Wiggle With Words

Jalia Movement Arts

Students will explore expression through words they hear through fables, short stories, and poems. Young movers will expand their vocabulary and bring words to life through the medium of dance. This program may be offered in as few as 6 sessions or as an ongoing program.

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Virtual Option Available 

I Hear the Drum

Jalia Movement Arts

African dance celebrates life and joy. The cultural movement will be explored in conjunction with history, highlighting its unique dance styles and music. Connections are made between African dance and hip-hop that we know today. This can be taught as a one-time workshop or ongoing classes. A minimum of 8 classes is needed to prepare students for performance. If it is taught in conjunction with a cultural event, arrangements can be made so small artifacts can be brought in to further deepen learning.

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Virtual Option Available 

Teaching Footnotes: Reading Initiative Through Dance

Jalia Movement Arts

Students will engage in reading and interpreting age-appropriate poetry and prose by bringing its words to life through the use of dance. Through this experience, students will create and perform their interpretations of the texts. This residency may be offered in as few as 6 sessions or as an ongoing program.

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Virtual Option Available 

Movement Speaks 

Loren Holmes 

Movement Speaks allows students the freedom to creatively express themselves through movement while sharing stories that will educate and inspire them within their communities. Participants will engage in creative movement and various dance styles including, but not limited to, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, African dance, and more. Social and emotional learning is incorporated into classes through journaling and dedicated time for self-expression. Movement Speaks creates a safe space for participants to enjoy the creative process that is dance. Our goal is to empower and encourage students to use the leadership skills they acquire within these session in every day life. This program can be adapted for PK-12th grade students.

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Virtual Option Available 

Dance Expressions

Loren Holmes 

Dance Expressions allows the youngest participants to perfect gross and fine motor skills while incorporating basic movements of dance. Children will bend, jump, crawl, and everything in between to help them learn more about what their bodies can do. Imaginative play will allow them to experiment with decision making on how to behave and increase interaction with their peers. The cognitive, social, emotional, and language development that occurs will build a strong foundation for stress management and social-emotional resilience. For this age, we recommend 45 minutes per session.

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Virtual Option Available 

The Art of Change

Loren Holmes, Hearts in Motion Collaboration 

A collaboration between Hearts in Motion and Bravissimo Inc., The Art of Change was created to allow youth to have a voice in a world that is rapidly changing before their eyes. This program fosters the imagination of the possibility of change through art.  We do this, by creating a safe space for them to explore and express their feelings through the use of dance and theatrical concepts. These moves and concepts will give the youth an opportunity to have their voices heard and ideas used in creating their final performance. This class is either offered as a short workshop or a residency. Residencies are 2 sessions per week for 2, 4, or 6 week periods that culminate in a student performance. 

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Hip Hop with Kenny 

Kenny Louis

Participants learn hip hop dance moves with professional dancer, Kenny Louis. This highly interactive workshop or residency leads participants through either basic beginning hip hop and hip hop elements or can be more advanced depending on the level of participants. A student share or group performance is optional at the request of each site. Numeracy, literacy, movement, and teamwork are all part of this high-energy workshop or residency!

Dance + Literacy

Haley Shaw

This workshop is designed to get kids moving and practicing literacy skills in a kinesthetic and musical way. Each lesson aims to integrate dance, music, and language arts to create connections to reading skills practiced in Pre-K-6th grades. Students will make comparisons to how dance and music relate to things such as phonetic awareness, parts of speech, and storytelling in a way that is fun and collaborative. Using integrated dance they also gain enrichment in the arts as we explore the elements of dance and music.

POETRY through the Ages

Kalpana Subbarao

Using poetry from grade-specific curriculum and the story-telling Indian classical dance form Kathak, students will learn concepts of rhythm, meter, verse, mood, figurative language, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, etc. They will put together this information and gather an understanding of the content by creating movement and dance compositions.  Throughout this residency, the students will learn to build relationships and work with each other to solve problems with both critical and creative thinking.  This program works well with a poetry unit for the classroom with showcase performances to the class. A longer residency will allow the classroom to prepare a showcase performance for others. 

Pan-African Dance Workshop

Kucheza Ngoma Dance Company

The workshop teaches dance, drum and song instruction corresponding to West African dance and its influences in the Caribbean. Students will learn the accompaniment to traditional West African and West Indian folk rhythms, a selection of dance moves, and the corresponding songs. During the program, students will receive in-depth training in each genre to include song, dance, and percussion. Students will be in two groups: dancers and drummers.

Staging Stories! Workshop

Customized to fit desired TEKS 

Open Dance Project

Open Dance Project offers school audiences a multi-sensory feast of daring physicality and theatrical virtuosity. With content and themes that compliment students’ core curriculum subjects, Open Dance Project’s school shows and workshops move seamlessly in and out of dance, theatre, and music. In our performances, workshops and residencies, students learn to create, analyze and interpret original performance material based on content and themes pulled directly from their classroom work in English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies.

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*Subsidies available, call for details 

Henry the Hip Hop Hippo

Ondi Love

Presented by Fly Dance Company’s Jorge Casco, Henry is a positive Hippo surrounded by negative jungle animals. Henry turns the jungle brethren’s attitudes around by staying positive and influencing the animals with a dance challenge. Through this interdisciplinary literacy program, students help Henry and the jungle animals turn their negative attitudes into positive relationships through movement and self-reflection. Students are encouraged to be creative, make healthier decisions towards others and for themselves, and to find their place there they can be happy, active & positive like Henry the Hip Hop Hippo!

Rhythm Ride Residency

Ondi Love

Through this creative and fun production, students will learn the importance of Recycling and the effect it has on the environment by making instruments out of recycled materials. Using buckets, the students will learn different drum patterns and explore different beats. We’ll create fun skits with students using “beats, rhythm, & movement” as topics. We’ll pour into each student, and encourage their self-esteem and let them know they can achieve anything they put their mind to!

The Beauty Within: Hip-Hop

Rosie Barron

In an art form which is predominantly practiced by males, where do females stand in Hip Hop culture and dance? All too often they are stereotyped and put into a box and even portrayed in a negative light. Rosie Barron will help young girls realize that the beauty within Hip Hop is in themselves, instilling values, confidence and motivation to stand out and stand apart while teaching a clean style of Hip Hop dance that is fun and challenging at the same time. A short writing exercise will develop self-affirmation and students will be encouraged to continue developing new ideas in dance.

Healing Through Moving Arts
(Grounding/Mindfulness & Positive Body Movement)

Soulliaa Rae

Our bodies often hold on to experiences long after our minds and hearts do. Students will explore practical techniques in self-soothing and regulation through grounding practices and positive body movement. These sessions are designed to support the Social and Emotional (SE) growth and development of students through hands on movement experiences. This artistic workshop and residency are perfect for recovery from natural and man-made disasters, crisis, and socially vulnerable youth populations.

Exploring Indian Classical Dance

Silambam Houston

This workshop will allow students to explore the vocabulary of movements, gestures, and facial expressions that form the basis of Indian classical dance and use this vocabulary to create their own piece of artistic expression. Our workshops can be modified to fit into one class period (45 minutes) or can be extended up to 2 hours. Over the course of the workshop, students will:

• Learn about the history and origins of Indian classical dance

• Preview photographs of historic temple sculptures showing dance poses

• View videos and images of Indian classical dance through the centuries

• Explore basic technique and gestural vocabulary, progressing from simple to intermediate

• Use expressive facial and gestural movements to interpret a favorite poem, passage, or rhyme

• Learn a simple choreography sequence*

These workshops can be tailored to grades K–12, and can be most effectively targeted to participants from 2 to 3 consecutive grade levels. 
*This portion of the workshop can be modified to integrate a STEAM activity – instructors will guide students to explore, express, and visualize grade-level-appropriate STEM concepts through the choreography sequence.