The Play Yard

My small group of 4-5 year olds (six children) will be dancing at Justin Herman Plaza on Fri. There is a ring of low rocks on the other side of the large fountain where we will dance. The children and I are collaborating on a dance story about a giant and a mouse. Now it so happens that this group of children love trains (and trolleys and planes) and daily have created interesting ensemble movement related to trains, stops, and stations in the yard and in the house. In their image of train they have created elements that are related to dance movement: timing, space, body shapes, action and ENERGY. So watching over time and documenting with digital video I thought that this creativity could be used in our movement piece for Dance Anywhere.   The music for the story/dance is to a 1650 chamber music Sonata (baroque violins, viola, and harpsichord) that came about  one day when I played it to see how the children would move to it. Putting together trains and 17th century music is a leap of imagination. (I only have imagination and no "training".) So for this to all work together it is important that we have a context that is related to trains.   Last week we looked at pictures of the BART stations that had fountains including the fountain at The Embarcadero. I was drawing on their knowledge of place that would include a train ride so the possibilities grew. You received the email about AM Trak that reflected their conversation to take the train from Berkley to Jack London. This project has been a lot about choosing a place to go and do our dance. Denise Hingle Arts Is Ed. / leadership group member