Susan H. Gingrasso, MA, CMA, LOD Master Teacher Trainer and 2025 NDEO Lifetime Achievement Awardee. Susan developed the dance major at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. She led the program to national prominence as program head. As ICKLs Treasurer, 2012-2016, she helped reorganize the membership process.  She has presented workshops about Language of Dance at ICKL conferences. 

Susan has served the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) in many capacities. The Associate Editor for Dance Education in Practice Journal’s, she authored the Practical Resources for Dance Educators column. She supported emerging and established NDEO authors through the “What to Publish” workshops at NDEO conferences. In 2025, Susan received NDEO’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Ann Hutchinson Guest, Susan’s mentor, received the same award from NDEO in 2003

As Executive Director of the Language of Dance® Center (LODC), Susan’s vision and direction have guided the LODC to achieving national prominence as the go-to place for dance literacy. My LOD colleagues and I developed Guest’s (1918-2022) Movement Alphabet and Motif Notation into a sophisticated Motif Notation-centered pedagogy. This joyful, student-centered approach to developing dance literacy underpins our programs and courses. This pedagogy engages, uplifts, energizes, and renews dance educators’ artistic and pedagogical practices. My LOD colleague, Teresa Heiland, an ICKL member, beautifully articulated the pedagogy in her 2023 book, Leaping into Dance Literacy through the Language of Dance® Approach, University of Chicago Press.

Susan is indebted to Ann Hutchinson Guest, our Language of Dance founder, for her incredible gift to dance and dance education. She is grateful to her LOD colleagues who, like Susan are passionate about empowering the dance education community to harness the power of the Language of Dance Approach. They aim to inspire educators and students alike to teach, learn, and embody movement in ways that amplify their dance experiences.