Theatre and Education Residency - Winans Elementary

When the theatre students of the "Space Station 3G" ran into the elementary students classroom buzzing about their future venture into the unknown, it was apparent that the sense of reality the theatre majors had created for the younger students was working. These pictures document Day 2 in Barb Knighton's classroom at Winans Elementary. Knighton, along with the other elementary teacher Gini Larson have been absolutely thrilled with the work. Both teachers have commented to Joni Starr on how they enjoy watching their students engage in learning in a different way. They have spoken to individuals who don't usually participate fully as being right in the middle of things and contributing effectively. Starr is equally proud of her students. "I m very proud of my students and their commitment to the work," She said. "It is difficult to simultaneously balance the skills of actor and teacher and to facilitate students from the inside of dramatic situation, but they are performing beautifully." The theatre students returned to Knighton's class on Thursday, Dec. 9 to complete Day 3 of their residency. The audio in this video is of teacher Barb Knighton taking part in the activity and reading a letter to the students from "the founders" of the Space Station. She gave an inspiring and believable speech that ended Day 2 with a bang.

Nov. 13 Orchesis Showing

To ensure that the Orchesis Student Dance Concert is a continual learning experience for both the cast and choreographer, the students involved are all participating in three different showings to share, discuss and receive feedback on each piece. Two respondents who are immersed in the dance world were invited to MSU and gave feedback to the choreographers and dancers at the first showing which took place on November 13. Alison Woerner, a visiting assistant professor of dance at Oakland University, and Heather Vaughan-Southard, a dance professor at Everette High School in Lansing and previous choreographer for MSU Repertory concerts, provided feedback at the showing. Through the use of constructive feedback they challenged the students to ask themselves questions about what is or what is not working in their piece. They told choreographers what they saw and gave them things to think about for the future rehearsals.

Rehearsals for this concert started in September and the dances have been continually evolving. These showings are just one aspect of the choreographic process of the concert. For many of the choreographers (myself included) this is the first time we have crafted a dance. The feedback provides us with a fresh pair of eyes to view the dance and give thought provoking ideas and questions to ask ourselves. A second showing took place December 5 and the last showing will take place January 22. This is the first year that three showings have been utilized in the completion of the concert.

Megan McDowell - Arts Bridge Scholar

Megan McDowell is a senior Theatre BFA student at Michigan State University. McDowell is part of the Arts Bridge Scholar program, a national program placing University students in local schools to integrate the arts in everyday learning. She is placed at the Heartwood School and Capital Area Career Center in the Ingham Intermediate School District working with young adults with special needs. The individuals she works with range between the ages of 14 and 25. As a part of her time in the field McDowell and the students will be putting together their own rendition of "The Wizard of Oz" in May which will be performed for the student's parents. Along with putting together the final performance, she also helps the students to express themselves through theatre as they use their imagination to explore and discover more about themselves.

Sam Gould - dance accompanist

Sam Gould, a MSU College of Music graduate student, spends his Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings in the dance studio of IM Circle where he is a dance accompanist for Sherrie Barr. This is not the first year that Gould has worked in the dance studio with Barr, he also worked with her for two years at Grand Valley State University. When asked if he liked working in the studio he replied, "It's probably the best job in the world." Gould and Barr work together to challenge the dancers to learn more about dancing through musicality. When asked if it's like having two teachers in the room at the same time, Gould said "definitely."

Theatre and Education Residency

In the MSU course Theatre 390, Actors and Educators, the goal is for performance students to learn how to become effective facilitators in devising and leading drama integrated residencies in K - 12 educational settings. Eight theatre students have created a make-believe situation to bring to their students in an attempt to get them involved both physically and mentally in their story to believe that their actual classroom is a Space Station 3G Drama Residency.
The students will be going to Winans Elementary School throughout the rest of the semester to spend time with Ms. Larson's 4th grade class and expand their knowledge of themselves, space and the future.

MSU Improvisation Dance Class

This morning I visited DAN 253, Dance Improvisation, that meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:20 - 12:10. The students were working with their partners on scores that come from the idea behind dancer, choreographer and illustrator Remy Charlip. Charlip constructed something called the bed dance, which was an "Airmail Dance", one that creates a story without giving a story. The bed dance supplies the viewer with different shapes (usually danced on a mattress). However, in DAN 253, the students were allowed to stand, but had to move from one shape to the next shape in the order they were illustrated. The importance of the experience was to fill the "inbetweens" of the shapes. To collaborate with a partner using weight sharing and physical contact to explore the use of actively engaging in different body shapes. Sophomore Clare Eagle and freshman Ricky Price spoke with me about how the class has changed themselves as dancers and challenged them to expand their knowledge.

MSU Dance Pedagogy Workshop 10. 30.10

Under the instruction of Professor Sherrie Barr, students from MSU learned the essentials about the art of teaching dance. Through movement exercises and open discussion they explored the many different ways of speaking about movement and the benefits of these different techniques. Over 15 students attended the workshop, which was sponsored by Orchesis. To see the Orchesis website and any other Orchesis-related events click HERE