Participants 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 

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 participants 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 

Participants 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, participants 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 

Yoga and Mindfulness:

Through imagination and storytelling, participants will explore yoga postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. Creative Yoga is a gentle physical experience for each body. Participants will develop strength, flexibility, and coordination while learning positive breathing  and relaxation techniques to cope with stress. The intention of this workshop or residency is for participants to get to know their own body and get in touch with their breath while understanding how body and breath are connected in a fun way.

Participants will develop self-confidence. Self-control and self-awareness. They will explore topics such as self-love, gratitude, and kindness to help them gain skills to build self-esteem and regulate emotion in an inclusive environment.  

Meditation:

Participants will experience a simple approach and understanding to meditation, including the personal benefits. This workshop or residency will include a beginner’s approach to meditation, where participants learn applicable skills to utilize outside of sessions during challenging times.  Workshops and residencies will explore silent meditation, active moving meditation, loving kindness meditation and dancing meditation. Trauma informed dynamic mindfulness practices and sound healing meditation are also included.

This workshop or residency will focus on learning proper dance technique such as isolations of the body, improving performance quality and developing complex rhythms and patterns. Participants will be exposed to various styles of jazz such as Broadway, Street and Contemporary to help develop a well-rounded dancer.

Participants will explore varying fusion styles of jazz:

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●Hip Hop / Jazz Fusion combines the high energy of Hip-Hop with traditional Jazz technique. Warm up consists of Traditional Jazz technique but combination will focus on both Hip Hop and Jazz.

●Contemporary Jazz a style of expressive dance that combines the elements of Jazz, Modern and Ballet. Contemporary dance strives to connect the mind and body through rhythmic movements.

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8 Session minimum; student performances required to meet twice weekly for 12 total sessions minimum with an additional day for performance. 

Participants will explore self-expression through the movements of modern/contemporary dance:

●Modern dance is a combination of various styles of modern technique. An emphasis will be on the basic modern techniques, body awareness, and movements based on contracting and releasing of the muscles.

●Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical, and classical ballet. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements. 

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8 Session minimum; Student performances required to meet twice weekly for 12 total sessions minimum with an additional day for performance. 

Select either Stomp or Hip Hop style of workshop/residency or a mixture of both.

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Stomp: Traditional and non-traditional step/rhythm movement descending from black fraternity/sorority step battles. Participants will experience creating rhythmic patterns/music with their bodies. Steps, claps, slaps, and vocals create an exciting and energetic rhythmic phrase pattern all will enjoy.

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Hip hop: This dance is a style of street dance form that evolved from hip hop culture and hip-hop music. It borrows elements from a number of different styles like African dance, tap, and ballet. Hip hop dance began as a freestyle dance performed in the streets by dance crews, mostly to hip hop music. Hip-hop dance is a vibrant form of dance that combines a variety of freestyle movements to create a cultural piece of art. Beginner Hip Hop available for PK-5th grades.

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8 Session minimum; Student performances required to meet twice weekly for 12 total sessions minimum with an additional day for performance. 

African Dance Fusion: This workshop will explore African dance history and the transition of how this form of dance has created and transformed styles of dance including hip hop, & modern dance. Participants will gain an insight on African dance history, and culture as well as explore the movements of West African dances.

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8 Session minimum; Student performances required to meet twice weekly for 12 total sessions minimum with an additional day for performance. 

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World Dance Class: This workshop will allow participants to explore the different genres of dance, and the historical, and cultural significance. Students will discuss the following forms of dance, watch video performances, and learn choreography from each form discussed. Genres include: African, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Modern

Contemporary. This residency may be offered in no fewer than 10 sessions (minimum 2 sessions per genre) or as an ongoing program.

Participants learn hip hop dance moves with professional dancers from K-Lou Ent. 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!

Using poetry from grade-specific curriculum and the story-telling Indian classical dance form Kathak, participants 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 participants 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. 

The workshop teaches dance, drum and song instruction corresponding to West African dance and its influences in the Caribbean. Participants 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, participants will receive in-depth training in each genre to include song, dance, and percussion. Participants will be in two groups: dancers and drummers.

Open Dance Project offers school audiences a multi-sensory feast of daring physicality and theatrical virtuosity. With content and themes that compliment participants’ 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, participants 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. These workshops and residencies are only available during the school day.

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*Subsidies available, call for details 

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, participants help Henry and the jungle animals turn their negative attitudes into positive relationships through movement and self-reflection. Participants 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!

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!

Rosie Barron will help youth 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.

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.

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.

Practicing different breathing techniques and yoga poses allows children to develop concentration, attention, memory and relaxation skills. In this yoga class the participants learn to relax with conscious breathing, which helps the participant channel their energy and be more prepared to handle

difficult situations and increase confidence and self-esteem. Each participant will learn breathing techniques to strengthen their core muscles,

gain greater flexibility and balance, improve concentration and gain awareness of their body. This will also stimulate their creativity and imagination, sharpen their senses while fostering new friendship and companionship. In Cindy's yoga class the participants perform warm up exercises before getting into various yoga poses, they learn breathing exercises, sing mantras accompanied by healing music and aromatherapy. Cindy's workshops are also offered in Spanish. Cindy is a certified yoga instructor.

​Explore the African origins of yoga with certified Kemetic yoga and Hatha yoga instructor, Dr. Lindsay Gary. This workshop will introduce you to this ancient practice, focusing on breath and meditation, while exploring the history and philosophy of ancient Kemet (Egypt). Dr. Lindsay will also share her experiences and knowledge obtained while studying in Egypt.