This spring, GroundWorks DanceTheater has returned to Willson Elementary School for our annual creative movement residency with their scholars. Willson has been a valuable GroundWorks partner for the last nine years. For five of those years the GroundWorks teaching artists and Willson scholars have collaborated on a long-term residency aimed to support academic, physical, and social-emotional growth called Kinection for Learning.
Guided by Ohio State Curriculum Standards, the program this year zeroed in on Social Emotional Learning, Physical Education, and Dance standards. In the past, it has centered around more recognizable academic concepts such as English Language Arts, Math, and Science. This intentional shift towards prioritizing physical and social-emotional health was influenced by the multiple pandemics our country and our students are surviving and processing. These include the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, and systemic racism.
In addition to exploring Social Emotional Learning, Physical Education, and Dance concepts, we also focused on increasing student motivation while providing opportunities for social connection and personal expression. We did this through increasing student-to-student and student-to-teacher contact and collaboration in a virtual setting.
In February, GroundWorks teaching artists Rebecca Burcher, Annie Morgan, and Nicole Hennington joined the virtual classrooms for K-4th grade students who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing. In March, Rebecca returns with Runako Campbell, Channce Williams, and Jake Nahor to visit the 2nd grade classrooms. When working with the GW artists, students will find a variety of ways to apply problem-solving strategies through making creative choices and challenging oneself.
Each day starts with the GroundWorks version of BrainDance, originally created by Ann Green Gilbert. GW artists use the BrainDance structure to introduce different layers of the physical and social-emotional wellness concepts outlined in the state standards. Some of these concepts include shape, locomotion, and recognition of emotion.
Following BrainDance, the students are taken into breakout rooms with an approximate 4:1 student to teacher ratio. In their breakout rooms the students perform different solo, duets, or small group activities around movement generation, creativity, collaboration, and personal expression.
GroundWorks is thankful to be able to continue our partnership with Willson and their scholars by inviting transformation through the art of dance. Thank you to the Martha H. Jennings Foundation for support and funding of Kinection for Learning.
