Fort Worden State Park
Port Townsend, Washington
Centrum’s “Explorations” middle-school workshop, in partnership with OSPI, is a week-long total-immersion residential experience—in creative expression.
Converse, draw, sculpt, paint, dance, perform, and write. It’s an intense, fun-filled time of learning how the different arts interconnect. Gifted professional artist-faculty engage young artists in the world of arts and ideas, creative risk-taking, and professional practices.
Each day is divided into four workshop sessions, with plenty of time for meals, exploring, and rest. Choose your main interest as your core subject, and explore by learning about other art forms in your other three classes.Each evening, the core artist faculty show and talk about the work they do; these presentations are followed by snacks and hang-out time in the dorm. On Thursday night, a student showcase takes the stage, with friends and family invited to see your work!
Tuition, room and board is $460. Scholarships are available. For this program, student groups of four to six sign up with an adult chaperone. Groups may come from school districts, with teachers and school staff chaperoning, or they may be formed by parent committees looking for extra opportunities in the arts for their children. Tuition, room and board is free for chaperones.
Visual Art “Gizmos and Automata”
Darwin Nordin teaches how to create thing-a-ma-jigs and doo-hickeys that challenge the usual notion of what is considered to be a painting or sculpture. Learn to use elements of simple machines, and pop-up paper engineering to create Gizmo- Paintings, Collages and Assemblages. The objective in this class is to tinker like creative geniuses.
With Mandy Greer you will take art out of its usual context and wear it. Learn to transform old clothing into wearable sculptures. Incorporate your own theatricality into movement and storytelling while wearing your art. Through sculpting found objects and using papier mâché, basic crocheting and knitting, and simple sewing techniques, Mandy will teach you to transform everyday discarded materials into remarkable upcycled art with a DIY flair. Look at how contemporary artists have used wearable art to blend the visual and performing arts, and to inspire your own ideas. Bring your own stuff from Goodwill and throw it into the mix.
African Dance
Etienne Cakpo and Siya Manyakanyaka will teach contemporary dance movement that is commonly found across West Africa. Etienne specializes in traditional dances from Southern Benin that originate from Vodoun spiritual, ceremonial and/or historical dances. The dances involve graceful movement, undulation of the back, and lowering of the body by bending the knees. The music is rhythmic percussion played on bell, shaker and drum. Siya introduces movements originating from her home country of South Africa, including step dancing (called gumboot dance) originating from the hardship of working in the mines.
Rachel Kessler uses her background in poetry and collaborative writing to lead writing exercises that awaken the senses, take wild imaginative leaps, deepen the image and trust the surprise. Students will work both individually and collaboratively, and by the end of the week, begin to experiment with ways to take the text off the page. Typewriters will be provided.
Teachers Nancy Ozaki and Gary Tsujimoto of One World Taiko introduce students to Japanese culture through the study of Japanese drumming. They bring traditional Japanese instruments such as the chudaiko (medium sized drum), shimedaiko (small, rope-tied drum), shinobue (bamboo flute) and atarigane (small brass gong). Learn the history of taiko in Japan and the United States as they teach the intricacies of Japanese drumming. Their drumming style is energetic and athletic with a mix of modern and traditional rhythms and whole body movements similar to the martial arts.
NANDA members Misha Fradin and Chen Pollina will focus on the art of juggling. This program is designed to teach coordination and the melding of brain hemispheres through the simple art of throwing objects in the air and catching them theatrically. Students will learn to ambidextrously apply practical physics in a fun and challenging setting.
Combat resolution
NANDA members and brothers Tomoki and Kiyota Sage will teach a form of stage combat known as combat resolution. This is a unique look at a non-aggressive style of stage-combat. Students will learn to take and give hits in a theatrical way; slow motion techniques; and how to engage in tightly choreographed energetic movements.
Theater with Beverly Thompson helps students become confident, creative, relaxed stage performers. Beverly guides exercises that inspire an expressive body and voice, a focused mind, and an active imagination. A typical session begins with an open-ended discussion, physical/vocal warm-up, then free writing/relaxation. The second half of the session, students learn community-building and improvisation through ensemble work, culminating in the performance of an original theatrical presentation inspired by free writings, music, visual art, poetry, visualization and sensory exploration.
ARTIST BIOS
Etienne Cakpo is a professional dancer, choreographer and musician from Benin, West Africa. He teaches and performs traditional African dance from Benin as well as contemporary African dance styles, and has been building his dance repertoire for over twenty years. Currently the director and lead choreographer of Gansango Music and Dance based in Seattle, Etienne contributes regularly to the cultural arts community in western Washington, and performs in solo events and group shows.
Siya Manyakanyaka is an accomplished dancer and singer from South Africa. She has performed with the Iintombi Zilapha Dancers from South Africa, Gansango Music & Dance, Sankofa Theatre's Maafa Experience, and Seattle Theatre Group's Dance This! She currently teaches various classes and participates in numerous performances in the Seattle area.
One World Taiko presents a contemporary style of Japanese drumming that incorporates dynamic and fluid movement as well as heart pounding percussion. Founded in San Francisco, CA, One World Taiko is led by Gary Tsujimoto and Nancy Ozaki. Their music is drawn from Japan's ancient tradition of lively and spirited festival drumming and One World Taiko’s own creative rhythms, arrangements and choreography, adding a modern spirit to the ancient tradition of taiko. Their repertoire includes traditional pieces, which were taught to them by the world-renowned groups Kodo and Ondekoza from Japan, and original compositions infused with contemporary rhythms from their love of jazz and world music.
Rachel Kessler is passionate about providing a structured, supportive learning environment for all students. Kessler is a writer, educator and performance artist. She is a senior Writer in Residence at Ballard High School through Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program. Kessler has natural ease with young people and an ability to work in high-pressure situations while maintaining a sense of humor, qualities that she has relied on in The Typing Explosion, a seven-year collaboration with two other poets and 15 years working in the education and child care field.
Darwin Nordin is an accomplished visual artist whose work includes drawings, paintings and sculpture that reflect his fascination with nature. Darwin’s twenty-five-year career as a teaching artist is centered-around the creative process. He has worked collaboratively with poets, writers, actors, dancers, filmmakers and set designers. He has facilitated the creation of large mixed media artworks for organizations like The Seattle Children’s Museum, The Port of Seattle, The Pacific Northwest Ballet and The Museum of Glass.
Mandy Greer is a mixed-media installation artist with an MFA from the University of Washington. Her most recent projects are about blending community, installation & performance. Her 2009 piece “Mater Matrix Mother and Medium” is a process-based temporary public art experience commissioned by Seattle Public Utilities involving community action, site-embedded installation and performance produced with dancer Zoe Scofield and composer Morgan Henderson.
Her work has shown at Tacoma Art Museum, Henry Gallery, 4Culture Gallery, Soil & Consolidated Works. In 2008 Mandy had her first solo museum show at the Bellevue Arts Museum. The show traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Craft, in Portland in 2009.
NANDA consists of Chen Pollina, Kiyota Sage, Tomoki Sage, and Misha Fradin. Their performances include dance, juggling, and acrobatics in a humorous mix. NANDA has toured throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The group performs regionally at Seattle's Moisture Festival, The Oregon County Fair, Harmony Festival, as well as a variety of theaters and public and private events.
Beverly Thompson graduated from Hendrix College in Arkansas with a B.A. in Theatre and Education. She spent two years at the St. Louis Black Repertory Company, performing five shows that toured throughout the Midwest. Since settling in Seattle almost ten years ago, Beverly has kept busy by working as an actor, director or teaching artist with the Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Freehold Actors Studio, Empty Space, On The Boards, Seattle Public Theatre, 5th Avenue Theatre, GAP Theatre and Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.
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This program is generously funded by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Washington State Arts Commission, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Washington State Parks, the Baker Foundation, the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, PONCHO, the Sage Foundation, and thousands of individual donors whose generosity celebrates the power of creativity to change lives.
