Community Arts
ACHF Arts Access
At least 55 dance students participate in workshop where they will increase their dance ability, learn new dances endurance and perform at a "show and tell" opportunity at the end of the session for an audience of 250 people. Instructors will develop new lesson plans, learn repertoire, new ideas for teaching choreography, stage presence and increased knowledge of the history of dances that can be used in teaching regular classes over the next two years. We will evaluate our outcomes by audience/participant
Artistic Goals: The project was very successful. Zadoc Fuentes Marin, of Instituto MIZOC of Mexico City, led a robust 8 day week intensive workshop which included choreography for over 30 dances for the various groups, innovative teaching techniques and historical context for all. A full day was dedicated to having each participant create head pieces connected to one of the dances each participant learned. His enthusiasm and energy was 100 percent contagious and the participants were engaged and determined from the first class to the last. The instruction took place in the dance studio at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church as well as a local school gymnasium for the additional open space to make headpieces and to practice the larger group dances. In addition to the daily workshop classes, the visiting artist will work with lead Los Alegres Bailadores dance instructors to develop extended lesson plans for future classes of folkloric material not yet known widely by instructors currently in Minnesota. Challenges: We could have used a second day for making headpieces. These projects required more space and time than one day would all allow. Transportation to and from morning and early afternoon classes were a challenge for families. Ride sharing was required. Strengths: Networking and camaraderie was plentiful during this project. Having the large practice space donated was wonderful. Community Participants: St Paul’s West Side has a large population of first, second and third generation Mexican Americans who have a strong desire to keep their Mexican Culture alive. A majority of the Workshop participates live, have lived or have family on the West Side and Los Alegres Bailadores is based on St Paul’s West Side so locating the Summer Workshop in the same location that Los Alegres Bailadores offers regular classes throughout the year ensures that a large number of regular Los Alegres Bailadores students can participate. The project also attracted individuals from other areas: Oakdale, Minneapolis, Eagan, Cottage Grove, Rosemount and Hugo to name a few. Out of the 75 participants, 15 had never taken a folkloric dance workshop before. The majority of the workshop’s participants are of Mexican descent, but not all. We had several participants purely interested in the cultural sharing that was provided by this unique workshop. We exceeded our anticipated participation numbers by 36% for a total of 75 participants. 15 of these participants had never taken a folkloric dance workshop before. Over 30 new dances were taught during this workshop and the dancers will be invited back to share these dances with at a performance in November and other various festivals and celebrations in the Twin Cities.
Other, local or private