CHICAGO-Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), the internationally acclaimed
contemporary dance company, will partner with Oak Park District 97 to provide
dance programs to five elementary schools for the 2007-08 academic year.
This partnership, an expansion of the programs HSDC has been offering in
the Chicago Public Schools for nearly 10 years, is supported by a $55,000
grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
HSDC teaching artists will work with teachers and administrators at Beye,
Longfellow, Mann, Irving and Whittier elementary schools in Oak Park to develop
long-term, comprehensive dance education curriculum. Under the banner Movement
As Partnership, HSDC will partner with the schools to establish an integrated
dance program, beginning with all classrooms at one grade level.
Teachers
will attend HSDC's Move Right Into Reading program, a professional development
summer institute, August 20-22 at the Oak Park Public Library. Designed to
strengthen the connections between arts and academics in classrooms, Move
Right Into Reading will instruct the teachers in the elements of dance and
the creative process; the content skills and strategies the arts teach and
their relevance in the classroom; inspiring students to create, perform and
reflect on works of art; and developing an understanding of how to present,
structure and facilitate arts-integrated activities in the classroom. The
teachers will leave the institute with several lesson plans to use in the
classroom.
The Oak Park program also will provide teachers from all five schools
with professional development workshops throughout the year, as well as provide
each school with a 10-week in-class residency and performances by Hubbard
Street 2, HSDC's second company, both in the schools and at the Harris Theater
for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.
"These partnerships are dedicated to creating a deep knowledge base
for dance education in each school, with committed teachers and an administrative
team that understands the power of real, integrated dance instruction," said
HSDC Education Director Kathryn Humphreys. "Movement As Partnership
provides teaching artists and educators the opportunity to plan, teach and
learn together to create exciting and meaningful integrated curriculum, which
challenges students and takes learning to new levels."
Each school's
dance program will serve three to four classrooms in grades 2-5, reaching
approximately 80 students per school and six to eight teachers, arts specialists
and administrators per school. To assist schools in meeting federal and state
standards, HSDC provides arts instruction that is standards-based, sequential
and sustainable as part of the core curriculum and is directly connected
to state and national fine arts standards. HSDC Professional Development
Workshop by Todd Rosenburg
"HSDC's integrated approach to dance education brings students into
the world of dance through a variety of explorations that actively engage
them in perception, research, reflection and discussion," Humphreys
explained. "Our process-based curriculum, developed in partnership with
the classroom teachers involved in our programs, assists students in discerning
and strengthening basic proficiencies that readily apply across the curriculum
and throughout life, developing skills of analysis, abstract thinking, interpretation
and problem-solving that are as relevant to studying a dance work as to analyzing
a work of literature or exploring physics."
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), under the dynamic leadership of Artistic
Director Jim Vincent, is celebrating 30 years as one of the most original
forces in contemporary dance. Critically acclaimed for its exuberant, athletic
and innovative repertoire, HSDC presents performances that inspire, challenge
and engage audiences worldwide. The company's ensemble of dancers displays
unparalleled versatility and virtuosity, allowing HSDC to expand its eclectic
repertoire continually with works by master American and international choreographers.
HSDC also contributes to dance's evolution by developing new choreographic
talent and collaborating with artists in music, visual art and theatre. Since
Lou Conte founded the company in 1977, HSDC has expanded beyond its main
company to include Hubbard Street 2, which cultivates young professional
dancers and choreographers, serves as the foundation of HSDC's education
initiatives and performs nationally and internationally with a diverse and
engaging repertoire; extensive Education & Community Programs, under
the direction of Kathryn Humphreys, which offer city- and state-accredited
professional development for teachers to incorporate movement into curriculums
and expose young people to dance; and the Lou Conte Dance Studio, under the
direction of Lou Conte and original HSDC dancer Claire Bataille, which offers
a wide variety of classes weekly in jazz, ballet, modern, tap and hip-hop
at levels from basic to professional, as well as workshops and master classes.