(Professional Artists and Cooperating Educators)
For more information or to schedule a PACE residency, contact Deb Strickland at (269) 385-1503 or by email.
Dance and Theatre Residencies
The PACE Program provides K-8 schools with artist residencies in dance and theatre. Professional artists partner with classroom teachers to present eight-week residencies with a focus on student creative ownership.
The PACE Program is geared towards the needs, schedule and culture of each school building. PACE artist residencies operate in schools through physical education classes, after-school programs, student electives and lunch-and-learn programs. The program has minimal school requirements, including providing an appropriate space for residency activities and designating a "cooperating educator" who coordinates the residency and must be present during each session. Schools arrange for their own transportation, permission slips and chaperones for field trips. EFA provides the PACE resident artist at no cost to schools.
PACE residencies run for eight weeks in September-November and January-March. Schools may sign up for one residency each semester. Residencies generally meet one or two days a week for 45-minutes to 90-minutes per class.
PACE Admission Credit
As part of each residency, students experience a professional dance or theatre performance by world-class artists. EFA provides free admission to the performances and a bus transportation rebate ($1.00 per student, not to exceed the actual cost.)
PACE Consortium
Each semester, residencies culminate with a PACE Consortium at the Epic Center, an arts and cultural center located in downtown Kalamazoo. Students from throughout Kalamazoo County spend a day taking specialized dance and theatre workshops and sharing their artistic creations with their peers in a professional performance venue. The PACE Consortium occurs each November and March. EFA pays for all PACE Consortium expenses, except for lunch, substitute teachers and transportation, but does offer the bus transportation rebate of $1.00 per student (not to exceed the actual cost.)
Program Objectives
The objectives of the PACE Program are as follows:
- Develop student and teacher awareness in the fundamental components of dance and theatre
- Introduce and develop student physical expression skills through exploration of dance and theatre techniques and active participation with professional resident artists.
- Enhance group working processes through collaborative, ensemble building exercises.
- Establish a creative working environment for students to experiment with choreography and dramatic ideas, choices and patterns.
- Encourage constructive critical analysis skills and ability to verbalize dance and theatre terminology through critiquing the works in progress of fellow students.
- Enhance poise and self-confidence through performance of their artistic work for peers.
- Enhance the teaching strategies of cooperating educators through the active collaboration and participation resident artists.
Last Modified on 6/23/2009 8:42:16 AM
