BY LAUREN GENTA, EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT MANAGER


A MULTILINGUAL DANCE RESIDENCY AT WINOOSKI HIGH


A call-and-response chant echoes out of Nellie Maley’s classroom at Winooski High School, tracing the word “dance” from English to Nepali to Swahili.


“WHAT IS IMPORTANT? DANCING IS IMPORTANT. WHAT IS IMPORTANT? NĀCA IS IMPORTANT. WHAT IS IMPORTANT? KUCHEZA IS IMPORTANT.”


For the group of students in this class— newcomers to Vermont and the United States—dance is a shared value and a common language. And, thanks to a residency collaboration with the Flynn, dance was a weekly touchstone for these students throughout the fall semester.


Plans for this residency first began last June. A small group of educators and students from Winooski High School met with us to brainstorm a dance-based arts integration


unit for their Newcomers class. Using the school district’s graduation expectations and graduation proficiencies (GX/GP) as a guide, we envisioned a residency that incorporated dance education, personal expression, and language development. Funded through the Vermont Arts Council’s Artists in Schools grant, our residency


launched in the fall. It comprised a series of 10 sessions with Flynn teaching artist Tracy Martin, who has experience with both theater and language development. In January, they performed on stage at the school for their peers. They will perform again on the Flynn stage in May during our bi-annual community dance showcase.


Having joined the class for one of their final sessions of the semester, I can attest to the pure joy that Tracy and these students created together. The room was practically bursting with laughter and playful joking. From moment to moment, the mood would swing as the dance styles shifted. One second, students were recreating a dance club—freestyling or working in pairs for the kid n’ play, a hip-hop move popularized in the ’80s and inspired by the Charleston— and the next, they’d tighten up to practice their set choreography.


As the class rehearsed each week, Tracy reminded the students of their spoken mantra before each piece. They’d all turn to the board and recite, helping one another to pronounce each language. Each time through, they’d chant these final lines: “What is good? School is good. Friendship is good.” Then, with respect for each other and their experiences, they’d dance.


10 THE MARQUEE


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