You expect a company called Black Box Dance Theatre to know a lot about dance. But they know a lot of other stuff, too! Perfect example–when they arrived at Silk Hope Elementary for the first day of their two-day Artists-in-Schools residency, they learned from the kids that the current topic of study that week was “Force and Motion.”
“Oh, we have a force and motion rap, so we just pivoted the focus of the workshop, so we could include it,” explains Natalie Morton from Black Box. This fantastic ability to customize their workshops is one of the things that makes Black Box Dance Theatre’s residencies so unique and enriching for students. Black Box uses art to reinforce whatever the kids are learning at the time. And it sticks! By day two of the Silk Hope workshop, all the kids in the class were reciting the rap and performing the choreography they had created to go along with it.
At Siler City Elementary, fifth graders were immersed in dance and learning with a 10-day workshop. The last day of the workshop ended with each class performing for their fellow fifth-graders–and their parents via Zoom. Black Box dancers performed, too. Just like in Silk Hope, the Siler City workshops focused on core curriculum. Percentages, multiplication, and division all made appearances.
About halfway into the residency, Principal Tania Poston was excited about what was happening in the teachers’ Professional Learning Circles. Teachers were coming to the PLC with stories about the impact of the Black Box work for students’ math learning–and how the residency was supporting the types of learning that teachers were already engaging.
William Ureña, fifth grade teacher at Siler City, shared, “It has been a good opportunity for the kids to integrate their content in math, for example. It helps them to look at it in a different perspective. To link together all the ways to express the same things, not just with paper and pencil.” Mr. Ureña noted that the movement had another benefit for students, too: Moving their bodies was helping work out some of the stress and trauma of these pandemic years.
And hey, just in case you’re curious about that force and motion rap:
There are two kinds of forces
Pushes and pulls
With force and motion
These are the rules
An object at rest
Will remain so
Unless an outside force
Makes it go
An object on the move
Will keep on moving
Unless an outside force
Stops it from grooving
The force on an object
Determines how it falls
Mass times acceleration
Explains it all
How Do We Make It Happen?
The Chatham Arts Council could not bring professional artists like Black Box Dance Theatre into Chatham County schools without the dollars to make it possible. The 10-day Siler City residency was powered by our great partners at Carolina Meadows, and the Silk Hope residency was powered by the Lily McCoy Voller Stargazer Fund and our new partner The Local Church, along with a gift from Robert & Sonia Logan. Our partners at Chatham County Schools, Chatham County, and the North Carolina Arts Council also make this important work happen.
Individual gifts are absolutely critical, too. We’re working to expand the Chatham Artists-in-Schools Initiative with a goal of being in every single school in Chatham County, every single year, by 2025. Click here to be part of this artistic endeavor–and all our Arts for Resilient Kids efforts.
If you need more inspiration, here’s Siler City Elementary Principal Tania Poston speaking with WRAL about the importance of our Artists-in-Schools Initiative. Enjoy!
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