African American Choreographers Documentary for a middle school dance program
The cost of the Free to Dance videos from WNET is $11, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I direct a modern dance program of approximately 100 students at East Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh, NC. Over 70% of my program is minority based. I would like to add the "Free To Dance" documentary to our library. This resource will allow my students to get an in depth look at the important role many African Americans played in the development of modern dance. Our essential question this year is "how would you like to remembered?" and these chronicles are so valuable in demonstrating how these dancers made such lasting impacts on our art form. I have included the description from the PBS website: "Free To Dance" chronicles the crucial role that African-American dancers and choreographers have played in the development of modern dance as an American art form. Through first-person accounts by dancers and witnesses, the series documents how African-derived movement and other forms of dance were fused to make modern dance so distinctively American. Landmark dance masterpieces by African-American choreographers were filmed expressly for the series and woven throughout the historical narrative. They include the work of Katherine Dunham ("Barrelhouse Blues"), Pearl Primus ("Strange Fruit"), Donald McKayle ("Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder"), Talley Beatty ("Mourner's Bench"), Bill T. Jones ("D-Man in the Water"), Alvin Ailey ("Revelations"), and many others. "Free To Dance" is a presentation of the American Dance Festival (ADF) and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Madison Davis Lacy is the series producer and director, and Charles L. and Stephanie Reinhart are the executive producers.
I plan on using this resource for student viewing, reflection, discussion and restaging movement studies based on their techniques. I thank you for considering my request. I know this resource will inspire my students and will be shown for many years to come.
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