MSAD #33 Dance Residency

Wisdom Middle/High School and Dr. Levesque Elementary School

Students practicing their dance

A week long dance education opportunity last week culminated on Friday evening with a performance at the Wisdom Middle/High School. The Winter Arts Evening included dance, music and visual art and was absolutely wonderful. With standing room only the school was filled with excited and proud parents, siblings, school staff members and other community members! The students outstanding performance brought smiles and some tears to their faces.

It was an amazing week for the students in MSAD #33 at the Wisdom Middle/High School and the Dr. Levesque Elementary Schools. All students had the opportunity to work with dance teaching artist John Morris thanks to funding provided by a benefit performance that took place in November 2015 at the Thornton Academy in Saco. Dance educator Emma Campbell coordinated the effort along with 9 other dance programs.

John working with kindergarten class

The grant was written by Theresa Cerceo, art teacher from MSAD #33 and John Morris. The dance unit connected with visual art, music, and dance and took place as part of the art and music curriculum. Charles Michaud is the district music teacher who participated as well. Students learned about the similarities and differences of the 3 arts disciplines. Students made art, music, and writings and responded to it through dance.

I was fortunate to be able to be in the County for part of the week and was thrilled to have the chance to see the work up close. The impact on students was enormous.

Theresa and Charles

There will be a series of blog posts in the near future so you can learn more about the success in MSAD #33. Thanks to another generous donation from a dance performance at Thornton Academy in November 2016, the Maine Arts Commission will be offering another dance education grant for Maine schools/districts to apply for. Watch the blog this Winter for the posts and the announcement about the grant coming in early Spring.

One of the dances created and performed was depicting senior Jasmine M. DeMoranville’s poem.

Art

Pencil to paer
Brush to board
Glare at the table
Find the word

Something’s wrong
The paper’s off
The board is breaking
In your head there’s a gong
What is it that’s wrong?
Think again

A thought is forming
Words are swarming
Something’s off
The paper’s warning

Eyes are straining
Brain is whirring
Thoughts are becoming broken
Fingers twitch to find a token
What is wrong?

Disavow
Break through
Broken voice
Say thank you

Tone is flat
Face is hard to look at
Once distracted
Fall to the wrong format

The alley is dark
Nothing is visible
Plain as bark
See it flicker
Was that a spark?

The world is screaming
Ears are bleeding
Something wrong
Think through the noise.

The thought is sudden
Stunned and broken
But it’s there

The screaming is louder
Distracting
Attention pulling
Words are clear and blurry
Think harder
Think deeper

Answers drip from mind to tongue
Still unclear
Find the words

It drifts away
Grab it!
Color
Emotion
Shadow

Noise stops
Clarity settles
Words settle on fingertips
Art

A whisper on the breeze
I need it