We made this mini-video in Ally's backyard where her family has built a small platform for moving, camping, and gathering. It was good for the heart to be moving outside in late July in Vermont, embracing summer fully. I'm excited about the space as a performance location and have been sitting with many dreams of presenting more dance outside. Perhaps a fall dance exhibition? Happy summer dancing...
one young adult's love affair with small town Vermont, movement, and community through art
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Morning in the Woods
We made this mini-video in Ally's backyard where her family has built a small platform for moving, camping, and gathering. It was good for the heart to be moving outside in late July in Vermont, embracing summer fully. I'm excited about the space as a performance location and have been sitting with many dreams of presenting more dance outside. Perhaps a fall dance exhibition? Happy summer dancing...
Friday, June 24, 2011
Fitness is Fun - Girl Style
Thursday afternoons usually include me gasping for some much-needed end-of-the-week energy to push through to what will undoubtedly be a packed weekend. However, Thursday afternoons in May and June included a slew of elementary school girls bursting with more energy than you can imagine... unless you've hosted a slumber party for a sweet posse of fourth grade female child-monkeys.
These lovely ladies were participating in Fitness is Fun, known nationally as Girls on the Run, at their elementary school in my hometown Chester with the daring and darling Anne Lamb as their fearless leader. I would see the ladies walking, running, and sometimes eating popsicles on Tuesday afternoons as they circled town, gearing up for a race later in June, I met up with them in the elementary school gymnasium on Thursdays to dance, dance, dance. We worked hard in a cardio-heavy dance class and spent a good chunk of time building a dance, included in this post. The girls choreographed practically the whole dance in six classes, working together to create fun, partner-inspired movement that I believe highlights their love of each other, moving, and joy. I was able to party with my local girls and feel blessed that such awesome future babysitters are right around the corner...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Making Friction Move
Sometimes you get a chance to move at school. I remember counting minutes until recess when we could finally use our pent up energy to whack big dodge balls at each other in overly competitive games of four square. The kids at Under Mountain Elementary School in Sheffield, MA and New Marlborough Elementary School in New Marlborough, MA didn't have to wait until recess on the sunny April, May, and June days I visited their school. Instead we started moving during math and science classes, exploring fractions, number sentences, friction, simple machines, animal movement, telling time, number recognition, 2- and 3-D shapes, area, perimeter, and skip counting all while dancing.