Dancing in the Streets

The "Dancing in the Schools" arts-in-education program has been a vital part of Dancing in the Streets since 1988. In 1992, Dancing centralized its education programs in the Brooklyn community of Red Hook, where it became the centerpiece of its ongoing, 13-year Red Hook Initiative and where it now directly serves students (grades K – 12) in this primarily African American and Latino Brooklyn community.

Each program is developed by Dancing in the Streets staff and a master teaching artist, who work closely with school administrations to develop a course of study that is supportive of each school's philosophy and core curriculum.

Dancing in the Streets’ arts-in-education programs are designed to provide students with:

Technical Dance Training & Understanding of the Process of Creating Artwork by:
- Participating in training, choreography, rehearsal, and dance performance
- Developing coordination, balance, rhythm, collaboration, self-discipline, and concentration skills
- Using their bodies as resources for sound & movement
- Learning to express themselves through dance
Curricular Connections and Community Involvement by:
- Studying dances from the African Diaspora within the context of the curriculum determined by each grade’s core team of teachers
- Studying historical movements and learn about significant agents of cultural change who made the movements significant
- Contributing—as dancers and informed citizens—to the cultural and civic life of their community

In-School Dance Residencies at PS/MS 27
Red Hook, Brooklyn
May – June, 2007
During the 2006-2007 academic year, Dancing in the Streets is offering two 3-week intensive dance residencies for elementary school students at Red Hook’s PS/MS 27, as follows:

HISPANIOLA
5TH Grade Residency with ADIA WHITAKER

Adia Whitaker, the Artistic Director of Ase Dance Theatre Collective, is teaching the students a traditional Haitian Ra Ra (a song and dance that is performed at annual street festivals in Haiti) and guiding them to create and perform a rap version of a Ra Ra about their reflections on the Red Hook community. Whitaker is working with the 5th grade classroom teachers to link the residency’s content to the class’ yearlong curriculum theme of Hispaniola through discussions and written exercises. The students will perform the traditional and original Ra Ras at Hip Hop Generation Next at Red Hook’s Coffey Park on Saturday, June 9, 2007.

WATER IN THE COMMUNITY
6th Grade Residency with ADIA WHITAKER

Adia Whitaker is using Haitian and hip-hop movement vocabularies as a base for creating a dramatic dance work about water as both a destructive and life giving force in nature and society. Whitaker is working with the 6th grade classroom teachers to link the residency’s content to the 6th grade’s yearlong curriculum theme of Water through discussions and written exercises. . The students will perform the dance work at Hip Hop Generation Next at Red Hook’s Coffey Park on Saturday, June 9, 2007.

Adia Whitaker’s Bio:

ADIA TAMAR WHITAKER has a BA in dance from San Francisco State University. She also studied dance composition/choreography, education, ethnomusicology, and folklore in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti and Europe. After completing the Professional Division/U.S. Independent Study Program at The Ailey School, Whitaker became a teaching artist in residence for Dancing in the Streets, where she developed the organization’s Dances of the African Diaspora curriculum at PS/MS 27 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Her 3-week residency at the school in May - June, 2006, is an extension of this curriculum.

Support for Dancing in the Streets’ arts in education programs is provided by Independence Community Foundation, the New York Times Company Foundation, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York State Council on the Arts.