Carver Center and West Towson Elementary Students Perform at National Dance Education Conference

From Baltimore County Public Schools:

TOWSON, MD — Dance pieces created by Jada Clark, a student at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, and by a group of West Towson Elementary School students will be featured in the 2016 Student Sharing Concert during the National Dance Education Organization’s national conference.

The NDEO Student Sharing Concert will be held on Saturday, October 8 at 4:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Crystal City in Alexandria, VA.

Through a competitive process, the pieces by Carver Center and West Towson Elementary students were selected by an NDEO committee because they fit the conference theme of "Speaking with Our Feet: Advocating, Analyzing, and Advancing Dance Education," and demonstrated sound choreographic and academic methods.

Clark’s piece is entitled Broken. She writes: “It is about how everyone has a struggle and in trying times we think that we are alone and are oblivious to the people around us who are dealing with their own challenges as well. The piece embodies the perseverance that is required when you feel like giving up and highlights the importance of relying on others to help endure the pain that life brings ... Rather than telling a story the dancers are representing a general idea and each movement is meant to speak to the audience and encourage them to feel the pain throughout their depiction of struggle and [to feel the] hope that the dancers themselves eventually feel in the end.”

“The West Towson Elementary school students, who are in Grades 2-5, will perform a collaboratively choreographed piece entitled Idiomatic Feet Speak,” says teacher Karen Kuebler. “Foot idioms were selected for this particular piece because they encompass the conference theme and include ‘we're thinking on our feet,’ ‘let's dig in our heels,’ ‘put our best foot forward,’ ‘prepare from head to toe,’ and ‘be footloose and fancy free.’ Our dancers are taking language and telling a dancing story that reflects the conference theme.”

The participating West Towson Elementary School students are:

• Molly Bolan-Pyles
• Ferris McDermott
• Eliza Mealey
• Kiera Mohr
• Molly Mohr
• Sophia Mroz
• Serendipity Piercey
• Hudson Salazar
• Nitara Sen
• Ruhi Shanbhag
• Gabrielle Smith-Johnson
• Isabella Smith-Johnson
• Maggie Vadarevu
• Gabryelle Webb
• Sitong Zhao

The National Dance Education Organization is a nonprofit membership organization for dance artists, educators, and administrators in dance studios, K-12 schools, colleges, performing arts organizations, and community centers. NDEO is dedicated to advancing dance education and provides its members with resources and support, a base for advocacy and research, and access to professional development opportunities.

Image via Pixabay.