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NEXT MEMBER EVENT UCLA, L.A., CALIFORNIA: 06.30.06 |
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Partner Outreach
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Dance Education Honor Society NSHSS is pleased to highlight the community outreach activities of its educational partner, Nu Delta Alpha. NDA is a national dance honor society which is designed for dance education students, dance educators, and professional dancers to express their devotion to the art form by sharing, recognizing, and promoting dance education within schools and communities. Chapters are designated for middle through high school, college through professional levels, private studios, and preparatory and home schools. By promoting Nu Delta Alpha, the National Dance Association recognizes outstanding students and professionals internationally. An important mission of NDA is to expand the student vision of dance from self to the world by encouraging community service through activities such as the Dance for Health! Project and other programs that offer dance to students with disabilities, disadvantaged youth, and people of all ages. For more information visit the NDA National Dance Honor Society website or contact: nda@aahperd.org.
Nu Delta Alpha Member Erica Frankel Submitted by Advisor Anna Maria D'Antonio Brookwood High School, Snellville, Georgia Each year as part of a dance for health project, the Brookwood High School Dance Department in Snellville, Georgia, likes to reach out to the community and introduce young girls to the world of dance with its "Girl Scouts Love to Dance" workshops. These workshops are open to local girls in Brownie, Junior, or Cadette Girl Scouting. The scouts often come with their troop to have fun while completing several requirements for their Try-Its, badges, and Interest Project Patches. Girl Scouting was founded in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low, who was inspired by England's programs for boys that had been thriving under Lord Baden Powell. Bringing Powell's ideas to America, Low seeded the scouting program for girls in Savannah, Georgia. The first Girl Scout meeting brought together only 18 girls, but since then Girl Scouting has grown to over 4 million participants nationwide. There are even scouting programs overseas, and these "Girl Guides" from other countries are often connected to scouts in the states to create a worldwide network. The mission of this group is to achieve four distinct ideals: development of self potential, relating to others, development of values, and contribution to society. By partnering with the Brookwood High School Dance Department, these ideals are put into practice. The Dance classes offered at Brookwood are intended to serve students with little or no dance background as well as those students who are considering a career in dance or related Performing Arts fields. Areas of concentration include dance history, anatomy, composition, and actual dance technique instruction in jazz, ballet, modern, and contemporary dance styles. Students perform in one dance production each semester utilizing their technique and understanding of all elements of a dance production. During the course of the workshop girls are split into three groups. While one group is led on the stage, the other two groups learn in the Chorus and Dance rooms. After a session in one room, the groups rotate, ensuring that each girl is engaged with each respective activity. With the younger girls, the high school dance department members often will teach the importance of warming up, choreograph a small dance to be performed by the young scouts on stage, and play with movement manipulation. It's always exciting to see what movement the younger girls will create when told to act like princesses, airplanes, or elephants! The "dance party" room is also a favorite, with the limbo, chicken dance, and electric slide in full swing! With older Girl Scouts, the same fundamentals are covered but at a more mature level and appropriate pace. Girls often have fun learning about different types of cultural dance and its significance to the region from which it originated. After a snack break during which the Brookwood dancers interact more one-on-one with the girls, the entire group makes its way into the audience of the theater. The theatrical aspect of dance is explored with the scouts as it is demonstrated how a dance gets from an idea in one's head onto the stage. Girl volunteers come up with pedestrian movements, and these movements are manipulated using elements of time, energy and space. The girls then are introduced to the choreographic process. A brief informal performance by the advanced high school dance class then shows the girls what the finished product, including lights, sound, and costuming, looks like. Girls can take home their ballerina nametags and the Girl Scouting insignia they have earned. Each year this outreach program is warmly received. Word is distributed throughout the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia by individual service units, and there are often a tremendous number of leaders who are anxious to sign their girls up. We also have many girls referred to the workshops by word of mouth, since the leaders are always thrilled with the quality and professionalism of the high schoolers and the workshop as a whole. Many leaders even bring their scouts back year after year! The money that is made for the dance department through these workshops is used towards the annual National High School Dance Festival. This opportunity allows Brookwood dancers the chance to travel to the conference to not only become part of a gigantic creative forum, but also to audition for schools and summer programs and perform as a part of the Festival's many shows. The "Girl Scouts Love to Dance" workshop is offered each year and spots often fill up quickly as leaders reserve spots for their scouts as soon as they can. This Dance for Health fundraiser truly embodies the spirit of community outreach by not only making it possible for the high schoolers to further their own dancing pursuits, but also to bring dance to younger girls. |
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