EXPRESSIVE ARTS RESIDENCY
IN CONWAY SCHOOL
TO INSPIRE “SMALL FEATS OF MAGIC”
September, 2002 (Conway, MA) For two weeks this fall, fifth and sixth
graders at Conway Grammar School will be immersed in an expressive arts
adventure, exploring their own words and movement and spinning them
into tangible works of art. In addition, parents and teachers will have
the opportunity to craft and share their own movement stories.
Conceived by Valley poet, dancer and teacher Johanna Walker, and partially
funded by the Conway Cultural Council, Dancing Words: An Artist Residency
in Poetry and Dance will find Conway youth writing poems, improvising
movement, and exploring choreographic tools during two full weeks of
dedicated classroom time. “The work gives kids tools to tell their
stories in new ways,” Walker explains “and to find out things
they didn’t know they knew by using a new language. What we can’t
say with words, we might find a way to say with movement, and what we
can’t say in a dance, we might be able to say in a poem.”
The session will culminate in an informal showing of student work and
a publication of their poems.
Walker will also offer a separate workshop for teachers and staff designed
“to let everyone know what small feats of magic will be taking
place in their building.” Participants will be invited to be artists
for a little while, and test the waters for their own poem and dance-making.
“I believe we all have a little bit of artist in us, but a lot
of us don’t get much of a chance to play our ‘artist card.’
This workshop will give teachers and staff an opportunity to play that
card and tell their story in potentially a new way.”
A third componant of the project will be an interactive performance/workshop
for parents and their children. As part of this evening, presented during
the first week of the residency, the audience will help create improvisational
“scores,” and parents and children will share words-and-movement
exercises sure to delight. “This gives parents the rare opportunity
to collaborate creatively with their children, and to find out first
hand what their kids are doing in school.” A performance by Walker
will round out the evening.
Walker is no stranger to inspiring young people to write and dance,
and prides herself on making a welcome and nurturing space for each
individual’s genius to shine through. For the past five years,
she’s been helping to open the channel for art and creativity
with young people and community members in the Pioneer Valley. She directs
Grrrls Speak, a three-year-old project which offers adolescent girls
a space to write, dance and perform their work. She’s a member
of the local inter-generational dance company, The Dance Generators,
and has led residencies in other area schools. She also co-facilitates
a group of adult women writers at Howard Street Correctional Facility
in Springfield, and is the curator for “Fertile Ground”
and “Crank it Out,” two performance series designed to involve
the community in the artistic process.
The Dancing Words residency will take place at the Conway Grammar School
during the weeks of October 7 and November 4. The teacher workshop is
slated for Tuesday September 24 at 3:15. The interactive performance/workshop
for parents and students is on Wednesday October 9 at
6:30 pm and is open to anyone in the school community.
WHO: Johanna Walker & Conway Grammar School 5th and 6th graders
WHAT: Dancing Words: An Artist Residency in Poetry and Dance
WHERE: Conway Grammar School, 24 Fournier Rd, Conway, MA
WHEN:
Classroom Sessions: weeks of October 7 and November 4, 9:30-11:45
Teacher & Staff Workshop: Tuesday September 24, 3:15 pm
Interactive performance for school community: Wednesday October 9, 6:30
pm
| 