating performances of Inclusion for children with
disabilities, wheelchairs suddenly turned into train cars, carousel horses, and winter sleighs for shows
with titles such as “Broadway and Ballad” and “A Christmas Holiday Presentation.” So, long before
Joan officially became a Dance Educator with training at the DEL program of the 92nd Street Y, under
the direction of Jody Arnhold, she had already embraced the idea of “Dance for Every Child.” Joan
was also fortunate to have trained at the New York City Ballet Education Department, where for more
than a decade, students in alternative high schools took classes in the New York City Ballet Workout and
participated in city-wide Dance festivals at Lincoln Center. These festivals featured original student
choreography inspired by the NYC Ballet repertoire. Joan also offered students curriculum in many facets
of the dance world: Dance for personal and artistic expression, dance for health and well-being, dance and
choreography as a performing art, and dance as part of each person’s culture. With her passion, Joan
continues to bring dance into the lives of many people: from being an assistant to Julie Collins in the
Dance Therapy- based “Wellness in Motion” class at the 92nd Street Y to teaching at a local community
center for Seniors and offering specialized dance programs such as JoAnne Lara’s “Autism Movement
Therapy” and Ellen Kogan’s “KoganSteps”. Joan is very delighted to join other Teaching Artists at
“Notes in Motion” and feels that “a little girl from Queens, who just wanted to dance” still needs to fly!
