Youth Outreach: Artist-in-Residence Program

Youth Outreach | Artist-in-Residence Program

Action Dance: with Adriana Durant
Get on your feet with dynamic, athletic movement! Classes will start with a daily warm up, and then we'll create our own moves together with cumulative exploration and action from week to week. Through imagery and task, students discover fundamental dance principles, as well as learn and create dances that require attention, intention, locomotion and effort.

Afro-Caribbean Dance: with Maila Sylla
This program gives students a fun, exciting opportunity to explore the unique culture of the Caribbean. Through learning the fundamentals of West African and Caribbean dance, history and song, students develop their creativity, motivation and teamwork skills.

Capoeira: with Marisa Cordeiro
Born out of African slavery in Brazil, Capoiera today is a means of self-defense, a game, and a beautiful physical art form. Capoiera encompasses music, martial arts, songs, dance and history. Students learn to play different musical instruments, sing traditional songs in Portuguese, and perform the basic capoiera attack and defensive movements. Through guided group discussions and stories, students learn more about the history and culture of Brazil.

Dance Concepts and Composition: with Lin Shook
Everyone can use movement to communicate an idea! By learning choreographic tools like space, rhythm, level, size, repetition, canon and aba form, students will create an original dance study inspired by a poem chosen by their class. Students will learn specific dance steps and create their own movement through improvisation.

Dancin'-N-Time, Story Time!: with Vaune Blalock
Set forth on an exploration of different cultures and societies through dance and music! This program includes the history of traditional dances from Africa, South America, Caribbean Islands, and North America. Stories include intellectual journeys all over the world, identifying geographical location and climate while engaging the voice, mind and body. This program links literacy, social and physical science.

Groove, Stick & Move: with Kevin Brown
Rhythm is all around us, and we don't need drums to create it. This class explores the human body's ability to function as a percussion instrument and be combined with real instruments, found objects and movement to create a unique rhythmic performance. Students benefit from ensemble-building techniques in assembling musical and choreographic material, as well as build individual confidence through solos and composition.

Harmonica Orchestra: with Jason McInnes
It's small enough to fit in your pocket, but the harmonica is an incredibly versatile instrument! In this residency, students delve into three musical worlds: reading musical notation, playing by ear and creating compositions. Along the way students learn about the joys of making their own music and the history of great composers and musicians as diverse as Ludwig van Beethoven and blues harmonica player Sonny Terry.

Intro to Circuit Bending and Recycled Simple Electronics: with Patrick McCarthy
Folk musicians have always made their own musical instruments- now we're going electronic! In this residency, students create their own instruments by recycling simple battery-powered consumer electronics (toys, tape recorders, etc.) into unique sound-making and amplification devices. Students gain a preliminary knowledge of how basic electronics work and how to safely manipulate electronics for various artistic purposes.

Intro to Musical Theater Dance: with Nancy Teinowitz
Broadway, here we come! Students will learn a variety of musical theater dance styles that have been developed throughout the history of the musical by legendary choreographers. Using music written by the greatest stage and screen composers, this class will invite critical observation, scrutiny and analysis of how dance functions in the modern musical.

Intro to Jazz Dance: with Nancy Teinowitz
Jazz Dance is often called the soul of American movement. Jazz dance technique is based on use of rhythm, the isolation of body parts, and movement that is weighted into the ground. By learning a variety of basic steps and concepts, students will gain an understanding of how jazz dance develops as a reflection of the times within which it is created.

Jug Band: with Jonas Friddle
Yee-haw! This program uses the genre of jug band music as a starting point for an exploration of basic elements of music and instrument building. Through listening and exploring rhythm and melody, students connect to the history and culture of this exciting grass-roots music form.

La Danza del Sol: with Lorena Iniguez
This class will introduce students to one of the most ancient dances of all of Mexico's folklore, La Danza del Sol (the Dance of the Sun). This residency combines history, geography and social studies with movement concepts and physical activity. The cumulative 'theme and variation' form of this dance allows students to learn traditional movement phrases and create their own steps to form a unique dance for each class.

Latin Percussion: with Carlos Cornier
Experience the Caribbean with the Latin Percussion ensemble! Students learn the history of Cuban culture and the Caribbean and their connections to Europe, West Africa, and the indigenous people of the New World. Through various drums and hand percussion instruments, including the conga, bongos, cajon, bata, clave, shekere, agogo and cowbell, students learn percussion technique and create their own group rhythms.

Movin' West: with Patti Ecker
Westward ho! This residency provides a multi-arts pioneer experience in the classroom, using music, dance, games, literature, writing and art projects to teach about life in the 1850s. From week to week students "move" from east to west, studying the resources, tools, and communities pioneers would encounter along the way.

Music and Literature: with Michael Miles
Bring literature to life! In this residency, students will create an individual piece of music based on a book they have read. The students retell the story, and participate in the creation of a new song that they can sing as part of a culminating event. Previous books that Miles has used include works by Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss, Holes, Why Do Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears?, Maniac McGee and many others.

Performance Poetry: with David Hernandez
The Performance Poetry Project helps students express themselves through poetry, prose and performance. Incorporating language arts and social studies, the Project will engage students through writing different poetry forms, performing individual and group poems, creating physical art poetry, and producing publications and events.

Tap & Percussive Dance: with Reggio "The Hoofer" McLaughlin
Tap dance is an American dance based on movement traditions from Ireland and West Africa. It is a highly skilled art form that combines a special mix of syncopated rhythmic sounds and movement. Using the elements of space, focus, movement, tempo and sound, students gain the skills to create their own percussive dance routine.

Urban Dance: with Boogie McClarin
From the stage to the streets, urban dance belongs to everyone. Students will learn different styles of urban dance and hip-hop and their historical roots in lindy, swing, jazz and world dance forms. Through conditioning, basic technique, choreography, and improvisation, students gain skills for creative self-expression in this popular dance form.

West African Drumming: with Taylor
In West African Drumming, students will study the music of the West African djembe drum and the cultures from which it emanates, including history, language, geography and communities. Students will create a performance piece, incorporating traditional rhythms, arrangements, solos, costumes, choreography and song.

Yoga Moves: with Jessie Young
Yoga Moves is a class integrating basic yoga poses with movement technique and spatial patterns. Using the disciplines of yoga and dance, students will develop flexibility, strength, balance, physical coordination and spatial awareness. Students will express themselves and build confidence in a fun and safe environment based on teamwork and individual growth.