Shadow Puppetry, with its bold shapes and dramatic movement, is the perfect art form to explore the change-makers among us. In this residency, students will use shadow puppetry to bring “to life” the stories of children from around the world who are taking action to protect our fragile planet. Join Master Teaching Artist Daniel Barash as he helps students to appreciate how we can ALL create change through the engaging, hand-on, and captivating shadow puppetry tradition.

Shadow Puppetry, with its bold shapes and dramatic movement, is the perfect art form to explore the elements of story. In this residency, after playing a “Story Challenge Game” to reinforce familiarity of story structure, students will demonstrate their understanding by bringing a shadow tale “to life” behind the puppet screen. Join Master Teaching Artist Daniel Barash as he helps your students explore the foundations of storytelling through the engaging, hands-on, and wondrous shadow puppetry tradition.

Shadow Puppetry is a highly engaging art form that naturally helps students feel safe when learning how to identify emotions and healthy SEL tools. In this residency, students learn shadow puppetry performance techniques that will help them explore and empathize with the emotional life of both characters in literature and the students themselves. Join Master Teaching Artist Daniel Barash as he helps your students explore the variety of human emotions through the engaging, hands-on, and wondrous shadow puppetry tradition.

Sneak Previews are an early preview of parts of a film before it gets released. They have a very brief amount of time to summarize essential elements of the movie such as setting, characters, plot, problem and solution. In this residency, Brazilian Theater Specialist Maria Schaedler-Luera guides students to create and act out a sneak preview of a story from their curriculum. Get your popcorn ready because this residency is coming soon to classrooms everywhere!

* This residency can be taught in English or Spanish.

Actors use the body, voice and imagination to portray different roles and status in theater. The power difference in the relationship between two characters is affected by their status and is exemplified by their movement, posture, and voice. In this residency, Brazilian Theater Specialist Maria Schaedler-Luera guides students to explore status and roles of different social groups. Students will reflect on how ideas and events from Ancient Greece related to roles and status have shaped the world today.

* This residency can be taught in English or Spanish.

Success in a complex world often depends on how we create and navigate relationships. Problems arise and we need to consider solutions with an understanding of perspective, diversity, and empathy. During this residency with Theater Specialist Maria Schaedler-Luera, students will engage in multi-sensory dramatic and improvisational exercises that will guide students to understand the need for change while believing in their own ability to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and society.

* This residency can be taught in English or Spanish.

Like Poets, Choreographers create images in the mind to inspire and delight us. Using drama and dance strategies to engage their imaginations, students demonstrate and express their understanding of poems and vocabulary through the creation of their own choreographed free-verse poems. Led by Teaching Artist, and former Classroom Teacher, Morgan Vaught, and Choreographer and Teaching Artist, Harlan Brownlee, students will deepen their understanding of parts of speech and language and discover the meaning of words.

Drawing can be an intimidating experience for some students. In this engaging, hands-on residency, students go from the visual to the verbal through an easily accessible method of drawing portraits. Using the portrait as inspiration for narratives, students make inferences from the visual clues in their portraits to develop character traits and dialogue for oral or written language.

Bring out the inner sculptor in your students! During this fast-paced, hands-on residency, students bend, fold, and roll paper into sculptural models that memorialize selected individuals, ideas, or events from history. 

Inspired by the earth’s biomes and the adaptations made by plants and animals to survive in those environments, students demonstrate with creative movement and dance their understanding of different biomes. Using narratives to accompanying their movement, students create dances that model the relationships that exist between plants, animals, and their environment. Choreographer and dancer, Harlan Brownlee, will lead students through an exploration of protection, camouflage, food obtainment, and locomotion that flora and fauna use to survive and the ways humans imitate those adaptations.

Like dance, our earth’s systems are a dynamic exchange of motion and energy that create erosion, climate, and weather phenomena. Using the elements of dance, students will deepen their understanding of our earth systems by creating dance models that demonstrate the forces and interconnections within the earth’s systems of land, water, and air. Choreographer and dancer, Harlan Brownlee, will lead students through a moving exploration of the ways that the earth’s systems influence each other and the scientific principles at work within the earth’s systems.

Get ready to move with Jason Nious, as he stomps, claps, and moves students through seven elements of teamwork:

• Goal setting
• Pledge – commitment
• Leadership
• Practice
• Support & encouragement
• Showtime!
• Reflection

A performer with Cirque du Soleil, Stomp, Molodi, and the International Body Music Festival, Jason brings his experience to your class to create a dynamic and cooperative step team while reinforcing social and emotional learning.

Creating a work of visual art is a powerful way to process and capture various events in life that can be difficult to express in words. If the art is a gift for someone else then positive feelings of healing and purpose can guide the creative process. In this residency, students create a gift of art for someone that expresses the joy and gratitude felt about an event or moment in life! Visual artist Nik Ridley guides learners in the making of abstract portraits sure to brighten someone’s day.