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RESIDENCIES/WORKSHOPS

The Below Titles can be customized to a Workshop Format, unless otherwise noted.  Residencies exceeding 9 days end with a performance. Guides and Bibliographies are provided for all residencies and workshops.

STORYTELLING

From the Page to the Stage (Storytelling)deeply enriches the common core standards by promoting literacy skills.  Through the engagement of storytelling children learn to read, write, speak, listen and use language effectively in a variety of content areas. Visual and Performing arts standards are elevated as students re-write and perform fairytale, folktales, myths, historical tales and legends based on a selected residency theme.  (6 to 20 day Residency). Elementary and Middle School.

Everybody Comes from Somewhere celebrates the diversity and similarities of cultures within communities.  Students learn how to take field observations of their neighborhood and interview family members within the context of four folk categories:  Immigration, Migration, Childhood Stories and Craft Artists.  Participants transcribe the interviews into stories; edit their stories for a performance that includes audience call and response; meet as citizens to identify and resolve a selected community issue; and, perform a school-wide storytelling assembly. (20 to 30 day Residency). Elementary through Collegiate.

Stories with STEAM is an interactive fun and fusion-filled residency that merges literature, math and science with the oral arts. Students recreate interactive folktales using concepts from grade-level math, science and technology curriculums.  (6 to 20 day Residency). Elementary through Middle.

360° of Self is a community-based residency focused on empowering participants by raising self-esteem and self-confidence through the use of journaling; aromatherapy (learning how to make body washes, oils, lotions, and butters); and, creating oral narrative and performance. Participants create proverbs, prose and stories based on life experiences, hopes and aspirations. (5 to 20 day Residency).  Teens and Adults.

Poetry Outloud is a National Contest that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. High school students strengthened performance through a workshop format that utilizes the POL Resources and unique training methods that include Optimum Performance Techniques (OPT) designed by Queen Nur. (3 to 6 days).  High School.

“Poetry Out Loud allows students to understand and think about the past, to reflect on the present and to embrace the future with all the feelings and emotions of humanity,” renowned storyteller and teaching artist Queen Nur said.” – Star Ledger, 2012.

MUSIC

Percussion, Storytelling & Science This program will increase an awareness of how percussion instruments are played, how they were used in different cultural societies, and how they enhance storytelling. Hands on activities involve the method of play of each instrument and performance using dynamics, pitch, rhythm, and tempo. Interest is stimulating about how earth’s elements and atmosphere assist in the construction and sound in percussion instruments.

Upcycled Rhythms & Recycled Words Students learn literary techniques in using magazines and newspapers to create storypoems and attend to precision and problem solving in building percussion instruments. Creativity is engaged in using items such as; soda & juice cans, glass bottles, flower pots, plastic buckets, newspapers, medicine bottles, and gourds. Participates will be able to create a Rhythms & Words concert in an entertaining environment that supports common core curriculum standards in math and English, as well as state standards in music and science.