Two of our four classes from Oakland County Schools were able to attend the festival. All year long, the students have been collaborating to create their own work of art. We learned about the parts of a story, theme and plot. One class worked on a theme of changing seasons, the other class wrote a play about community. All of the students learned how to perform or present in front of an audience. Under the guidance of Lisa LaMarre (artist in residence from the LaMarre Dance Company), our young artists learned about movement, focus and rhythm. Lisa taught such great dances, that it made perfect sense to combine dance and drama to share our story. Our plays became a musicals.
After months of work, we finally had a chance to use our new skills in front of a real audience. Yesterday we attended the VSA Celebrate Abilities Festival (an audience of well over a hundred people)… We had so much fun!
Bright and early, we began our festival fun with a mask-making craft exercise. An African Drumming workshop filled the air with music. Soon after, we filled the floor with dancing! We painted a student made mural, watched professional jugglers, enjoyed a small gallery of visual art, listened to beautiful songs, and shared our art with lots of different schools and participants. We did all that before lunch! What a day!! Here are some of the pictures from the festival.
Hands-On Folktales 