Sharla Dance was finishing her degree in Music Education at Brigham Young University when she took a children’s music class from Susan Kenney. The principles and methods used in that class changed the way she wanted to teach music. When her daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age seven, Sharla delved into research about how the brain learns, Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, and the body's role in learning as taught by neurologist Carla Hannaford. Since then, some of her research and experience has centered around music in a group setting for special needs children. She also started applying her research to Primary music and has continued to learn and teach workshops, helping church music leaders learn principles and brain research that can make them more effective in teaching children. Sharla has taught piano and voice lessons, group preschool, and school age music classes in her studio, Dance Sing and Play, for twenty five years. She has served as ward or stake Primary music leader in over ten different wards and stakes, and as a youth choir specialist in her stake for twenty years. She has served several times as ward choir director and stake music chair, and is currently first counselor in her ward Relief Society. Sharla is the mother of five children and she and her husband live in Washington state where she is also a full-time caregiver for their daughter who had that brain tumor so many years ago. Highlights