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Wolf Tap artist work with pre-K kids
Halifax County welcomed Wolf Trap artists to the community this
week.
Shown above are left to right Daniel Giray, Karina Naumer, Valdivia
Marshall, Director of Federal Programs for Halifax County Public
Schools, Khaleshia Thorpe, Wolf Trap Program Assistant and in the
back,
Jeanne Wall and Joe Pipik with Superintendent of Schools, Paul
Stapleton. (SOMcL photo)
PUPPET SHOW — Wolf Trap artist Joe Pipik yesterday demonstrated
shadow puppets to enrich the farm unit which is being taught in Mrs.
Tingen's
Pre-K class at the South Boston Halifax Early Learning Center.
(Danny
Lamberth photo)
There's a special treat in store for local students in the Cluster
Springs and Washington Coleman Early Learning Centers and their
teachers as five members of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early
Learning
Through the Arts visit the community this week.
The Institute is an internationally renowned cultural center housed
on
the grounds of America's only national park for the performing arts.
Founded in 1981, it places professional teaching artists in
classroom
residencies, bringing the arts to groups of preschool teachers,
their
children and parents.
It has been shown that active participation in drama, music and
movement activities can serve as part of the foundation for future
learning by fostering basic learning and life skills. The goal of
the
classroom residency program is to teach such skills to the children
while training their teachers in the practical application of these
arts related techniques.
Each morning this week (until Friday) the artists will be conducting
classroom visits at both the Cluster Springs Early Learning Center
and
the South Boston - Halifax Early Learning Center, working with the
youngsters.
Joe Pipik, a Wolf Trap Teaching artist since 1982, is a musician,
writer, actor and puppeteer who tries to fill his work with the
spirit
of love and positive energy. He and his wife, Jeanne Wall, design
puppets and perform in GoodLife Theatre productions. As a Wolf Trap
Master Artist with a major in Drama Therapy, Jeanne has an unusual
blend of humor and circus skills, including juggling, unicycle,
puppetry and music.
Daniel Giray, better known as "Danny G," teaches for the Zohar
School
of Dance in Palo Alto, California, and conducts residencies for
young
audiences covering the greater Bay area of San Francisco. His
background includes training in jazz, modern dance, ballet, musical
theater and children's dance therapy. For the past three years he
has
been the narrator for the popular dance performance entitled "People
Like Me" which features dance from around the world.
Karina Naumer currently is a free lance drama specialist living in
New
York City and is the Institute's early childhood drama consultant
for
the stART smART network Project. She described her work with younger
audiences through storytelling, she says and in 2001 she was awarded
the American Alliance for Theatre and Education's Creative Drama
Award
for outstanding excellence in the field.
This year marks the third time Wolf Trap artists have come to
Halifax
County. "Our teachers began asking back in August if there was a
possibility they would come again," said School Superintendent Paul
Stapleton. "We are so happy they are once again spreading the
program
around the state with visits to more than 100 classrooms outside
Northern Virginia,' he added.
"The key word for this is simply 'opportunity' for our kids,'" said
School Board Chairman Steve Anderson. "We are just so happy to have
you
here."
The artists will spend their afternoon hours training some sixty
teachers who have signed up for the late day workshop sessions which
deal with facilitating issue based drama in the young classroom,
integrating the performing arts and learning, tuning into children's
thinking, puppet power and the effective techniques for using
puppets
in the classroom and motivating children through movement and
rhythmic
music.