Overview
Tapestry forges Outreach Partnership with Wonders and Worries of Austin
This fall, Tapestry embarked upon a partnership with Wonders & Worries – a non-profit organization that provides, free of charge, psychosocial support for children, youth and families coping with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. For one amazing hour on the evening of December 11th, six dancers from Tapestry’s Visions in Rhythm (VIR) and their brilliant director, Tasha Lawson, joined twelve young clients of W&W for the first dance workshop in what both Tapestry and W&W hope will be an ongoing series of workshops. Click here to read how the power of dance works in real life!
Our Arts in Schools Program
This Arts in Schools program consists of lecture demonstration and audience participation events, focusing on priority/under-served schools throughout the Austin community. Parallels are drawn to academics, especially math and language, with a strong emphasis made on the importance of education and staying in school.
Springtime Means Rhythm, Dance, Music & You!
We are currently busy scheduling our outreach program, "Rhythm, Dance, Music & You" for visits to our local schools this spring. The members of Tapestry's professional dance company visit area schools with an educational program consisting of lecture, demonstration and audience participation events. During the presentation, the students are first treated to a selection of pieces performed by the company from their most recent show. This year, the pieces will be from Tapestry Dance Company's Fall, 2007 performance, "Footprints."
While the primary focus of the outreach program is to target under-served schools throughout the Austin community, the program is available to any interested school. For more information, please contact Carla Gay Dickson, Outreach Coordinator, at cgdickson@austin.rr.com.
Why Dancing is Important
Through activities like dance, children gain confidence, physical fitness and musicality while learning the importance of listening and working together as a team. This presentation emphasizes the history and application of dance in America and study guides are given to teachers for further exploration in the classroom.
During the presentation, the students are first treated to a selection of pieces performed by the company from their most recent show.
"The kids are always fascinated by the opportunity to be close to the dancers, and to hear and see the movements from a perspective they could not experience in a theatrical setting."
Afterwards, they are given the opportunity to ask questions – our favorite part. The audience members must articulate their ideas, express themselves and remember the components of the program about which they want to ask. The program ends when the audience is invited to participate with the company members in an interactive dance and rhythm demonstration. We explain how important math (especially counting) is to dance, how geometric shapes and patterns can be found in the positions of the body and how music influences the way people move.
Their Thank You Notes
After we leave, students are given a classroom assignment of writing thank-you notes to the dancers. Children are unfailingly honest, and we have discovered that they have good taste as well. Their favorite pieces are very often our favorite pieces! We take their feedback and incorporate their likes and eliminate their dislikes for the next performance.
The children love writing and illustrating the thank-you notes. We post the letters in the lobby so that all of our students and parents can share the excitement of these children many who have never had the opportunity to experience a professional dance performance. We try to take our program into any school in the central Texas area that requests it. Lack of funding and scheduling conflicts make this difficult, and our focus remains on middle and lower income schools. Annually, we reach over 8,000 individual students, elementary and secondary. Our future goals are to expand the number of schools we serve.
