The Dance of Learning and Growing
Artist Residencies with Inlet Dance Theatre Captivate, Inspire and Teach
Inlet Dance Theatre in Cleveland Heights is a professional contemporary dance company that celebrates the combined athleticism, beauty and expressive power of dance. The company's performances, which range from humor and whimsy to profound encounters with essential human questions, have helped change many people's perceptions about dance.
But enlarging the dance audience is not what drives Bill Wade, Jr., founder and artistic director of the company. "It's not about furthering the art of dance through people," he says. "It's about furthering people through dance."
Recently, Inlet Dance Theatre carried out that mission through two artist residencies funded by Ohio Arts Council Artist in Residence grants.
Students at Indianola Informal Alternative School in Columbus learned dance techniques and developed self-expression skills with artists in residence from Inlet Dance Theatre. Center photo of Inlet dancer Joshua Brown by: Jim Ruthrauff, InMotion-Photo.com.
Residencies Geared to Varying Goals
The two groups and their goals for the residencies differed substantially.
A four-week residency at Indianola Informal Alternative School in the Columbus City School District, served students who already had a foundation in dance. The arts are integrated throughout the school's K-5 curriculum and students receive regular instruction from dance teacher Marlene Robbins.
Working with Inlet was an opportunity to learn some more challenging dance techniques while also exploring themes in greater depth through movement. Indianola's dance program, says Robbins, is not technique-based. "Students learn basic movement, but classes are more about broad compositional ideas."
Learning In Dance
Both residencies began with captivating performances by Inlet dancers. (PTA fundraising helped with the expense of transporting the whole company.) Then Wade worked with teachers to select core groups for the most intensive instruction and performance in dance. The selection process includes a dance assessment that identifies raw talent, musicality and skills in improvising and collaborating, along with a requirement that students write paragraphs explaining why they want to join the core group.
While all students were exposed to dance and participated in residency activities, the core groups met every day for at least an hour. In addition to learning new dance techniques, they learned choreography skills, had responsibility for coaching secondary groups and played key roles in the culminating performance with Inlet dancers.
Learning Through Dance
In both settings, students connected dance to themes from the curriculum. Robbins says incorporating dance makes a tangible difference: "When dance is part of learning, the level of inquiry rises, students seem to understand content better and their writing becomes more detailed."
Seymour says the focus and engagement she saw as students with learning and behavioral difficulties experienced dance was amazing.
Learning the Dance of Life
Students at After School Discovery joined Inlet dancers in a performance.
Wade says dance experiences can be an epiphany for students who have not had the opportunity before. "They learn that their bodies are powerful instruments they can use for expression," he says, "and they recognize that they were born with a gift. When they take their bow at the performance, they stand a lot taller."
He, Robbins and Seymour all believe that choreographing, rehearsing and performing dance is a way to activate the kind of skills students need to recognize as important for success in life—from critical thinking and creative problem solving to meeting deadlines to focusing intensely to giving and receiving feedback to working with and respecting others.
Seymour saw many examples of students gaining new insights about themselves through dance: "Many of them realized that by making some little changes they could be part of something bigger than themselves."
This article was published in April 2008, Volume 4, Issue 2.
