A Special Evening of Student Performances and Community Building Held on May 4
Approximately 60 individuals attended a special evening designed to strengthen community through the arts at the Maranacook Community Middle School Thursday, May 4. Dancer/choreographer Louis Gervais spent two weeks directing the creation of original performance works with two middle school classes. The May 4 event was a culmination of their intense creative process.
The evening began with Mr. Gervais leading the audience in warm-up exercises which brought the whole group: teachers, parents and students together. Mr. Gervais, a dancer and storyteller, then danced an excerpt from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Wendy Shaw's multi-age class created a piece about immigration, while Dan Holman‘s sixth grade class created a work celebrating myths and legends. With Mr. Gervais’ help, each group demonstrated parts of their dance before they performed. The immigration dance included the students’ personal stories of how their families came to live in the United States and Maine in particular. The dance of myths and legends included the stories of Big Foot and Atlantis. By taking an inside look, the audience fully enjoyed the experience of guessing what was happening in the dances.
As the program continued, audience members had an opportunity to ask questions of the students. Parents, teachers, and friends all were enthusiastic about learning how the students worked together to create their original performances.
As one audience member commented, "this project has all the kids working together. It's a great way to build community and teamwork." A parent of one of the performers stated, "I was so happy that my son was able to do something he normally would not do or even try. What a wonderful program; I am glad that Maranacook was able to experience it."
The Arts Based Community Dialogue is made possible through a partnership between the Maine Alliance for Arts Education's Building Community Through the Arts program and The Acadia Hospital's Community Conversations program. Additional financial support was provides by PALs (Partners in Arts and Learning) funds.
The Acadia Hospital is a private, non-profit psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment provider serving the people of Maine. The Maine Alliance for Arts Education is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening educational excellence in all of the arts in all Maine schools and communities. |
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