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For New York Area Schools

Movement workshops for K–6 students

Workshops explore elements of dance and the unique ways in which the body expresses itself. Curricular themes, chosen collaboratively by teaching artists and classroom teachers, are integrated into the movement workshops. These themes have included such topics as Native Americans, the solar system, seasons, animals, simple machines, and the human body.

The teaching artists conduct a series of six workshops with each class, developing movement and curricular themes progressively. Each workshop series is specific to the grade level and focuses upon themes selected by that classroom teacher and the teaching artist. Approaching the curriculum in this way is particularly valuable for students who learn differently and for those who come from non English speaking families.

All four of the arts standards are included as part of the program: creating and performing; knowing and using arts materials; responding to and analyzing works; understanding the cultural contributions of the arts.

 

Expression of Emotion Through the Art of Dance

This residency can be done as a single session or may be expanded into three or four workshops. The free standing workshop introduces students to the power of movement to express emotion and to the unique contributions of Martha Graham. Two dances from the Graham repertory are performed by dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company; Graham's classic expression of grief Lamentation and a second dance, such as Satryic Festival Song, that explores a different kind of emotion. Students are encouraged to respond to what they see, to analyze different dance elements and to relate the experience to their own lives. In the interactive portion of the workshop students are provided with elastic tubes similar to the tube used in Lamentation and encouraged to explore the power of their own bodies to express emotion.

In the longer residency this first session is followed by three more sessions that culminate in the production of short movement studies performed by the students for their peers. In the second session students are guided to find individual expressive gestures through improvisation, to expand these gestures to create phrases, and to work in groups with these expressive phrases to create short improvisational studies based upon themes. The third session explores elements of composition such as theme and variation, and students create choreographic studies and teach them to each other. The final session is devoted to rehearsing these studies and to presenting them to the other members of the class.

This residency requires a leader and two to three other artists. In the first session at least one of the teaching artists is a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company who will perform the dances. All teaching artists participate in the interactive sessions so that students have the opportunity to work in small groups as they develop their studies. The workshop is designed for 25 students.

 

Martha Graham Ensemble Lecture-Demonstrations

The Martha Graham Ensemble performs lecture demonstrations for public and private school students throughout the New York City area. Students learn about the art of modern dance and more specifically the work of Martha Graham. In addition to providing an historical perspective, the presentation introduces students to basic elements of Graham technique and explores the role of emotional expression in her work. Concepts central to Graham technique such as contraction and release and spiral are described as members of the Ensemble perform these techniques. Excerpts from the Graham repertory are then performed

 

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