The National Dance Association began in 1932 as a branch of the American Physical Education Association. The organization works to help dance educators create better dance programs in schools and private dance academies. The NDA now supports more than 2,000 members in all 50 states. NDA members attend conferences each year to get new dance education training. Instructors learn new dance techniques along with the latest medical developments related to the dance world.
The National Dance Alliance formed in 1976 and acts in partnership with the National Cheerleaders Association. The NDA specializes in providing dance camps to cheerleading teams and dance squads from across the United States. The NDA holds camps from its headquarters in Garland, Texas. Dance teams often spend three or four days at the camps and receive extensive training from the alliance's instructors. The organization is most famous for hosting the national championship for high school cheer squads in Orlando, Florida.
Dance/USA began in 1982 and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. The association works on behalf of more than 400 private dance companies around the country. Dance/USA has created a network in which dance professionals can connect with one another. It also acts as the lobbying firm for the professional dance world in Congress. Several conferences are held throughout the year where representatives from hundreds of dance companies converge to discuss the dance industry and attend training workshops.
The National Dance Education Organization began in 1998 as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The NDEO seeks to make dance education a larger part of public and private education. The organization works with more than 150 educational organizations around the country. The NDEO lobbies for school districts to make dance part of the curriculum in areas without extensive dance education. In other regions, the NDEO works to educate school administrators and teachers on dance instructional methods. The NDEO also sponsors the Journal of Dance Education which takes submissions from dance professionals on their newest discoveries in dance instruction.