Friday, May 8, 2020

Cultural Dance Fashion

I have been floored this week by all the fantastic submissions students sent in! Their assignment was to select a cultural dance and create an article of clothing or a prop that is used in the dance with materials from their homes. I was sent an array of creations that I've been happily featuring on my Instagram. One student even submitted a VIDEO instead of just writing an artist statement, where he filmed all the information as if he were giving a newscast (so creative!!!). I just wanted to show you some of the highlights:

Apache Crown Dance baton

Chinese Fan Dance fan crafted from sticks and tissue paper.

Regalia from the Navajo Dance of the Deities.

Chinese Fan Dance fans crafted from sticky notes.

Chinese Fan Dance fan crafted from sewn fabric.

A pigs head from the Cabeza de Cochino Dance of Latin America.

Friday, May 1, 2020

Happy Friday!

Wow! I cannot believe that it has been SEVEN weeks since my last post, marking seven whole weeks since I've seen my wonderful students! First of all, I MISS YOU! Secondly, I am so incredibly proud of how well students are adapting to online learning. You are rockstars! Today is the end of week 5 of COL and each week students have shared such incredible artworks with me. I'm so excited that I can provide these kiddos with a creative outlet during this stressful time.

Some of the things I've been working on:

  • Completing my Grad school capstone paper (whoohoo!)
  • Sewing masks - donated to a local skilled nursing facility
  • Making an armful of friendship bracelets
  • Practicing my color guard skills so I can teach my team new things when marching band starts up again - I'm teaching myself how to handle a sabre for the indoor season and WOW I underestimated how challenging this piece of equipment was
  • I just started a monthly art challenge from my favorite YouTuber Sea Lemon where I draw a different fruit each day - I'm documenting my progress on my Instagram and encourage everyone to give this a shot, too!

May 1st is May Day, the festival of spring! One of my favorite traditions is the May Pole Dance. My high school German teacher (shout out to Frau McDonald, the greatest teacher in all of FCPS!) had this fabulous May Pole that we would use for the dance. The dancers hold ribbons that weave over and under one another, braiding them around the pole. Check out this video I found that demonstrates the dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-mqfuNbpP0. I'd love to hear if you have any springtime traditions!