"The
research is pretty clear that
those students who are involved
in arts education and music
perform better on standardized
tests. So here’s a little
secret: If you want to improve
your standardized test performance,
provide more arts and music
education."
– U.S. Education Secretary
Rod Paige
Footworks is a leader in the
field of Arts-In-Education
and has been dedicated to
youth and family audiences
since the inception of the
Company.
ASSEMBLY
PROGRAM
Keeping the Beat: Contemporary
American Traditional Dance
Footworks
presents live music and authentic
American traditional dance
in an energetic, engaging
performance with plenty of
audience participation. Footworks
has an exceptional ability
to convey the joy of dance
to every student while illuminating
the historical and multicultural
perspectives of different
American percussive dances.
For over twenty eight years,
Footworks has specialized
in performing and teaching
the music and dance that developed
up and down the East Coast
and across the continent form
origins in African-American,
Celtic, and Native American
cultural traditions still
found in Southern Appalachia.
Footworks presents live fiddle
music, American clogging and
hambone along with call-and-answer
songs, rhythms, and other
related dances such as French
Canadian stepdance and South
African bootdance. [A wooden
performing surface is preferred
if available]
Grade Level: K-5, 6-8, 9-12
Curriculum Connectors: Multi-Cultural,
History/Social Studies, Music,
Dance, and Physical Education
PROGRAM
PLUS WORKSHOP
Follow
the assembly program “Keeping
the Beat” with up to four
45-minute workshops, giving
classes a chance to try out
the dance steps they've just
seen. Classes will work with
Footworks dancers on age-appropriate
dance steps. This is a wonderful
activity for P.E. or dance
classes. (2 artists)
Grade Level: K-12
Curriculum Connectors: Multi-Cultural,
History/Social Studies, Music,
Dance, and Physical Education
RESIDENCY
PROGRAM
Roots and Rhythm
Traditional
music and dance is an activity
that Footworks presents in
a way that makes participation
accessible and fun with an
approach that brings students
together in a positive, constructive,
and participatory way, building
community and connecting the
participants to each other
and to their culture. The
learning sequences develop
motor skills and communication
skills, teaching how to focus,
follow directions, and work
with others. Every individual
understands that they are
an important part of the whole.
Workshops include percussive
dance, singing, “hamboning”
and improvisational exercises.
(2-3 artists)
Grade Level: K-12
Curriculum Connectors: Multi-Cultural,
History/Social Studies, Music,
Dance, and Physical Education
ARTS
INTEGRATION
Footworks’
founding director Eileen Carson
Schatz is a 2007 participant
in the Maryland State Arts
Council’s Teaching Artist
Institute and is now a Certified
Teaching Artist:
Exploring
Cultural Diversity Through
Traditional Dance
An Arts
Integrated Residency
Focused on Social Studies
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About
The Artist:
Eileen Carson
Schatz, Founding
Director of Footworks
Percussive Dance Ensemble,
has toured internationally,
including guest choreographer
and performer in Riverdance
in London and with the
Smithsonian Institute
in Japan. She has received
an NEA Choreography Fellowship,
an MSAC Individual Artist
Award, an Annie Award
from the Arts Council
of AA County, and was
selected Artist of the
Year by Young Audiences
of MD in 2006. She has
performed and taught residencies
in MD schools for almost
30 years and she is a
recent graduate of the
Teaching Artist Institute.
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The
Residency:
This residency
may be custom designed
to address your program
goals.
A typical residency
may be structured as
follows and may be shorter
or longer:
• Workshops 1-3:
Students learn fun and
easy traditional dances
from different cultures
•
Workshop 4: Students
use improvisation to
create their own dance
• Workshop
5: Students review and
assemble the dances
they learned into a
medley for presentation
• Culminating
Student Performance:
Students share their
dance with an audience
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Educational
Objectives & Standards
From the Maryland
Voluntary State Curriculum
Students
will:
• Understand
the diversity and commonality,
human interdependence,
and global cooperation
of the people of the
US and the world through
a multi-cultural and
historic perspective
• Develop
the ability to recognize
dance as an essential
aspect of history and
as an expression of
human experience
• Understand
the multi-cultural nature
of the US and how these
cultures borrowed and
shared traditions, resulting
in new traditions.
•
Perform simple movement
sequences with awareness
of space
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“The
program was wonderful,
one of our best ever!”
-Owings Mills Elementary
For bookings contact:
Young Audiences of Maryland:
www.yamd.org
410-837-7577
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