CDF School Touring Program Video

A shout out to Jamie Cottle for this excellent video of our School Touring Program!

Magic Circle on the road

Last week, the School Touring Program was on the road, performing The Magic Circle at three local elementary schools.   Professional cast members Shellie Chambers, Mary Foshee, Michelle Imhof and Rhea Speights loaded up the minivan with a multitude of props – an exercise ball, styrofoam boxes,  hula hoops, loops of rope and water bottles – and headed to Whatley Elementary School, Green Acres Middle School and Hudson Elementary School.

Children’s Dance Foundation’s School Touring Program is on the road about two Fridays every month of the school year, presenting one of their academically-linked dance performances.  Math in Motion was created in 1998 by California-based dance artist and mathematician Karl Schaffer and CDF Project Director Mary Foshee.  The Magic Circle was created more recently, in 2010, by Schaffer and Foshee. Math in Motion has been performed in more than 200 gymnasiums and cafeterias across the state of Alabama.  For many years, it has been part of the Alabama State Council on the Arts Rural Touring Program.  It is also often presented in Birmingham by Better Basics.

This video was captured at last week’s performances of The Magic Circle, as well as the most recent performance of Math in Motion at North Roebuck Elementary School.  Both programs were enthusiastically received by the students and teachers.

Math and Dance Mingle at Glen Iris Elementary School Friday

April 11, 2011 – Children’s Dance Foundation’s (CDF) School Touring Program will present the academically-linked professional dance performances “Math in Motion” and “The Magic Circle” for students and teachers at Glen Iris Elementary School Friday morning.

In “The Magic Circle,” three professional dancers use hoops, loops and a lively narrative to uncover the interesting nature of the circle and the mysterious number known as pi.   The performance lasts about 45 minutes and is now being presented at Alabama schools for students and educators K-8.  Funded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and conceived and choreographed by California-based dancer and mathematician Karl Schaffer, “The Magic Circle” combines music, math and movement in a uniquely refreshing way.

“The Magic Circle” is a recent addition to CDF’s School Touring Program, joining the much-loved “Math in Motion” that has been touring Alabama since 1998. Both performances juxtapose two unusual partners, math and dance, finding a means of expression for one through the other.   It’s not completely dance…it’s not completely math.  It’s something wonderful and wacky you get when you mix the two together!

“Math in Motion” was created by Schaffer and CDF Project Director Mary Foshee and has been performed at more than 200 schools for more than 70,000 students.  It has received support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA), the National Endowment on the Arts, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, The Wells Fargo Foundation as well as numerous local foundations, corporations and individuals.

Performed by four professional dancers and designed for elementary and middle school students and teachers, “Math in Motion” and “The Magic Circle” are interspersed with narration and audience participation, pose questions about math and link dance to the curriculum by investigating math concepts.   Students and teachers usually agree that they’ve never seen or experienced anything like it.

A teacher shared recently shared about “Math in Motion”… “The students were excited and captivated by what was going on.  Putting math and dance together is a great way to spark students learning and get them excited about math.  Math is more than just textbooks!”

Schaffer, a Birmingham native, has created a number of dances about math for his California-based company, the Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble.  Schaffer also teaches math at De Anza College.  On his website, www.mathdance.org, Schaffer explains the concept of linking dance to mathematics. “Our math dance grew from two seeds. As choreographers, much of our work springs from play with ideas from the world of mathematics. As teachers, we have found that mathematical ideas become more exciting, tangible and memorable when you act them out with your whole body…” The website presents some of the Math Dance authors’ favorite activities for the classroom. “You will find that these activities treat math and dance as a single creative activity, not has two separate disciplines,” says Schaffer.

CDF is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 by Jennie Robertson, Virginia Samford Donovan and Mary Conyers Cooper.  CDF’s mission is to provide comprehensive dance education to all, enriching the spirit, enlivening the imagination and celebrating community.

CDF has its own curriculum for teaching young children, “Movement to Music;” provides weekly dance education classes to more than 1,000 typical, at-risk and special needs children at 25 sites throughout Birmingham; contracts training programs for educators; has student and staff performances for the community; has a long-standing commitment to offer studio space for artists who need a space to work and call ‘home;’ and a studio program that offers creative movement, ballet, jazz, modern, special needs, parent/child, just for boys and adult classes.  To learn more about CDF, call 205/870-0073 or visit www.childrensdancefoundation.org.

The School Touring Program

Watch CDF’s School Touring Program “Math in Motion” on Vimeo!

Our School Touring Program, Math in Motion, continues to travel the state, performing at schools, dancing with students and sharing useful classroom activities and resources for educators to use in the classroom, linking the arts to academics.

Funded by the Alabama State Council on the arts and produced and performed by Children’s Dance Foundation, Math in Motion was created by mathematician Karl Schaffer and CDF Project Director Mary Foshee.  Math In Motion has been on tour since 1998.  More than 30,000 elementary and middle school students and educators at more than 150 schools throughout the state have hosted this imaginative mix of math and dance.Math in Motion is part of the Alabama State Council on the Arts’ Rural Touring Program.

The show travels to schools and is great for grades K-6, running 45 minutes in length, and includes an activity packet for teachers. Classroom sessions are also possible program additions.