We finally began a residency at Bedford Hills Correctional Institution (college program) in Bedford Hills, NY in November, 2009.
We started by creating 4 visits with the goal of introducing the women to our work and the artists as well as a way for us to get to know the women and their interests/level of dance exposure and involvement.
Sarah Zitnay visited twice offering beautiful and thoughtful lessons on choreography basics. She was able to lead the women in choreographing a short dance that will be developed further in 2010. Newman Taylor Baker led a wonderful and exciting session that combined movement and sound basics. By the end of the 2 hour session, women were performing - making music and moving at the same time. Regina and I led the last session. Regina led many different storytelling activities that engaged the women in a lively discussion. Then she led excerpts from "The Body Poem" which is a series of movement and image exercises that felt very meditative. The women created drawings after "The Body Poem," which I hope to develop with them further in 2010.
On March 5, 2010, Bedford Hills will offer an academic conference --yes that's right!!- hosted by the correctional institution's college program (Marymount Manhattan College offers a college program at Bedford Hills). Avodah will create and perform a dance with the participating women to be shown at the conference called, "Crossing Borders." We will keep you informed about this project.
To support this project, please send a tax deductible donation to Avodah, Inc. c/o Hebrew Union College-JIR, 1 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012.
Thank you! Please email avodahdance@gmail.com if you have any other ways you'd like to offer support or inquire about our work.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment