HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!                           WINTER NEWSLETTER                            FEBRUARY 2015
In This Issue
Upcoming Luna Events

Dance-A-Thon Fundraiser
Saturday, March 7th
1pm-9pm

20 Points of View
Thursday, April 23rd
9am-7:30pm
Free open studio event!

Dance & the Brain Mini- Conference
Saturday, May 2nd
All day symposium featuring special guests.

Choreofund 4
Thursday, June 4th 
7pm-9pm

Registration now available for Summer Dance Camps,

Visit lunadanceinstitute.org for more information
I am a Dancer

By Lydia Howard

 

I am a dancer.

 

I smile, jump and rise.

 

I point my toes and lift my eyes.

 

I am a dancer.

 

I will dance fast or I will dance slow.

 

I will dance high or I will dance low.

 

I am a dancer.

 

I twirl, leap and spin.

 

I let the music take control and I grin.

 

I am a dancer.

 

I dance for laughter or for tears.

 

I dance for hope and not for fears.

 

Cause I am a dancer and a dancer am I.

_____________________________________________________
Lydia Howard is an 7th grade student. She dances in Luna's teen modern dance improvisation class and summer teen choreography workshops.
In Memory of Alba Witkin: Mother, Activist, Humanitarian, Early Childhood Advocate  
by Nancy Ng
In June 2011 I had the pleasure of meeting Alba Witkin and her son Kenneth Kuchman at her home in Berkeley. I spoke with her about her commitment to children, women and arts education. Alba passed away on December 26, 2014. In honor of her far-reaching contributions toward young children's health, wellness and education we re-print this article, published in a previous newsletter, accompanied by this current reflection from her son Kenneth.

 

Alba Witkin's earliest memories are eating tomatoes in the tomato patch, her mother calling out, "Where are you?" and playing with her brother, sister and pet dog in New Jersey.  It is apropos that this woman who was inspired to start a foundation to support early childhood education has fond memories of her childhood. As a young girl in the 1920's she traveled with her family by train cross-country to California - her dog stowed away in the passenger car.  She eventually settled in Sacramento, and later in Berkeley, where she raised three children. She is a grandmother to six and a great grandmother as well. I asked Alba if she enjoyed dancing. She replied that she liked to dance; however, neither of her husbands enjoyed dancing as much as she did, and she was sorry she did not have a tall partner to dance with, as both of her husbands were short.

 

When married to her second husband, attorney Bernard E. Witkin, the eminent legal authority in California, she managed their household affairs and coordinated his 50 annual public appearances. He wrote the four Witkin Law Treatises encompassing all of California law. To this day, no law student in California graduates without opening one of these treatises. Besides contributing to early childhood education, the Foundation also supports a variety of legal activities.

 

When I asked Alba why early childhood education is important to her she said, "Women are better educated, women go to work, what do you do with the children? Mothers used to be there with milk, peanut butter and cookies . . . both parents need to work now and [someone] needs to provide care for children."  She believes it is, "better to solve a problem before it begins than wait." Both she and her late husband Bernard were strong supporters of California's maternity leave policies. She believes, "The way in which you hold a child, the way in which you talk to a child, the way the child is with you... " is vital for a young child's early formative years. Mothers and children need the chance to bond and be together.  Alba also believes, "children need extra activities, other than schoolwork to fill out the portion of their lives that bring them joy."

 

In memory of his mother, Kenneth Kuchman adds:

 

For over 70 years, from her completion of graduate school in 1943 until her death in 2014, my mother, Alba Kuchman Witkin, worked to seek social justice for vulnerable communities and to promote peace and caring for all people. Alba cared deeply about social equity and quality of life issues. Her remarkable philanthropy fostered social justice, peace and non-violence, strengthened educational opportunities, and broadened access to literature and the arts.

 

Alba made a tremendous difference during her life to people in need, and, also, to the community in general.  Having founded the Bernard E. & Alba Witkin Foundation in 1982, she remained steadfast in her commitment to provide resources in the East Bay, an area where such resources are sorely needed. Because of Alba's willingness to support new programs early on, many non-profit programs were able to launch and to then attract additional donations once the Witkin Foundation was on board.  From my perspective, Alba's contributions have been enormous, and many people have told me that she has served as a role model for them.

 

A particular focus of Alba's giving through the Foundation was to programs that intervene to assist young children in their formative years (birth through five years of age), so that these young children can be successfully launched into mainstream kindergarten. The Foundation also began to fund, more and more in recent years, programs that help foster children who are aging out of the foster care system to be successfully launched into early adulthood.  In this way, Alba was truly a champion for children.

I am sad that I lost Alba in December, yet I know that she lives on through the work that we will continue to do at the Witkin Foundation, and, also, through the many people that Alba helped to become stronger members of our East Bay community.

_____________________________________________________

Nancy Ng is the Director of Community Engagement at Luna and a Co-founder of MPACT (Moving Parents and Children Together).

 

About Luna
 
As we near our 23rd birthday, we reflect with appreciation on how your donations to Luna have helped bring dance to more than 1/4 million children and families who otherwise would not have access to the arts.

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Dear Friend, 

This birthday year, 2015, we look to the phases of the moon as a way to celebrate the emergent, developing and mature aspects of Luna's work, as well as recognize and appreciate that which we must let go. In these articles, you'll read about how our ongoing relationships with individuals has deepened our work and has been part of a movement to create positive change in the world through the art of dance. Katherine McGinity's article on dance in early childhood dovetails nicely with our board profile of Chantal Sampogna who shares her thoughts on her latest role as mother of two Luna dancers. Our teen, Lydia Howard, uses poetry to share her experience as a dancer. Two members of our leadership cohort offer reflections on creating change in dance education and Nancy reflects on the memory of the extraordinary citizen that was Alba Witkin. We hope you will enjoy reading these diverse voices and we wish you great fortune in the year of the Ram.

 

Patricia Reedy, Director of Teaching & Learning

A Joyful Educator
by Katherine McGinity

At Luna, we have a vast wealth of combined knowledge about early childhood education (ECE), gathered from years of study, observation, reflection, teaching, childcare, and parenting. I feel lucky that during my time a Luna I've been able to observe parent /child classes from infant to 2 year olds, and teach 3s, 4s, pre-K, and Kindergarten classes. I love seeing my students blossom in their dance classes as they move through early childhood-but I didn't always feel this way. As a younger teacher I held a common misconception that "baby" classes were the most challenging and least enjoyable both for me and the students. I loved kids. I loved teaching. But at that point I lacked the knowledge of child development to be able to meet the children where they were. Part of the issue was also unreasonable expectations from a studio ("They need to be ready for the recital!") and some parents ("I want my toddler to be a serious ballet dancer!").

When I first began studying with Luna's founder, Patricia Reedy in 2010, I was convinced that my time teaching dance in early childhood was over. However, over the course of that semester in her dance pedagogy course I realized that I had only just begun. I learned how young children learn through movement and also how much parents can learn about and witness their developing child in parent-child classes. I began to forgive myself for all those frustrating moments of attempting to "teach" very young student things they were not ready to do. As early childhood unfolds, high-quality, developmentally-appropriate dance classes can support children and parents every step of the way. It is exciting to see babies begin to understand they are a separate entity from their parent through tactile games, a two-year-old's thrilled face as she dances towards and away from her parent, testing her agency, a four-year-old ready to take class on his own, demonstrating the his autonomy and power through creative dance.

I highly encourage all teachers to learn about or re-visit human development to support their ECE teaching practice and beyond. For me it has truly been the key to providing great dance experiences to my students, and becoming a more confident and joyful educator. The ECE Professional Learning offerings Luna provides is a great place to start-also stay tuned for Patricia's revised book and supplemental ECE booklet due out later this year.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Katherine McGinity is a dance teaching artist and development associate at Luna Dance Institute.
In the Moment with Her Kids: An interview with Chantal Sampogna

 

Chantal Sampogna has been a dancer her entire life. Beginning with ballet training as she grew up in North Hollywood (she performed in Don Quixote with Nureyev), her dance journey has accompanied her through law school, forging new territory as a modern dancer, learning to teach dance, and dancing with her children-both when pregnant and for the seven years since Dominic was born.

Luna and Chantal have been entwined since she first took her maiden voyage Modern Dance class from Patricia at UC Berkeley. She danced at Luna as an adult student, performing with Patricia's company. When Luna first offered professional development in 1994, Chantal studied with us and taught Saturday morning Creative Dance classes around her work schedule as an attorney. She co-founded MPACT (Moving Parents and Children Together) with Patricia and Nancy and eventually joined our Board of Directors. Presently, she is Luna's Treasurer and a parent of Dominic (Modern Dance Improvisation) and Leed (Waddler-Parent Dance). Here is an excerpt of a conversation with her about shifts in thinking about dance.

How did teaching for Luna shift your understanding of/relationship to dance?

Going through the teacher training, breaking down concepts for the movements themselves rather than the fixed vocabulary of ballet took me further in my own modern dance training and in my ballet dancing. For example, I'd never thought about dancing in my back before. In ballet, the back had a restricted role of straight or bent, with limited expression. Luna encouraged exploring the dance in all parts of me - the depth, weight, articulation and initiation. Whenever I'm in dance class, now, while I have great dance teachers, I always track back to what I learned at Luna, sinking back and finding that weight and loft; dancing in 4D.


How did having your first child [Dominic] dance at Luna shift your understanding of dance learning?
I've learned how to see him as a dancer. Dominic wants to roll every way that he can, jump back up and return to the floor. Kids don't just dance in dance class. They dance all over. Dominic finds his movement pattern everywhere in the world-keeping his body safe while taking challenges. Watching him in classes at Luna helped me give him the space to do that.
As he gets older, he goes deeper. Dominic is learning to articulate some complicated movement concepts - like sharp, exploding, turning jumps. He has his preferences, the way he likes to move. But he also enjoys observing others--watching and reflecting on their dances has helped develop a sense of respect for others.

 

Since you've been in the early childhood dance with Leed how have your thoughts about parenting or dancing shifted?

Through dance I learn very deeply about my children, where they are at and what they need because I can see them return to me. I see them from a dance perspective and even when we're at the house, I still receive it that way-it's natural that they want to go back and forth, toward and away, with the parent. They dance away for independent exploration and return for check-in and problem-solving together.

Dancing with Leed is totally transformative. I can't wait for the next session of Waddler classes to start! One of the first sentences he said, was "I want to dance!" Leed dances every day. The toward/away curriculum helped me with him. Recently, he surprised me--I copy his dancing all the time, but now he sometimes copies me. He's noticing me as a mover, an accentuated sense of self, as we go through the natural process of separation. The curriculum helps me to understand and appreciate the developmental phases. In this rush of life, it has slowed down parenting time and helped me be in the moment with my kids. 

 

As a board member, how do you see Luna's impact on the greater community-where do you see the limits of our reach?

Everywhere Luna goes; it brings true dance creation - self-initiated, physical self-expression. True dance will not emerge from a pre-packaged arts program, shifting its focus to accommodate a particular contract. Every Luna action is consistent with its mission and philosophy - and through this commitment, in everyone we touch, we crack something open. There is no break in the curiosity, experiment, creation, reflection cycle in any program, relationship, or decision. There are no apologies for dance with Luna. 

 

The Ripple Effect: Bringing Dance to All Children by Supporting Emerging Leaders

In 2014, Luna offered our first ever Dance Education Leadership Institute. Funded by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, it was a great opportunity to deepen our relationships with dance teaching artists and support their growth as leaders. It is exciting to witness the emergent confidence and agency of these leaders and the ripple effect the work has in their communities. Two participants, representing Northern and Southern California respectively, write about their work. 

 

Rebecca Weisser Cervantes, San Francisco 

 

I started the leadership program with the initial goal of wanting to use my non-profit, Moving Beyond Productions (MBP), to expand and deepen the dance program at Moscone Elementary School where I have worked as a dance teaching artist for 13 years. The leadership program made me realize that in order to help Moscone and other schools I needed to define and strengthen MBP. 

 

The monthly coaching helped me focus and figure out how to handle the many aspects of my jobs, as both the Executive Director and as teaching artist of MBP. I became more empowered individually, strengthened my organization, and worked on balancing the goals of MBP with the goals of the schools that I serve. I also learned how to delegate, see opportunity in change, and realize that I am in a position of power; and that using that power to strengthen my organization's work to benefit the populations that I serve. 

While it was scary, at first, I chose quit the jobs that were paying me as an individual to focus on MBP, I was rewarded by receiving the California Arts Council Artists In the Schools grant which allowed MBP to pay me for the time spent in administration. It is a small step that shows me that I will be able to develop my own programming and pay myself through MBP and eventually expand to hiring other dance teaching artists and administrative support.
 
I left jobs that I had been staying in solely out of obligation to the students. I realized that I had been accepting the limitations of the schools (short classes, short residencies, 45 kids per class, etc.), even when they were not serving the kids as well as they should have been. Patricia encouraged me to create my own best practices model for MBP and enforce it. I left for now, but promised the schools that I will come back through MBP and provide them with a better program. 

I also work as a teaching artist for The Marsh Youth Theater (MYT). When the director quit this year, leaving an opening in programming, Patricia encouraged me to seize the opportunity to highlight the dance program at The Marsh. The result was a MBP produced multigenerational dance show for Dia de Los Muertos with much more support than I've had in previous years. I designed and produced the event as more of a community celebration than a traditional show. We had traditional and non-traditional food and altars for people to bring pictures of their loved ones. The audience appreciated the show's depth and MBP gained visibility as an organization that is doing something valuable for the Mission district--presenting Latino art and culture in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. We already have plans for expanding participant dance groups and audience participation next year. 

Luna's leadership program changed my life personally and is helping both MBP and all of the students that I serve in San Francisco (around 1,000/year). The monthly phone meetings clarified my goals, broadened my horizons, and empowered me to realize that I am a leader already-to recognize and exert my power in the community. I am so thankful, yet wish that it was a 5-year program, because I know that Patricia's guidance, as a mentor who has worked in the Dance Education field so long, is invaluable. www.movingbeyondproductions.org

 

Meg Glaser Ter�n, Santa Ana

I have always been fascinated with marking time. One reason I fell in love with dance was the joy of experiencing the passing of time within my body, right beside my dancing friends, throughout the course of one performance. Once again, the joy of passing time, as a dance educator and advocate, is a cause for reflection and renewed commitment. Last year at this time, I contemplated leaving the field of dance education because I was not working or earning enough to support the family. This year, I am working 5-6 days each week teaching dance, without a perception of scarcity anymore. At each place I teach, I feel respected and fairly compensated, something I want every woman to experience in her work.

There are many ways in which my work has changed as I've taken ownership of opportunities to lead--building programs or creating change. As a member of California Dance Education Association, I was recently elected as the SoCal National Honor Society Dance Arts representative, a concrete way to become involved in the larger community of dance educators. My teaching with VSA arts was a wonderful collaboration with the school and teachers to bring inclusive dance programming to children with and without disabilities. In September, I began teaching at a K-6 elementary school, in which I have worked with all 1100 students and their teachers. Every class experienced a short standards-based dance residency last fall--an opportunity that had existed only in my imagination a year ago. I am also proud to be part of a team of dance educators in the ESCAPE (Equitable Science Curriculum through the Arts in Public Education) Project. We are teaching integrated dance and science lessons to third, fourth and fifth grade students, finding how movement helps us understand and embody abstract concepts.

Wanting to expand the Family Dance Program I started at The Wooden Floor (TWF) is what brought me to the Leadership Institute. While my initial desire was to grow it out to multiple sites, this year was about taking stock of the whole journey from 2011 until now-documenting and articulating what I have helped make possible. This year marked the first year that TWF has hosted three family dance sessions, and this fall we offered a session for boys only with their moms. Family dance has become institutionalized at TWF and the program will have a short article in the upcoming newsletter. Documenting the number of families participating in family dance has also helped me to quantify the effects of this program, and boost my morale to keep it going. To date a total of 67 families have experienced a 5-6 week series of relationship-based creative dance classes. In class, dancers may make an obstacle course with their bodies while taking turns to dance over, under, around and through. Side-by-side with their moms, I watch the dancers twist, roll, float and soar, passing through the obstacles. This is what I hope for all of us: mothers, fathers, daughters and sons choosing our way to dance and arriving in a place of creativity, community and freedom.

This year of mentorship with Patricia and our collegial exchange with the leadership cohort has built my confidence as a leader who believes in educational equity. How can my work become our work and how can our work forge a change to bring equity ever more present for all of us?