Taking it to the Stage!

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 | All Posts by Stacey Blakeman | No Comments

Even for an arts educator, teaching dance is never an easy thing.  This winter and spring, four dancer instructors (including myself) from SF Ballet’s Center for Dance Education (CDE) will meet the challenge and choreograph original dance compositions for students in four San Francisco elementary schools. This program is called the Performance Project. After 16 grueling weeks of rehearsal, these students will take their hard work to the stage and participate in the Young At Art Festival at the de Young Museum, in early May.

CDE began this program about eight years ago, not with the idea of helping young dancers establish a professional career, but rather to offer a much needed opportunity for children to be exposed to the art of being a performer. Practice, dedication, hard work, courage, risk-taking, and facing some disappointment are all part of what goes into preparing oneself for a performance. Students who participate in this project learn what it takes to be a performer and leave feeling successful, with a renewed sense of self importance: all things that are in alignment with the goals of CDE. We believe in giving dance back to the community and allowing students to evolve during the process.

I, along with my teaching colleagues, will be taking you along on our journey with weekly updates from our rehearsals with students so that you can follow their progress along the way.

My 15 students are fifth graders from New Traditions Alternative School, which is located near the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. They are a lively group of kids who have had a good deal of dance exposure and experience through previous participation in SF Ballet’s artist-in-residence program, Dance in Schools and Communities (DISC). Because of this, I will be challenging them quite a bit with some sophisticated choreography. Our theme is “Country Western” (think of an old-style barn dance, do si dos, some fancy footwork and a little Rodeo feel). In fact, we will be using some of Aaron Copland’s famous music in the dance!

I attended one of Mr. Mc Neal’s rehearsals today and captured photos of his dancers trying out some West African dance moves. These are students of Rosa Parks Elementary, which is located in the Western Addition neighborhood. They worked pretty hard, but are just getting their feet wet. I wish them luck over the next couple of months!

Students warm-up for the rehearsal with some plies.

These two boys are loosening up their shoulders.

This little trio is trying hard to learn the new move!

He finally got the most difficult step of the day!

Tags: CDE, Performance Project

Summer Fun with Center for Dance Education

Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | All Posts by Stacey Blakeman | No Comments

Hi! I’m Stacey Blakeman, and I work for the SF Ballet Center for Dance Education as the Dance in Schools and Communities (DISC) Manager. DISC includes a variety programs that operate in the San Francisco Unified School District and provide FREE interactive movement classes to over 3,500 students each year. Once school’s out, we run a one-week summer dance program, Community Circle Dance Camp (CCDC), for boys and girls ages 6-14 from all over the Bay Area. Our campers explore a variety of art forms with professional teaching artists. This year our classes include Musical Theater, Bhangra, Hip Hop, Creative Movement, Voice, West African Drum & Dance, Ballet, Yoga, and Visual Art. This year we have 75 students participating in the camp, and 50 of them are attending on a full scholarship. Campers also receive three healthy meals each day (made with organic and locally grown produce) at no additional charge.

In the middle of the week we will take a field trip to the War Memorial Opera House. Campers will go on backstage tours and participate in a special Opera Workshop. On Friday there is an end-of-week celebration for students to demonstrate to friends and family some of the things they learned during their experience at CCDC.

We encourage every student at CCDC is to find his/her inner artist. It truly is an exciting week for all involved, both children and adults. Below is a little glimpse from the second day of the 2009 CCDC:

Executive Director Glenn McCoy & SFB staff member Ruben Fonseca help serve breakfast to students at the camp.

Director of Education Charles Chip McNeal prepares students for an exciting day during the morning circle.

Camp Instructor Joti Singh leads students through the morning warm-up.

Camp students warm up their vocal cords for singing class.

I lead the youngest group of campers through a Creative Movement class.

Students learn to sing and dance to the music from Oliver! in their Musical Theater class.