Explorations (Grades 7-9)

Explorations (Grades 7-9)
March 8-13, 2009
Fort Worden State Park
Port Townsend, Washington
$440, includes room and board

Space is limited, register online today.

During Explorations, you’ll get to work with vital, contemporary artists in a variety of disciplines—creative writing, movement, theater, music, and visual art—and learn how the different arts interconnect.

With the guidance of our Core Artist Faculty and working alongside students from across the state, you’ll experience the whole range of workshop offerings. Each day is divided into four workshop sessions, with plenty of time for meals, exploring, and rest.

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. And at the end of the week, you can share your creative experiments with your new and old friends and your family.

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 and sciences for their children. Tuition, room and board is free for chaperones.

Class Descriptions

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.

Theater
Samantha Rund is thrilled to be a part of the vigorous profession of acting that she says, “…forces one to  come face to face with change. If there is one constant in the world it is change - change of country, change of schools, and change of clothes. It isn't everyday however that one gets to change themselves. The beauty of theatre is that it is never the same. We all have the ability to transform; we have the ability to draw out the deepest places of ourselves, our quiet moments, and highlight that on the stage. We have the ability to be bold and honest and brutally truthful. We have the ability to grow.”
In class Samantha will facilitate the process of growing individually and together to bring that change to the audience. Class will focus on theatre techniques and personal improvisation, bringing life to a classic script. 

Caribbean Orchestra
The meaning of percussion expands as you learn to play African drums and Carribean steel pan drums with Jah Breeze. Explore rhythm, timbre and tone, learn to create a melody. Link yourself to other cultures such as the Yoruba, Malinke and Nyabinghi of Africa and the Rastafarians of the Caribbean.

Drawing
 Gretchen Bennett encourages students to explore the world immediately at hand through methods of drawing and “sampling.” Students will consider the relationship between the materials of art and DJ music, language and historical artifacts. Students will explore the power of sampling in visual art using stencils, drawing techniques and simple field recordings (sketches). Work with a range of artistic media and practices, such as collage, button making and hand-made sticker fabrication. Discover ways of making art that depict personal stories and histories. The class will facilitate and encourage collaboration.

Painting
 Jesse Joshua Watson will lead a workshop in painting that focuses on both study and play. You'll learn painting techniques, color theory, and good tricks, all from an artist who is very serious about his art and yours. Get a chance to experiment with color, try different painting surfaces and styles, and find and develop your own unique voice.

Japanese Taiko Drumming
Teachers Nancy Ozaki and Gary Tsujimoto of One World Taiko will introduce students to Japanese culture and geography and  present a contemporary style of Japanese drumming that incorporates dynamic and fluid movement and heart pounding percussion. They bring traditional Japanese instruments such as odaiko (large drum), chudaiko (medium sized drum), shimedaiko (small, rope-tied drum), shinobue (bamboo flute) and koto (13-stringed zither like instrument) along with Japanese percussion instruments such as atarigane (brass gong), chappa (hand cymbals) and hyotan (gourd shaker). Learn the history of taiko in Japan and the United States, along with how to use body and voice in to play the drums.

Circus Skills
Toby Shaw will focus on traditional circus skills including juggling, diabolo, and acrobatics/adagio. Toby mixes it up to keep everyone active, and breaks the process down step by step. He takes students at an absolute beginning level through to the magic of keeping three balls in the air, balancing and twirling a crazy yoyo and balancing on and with your friends through the acrobatic training of adagio. Adagio is the name given to partner acrobalance movements. It originated in Eastern Europe, and involves transitions between various stationary balances using one flier and one base. The base remains in contact with the ground and the flier is balanced in the air. To see what juggling with a diabolo looks like, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTnFQd9W_A.

Creative Writing
Sierra Nelson 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.

FACULTY BIOS

Jah Breeze is an international musician and percussionist from Guyana, the only English speaking country in South America. Jah Breeze grew up playing the steel drums in national ensembles for Carifeista and Carnival celebrations. He has traveled to many countries to perform and study the roots of the music. Jah has performed with the Seattle Dance Company for "Dance Dis" at the Paramount Theatre, and taught African drum workshops at the Seattle International Children Festival. He also directed the Arts Corps African Drum Ensemble in a South African mural exchange celebration at the Seattle Art Museum. He works as an artist in residence at Islandwood and at the New School in south Seattle.

Gretchen Bennett collects street stickers and reconfigures them into drawings and large-scale wall installations. Bennett is a sampler and an observer of daily culture. She constructs her world as she goes, from everyday objects, drawing from observation, as well as mapping her world through the city streets she frequents. In addition to collecting and recontextualizing stickers, she has created her own adhesive-backed sticker editions, including a series titled “A Viral Migration of Landscape,” partially funded by 4Culture and Artist Trust grants.

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.

Sierra Nelson received her BA in English Literature from Vassar College and her MFA in Poetry from the University of Washington. Her poems have appeared in many literary journals, including Cranky, Swivel, and Tin House, as well as currently appearing on Seattle Metro buses and T-shirts. Sierra is also a founding member of the literary performance art groups The Typing Explosion and the Vis-à-Vis Society. For the past ten years, these critically acclaimed groups have been writing collaborative poetry and presenting their work in the form of text-based art installations and interactive multi-media shows and collaboratively written, handmade books.

Samantha Rund is an actor, singer, mover, and teacher. She studied theater at Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois and received her MFA at the University of Washington. Samantha has performed in over thirty plays and most recently was touring around the country in “Addy: An American Girl Story.” She has taught with theatre companies and schools across the country. In 2007, Samantha worked with Intiman Theatre’s “Living History” program using performance and theatrical improvisation to engage young people in critical thinking in Washington state schools.

Tobias Shaw attended a circus college at Estudio Búsqueda de Pantomima in Guanajuato, Mexico and trained as an actor at The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Toby has worked at many New York City theaters and has been teaching circus skills for five years at the Lobero Circus Camp. His specialties include aerial silk, trapeze, clowning, juggling, diablo, and Acro/Adagio (circus gymnastics). He is also a specialist in Shakespeare. His current passion is blending elements of circus and theater in performance art. 

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, California, 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.

Jesse Joshua Watson says “I have been excited about art since I was a little kid. I had a blast playing around and experimenting with various media and styles and not a lot has changed since then. I still experiment with paint, pencils, ink, basically anything I happen to have in my hand. My fine art has been displayed in galleries, cafes, reggae clubs, museums, and on my parent’s refrigerator since I was very young.” He has illustrated many books, including the “Hank Zipzer” series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver, and the ALA Notable “Chess Rumble” by Greg Neri. Jesse’s illustrations have also been featured in magazines, art publications, and CD covers.