TWO TIERED RESIDENCY – R.R. MOTON ELEMENTARY & SOUTH MIAMI MIDDLE SCHOOL

Momentum Dance Company annually conducts educational residencies at both R.R. Moton Elementary School and South Miami Middle School.

The 2007-2008 project will provide Momentum's fifteenth year of commitment to R.R. Moton Elementary School and will add a sixth year of residency to Moton’s feeder school South Miami Middle School. Moton, a critically low-performing school, is located in rural South Miami-Dade County, in an economically disadvantaged, crime-ridden, and severely underserved area. South Miami Middle is in a mixed economic and ethnic neighborhood and is severely overcrowded.

This program is made possible in part with support from: the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Children's Trust and the Thoresen Foundation.

The Residency includes the following for each school:

·          2 dance technique classes for magnet dance students during school hours

·          (30 students per class X 2 classes X 2 days per week X 16 weeks)

·          2 educational Lecture/Performances for the entire school population

·          Creation of 2 new choreographic works for students by Momentum's instructional staff

·          1 student performance, open to the community, featuring residency choreography
 

All planning and decision making for this program is conducted with the lead dance teacher for each school: Avis Warren (Moton) and Jessica Valdes (south Miami). They will accesses student needs and educational goals, set priorities, and work with Momentum staff to ensure that the material presented is consistent with the Sunshine State Standards.
 

Goals:

·          To develop and implement methods for increasing the role of arts, particularly dance in public education

·          To develop methods of using dance to address instructional needs for enhancing core curriculum

·          To provide teachers and students with opportunities to experience dance as an essential part of education that has direct application to lifetime needs and demands

·          To develop methods for dance artists to grow beyond the concert stage and provide them with skills for making the transition away from the stage later in their careers

The instructors/choreographers for this project are:

IRMAH DEL VALLE at South Miami Middle School: Irmah comes to Momentum via Helsinki, Finland, where she and her partner danced and taught at Latin American Dance Theater Finland. She is originally from Cuba, where she performed with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, and was a Principal Dancer with Narcisco Medina Company, with whom she received a Gold Medal at an international dance competition in Korea. She was selected to participate in the World’s Festival in Russia and in Martinique, and has toured in Europe, including France, Switzerland, Germany, and many other countries. One of her most successful professional experiences was in Finland with her partner Iesme Grenot, with whom she founded the dance company Fuera de Balance. They received important prizes and outstanding critiques in international publications, and introduced a new style of dance to Finland. Irmah trained at the National School of the Arts in Havana, and has expertise in the fields of Cuban folkloric dance, and Afro-Cuban dance as well as modern. She is currently a Guest Artist at Dillard School for the Arts in Fort Lauderdale and is the principal teaching artist in Momentum's educational residencies at South Miami Middle School and R.R. Moton Elementary School. She also danced with the Miami-based Iroko Dance and Music Ensemble. She has recently created original choreography for the dance departments of Western Kentucky University and Miami-Dade Community College.

 
MARIANA ALVAREZ BRAKE at R.R. Moton Elementary School. Mariana Alvarez began her professional career at the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., moving on to the San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Internacional De Caracas and the Eglevsky Ballet Company. In 1982, Alvarez Brake began a teaching career that led her to several of Miami’s best known dance schools:  New World School Of Arts, Ballet Concerto Company, and The Miami Conservatory. She was the director of Miami Dance Theatre School and Company, which was a member of the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association. Ms. Alvarez Brake is currently a Visiting Instructor at Florida International University. She has also taught for the American Ballet Theatre  National Audition Tour classes, High School Festival Organization and was an adjudicator for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the International Ballet Festival in Lima, Peru. Ms. Alvarez Brake has choreographed and staged many ballets in South Florida   area and in 1984 she was honored by the Association of Critics and Commentators for the Theatrical, Classical and Literary Arts for her choreographic work “Chopin-Images. Her recent work “Abstract Impressions” was performed at the 2001 Florida Dance Festival. As a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Ms. Alvarez Brake brings years of experience and insight to her classes, turning a blend of technique and artistry into one of her signature skills. Currently she is teaching at FIU Ballet levels I - IV and pointe technique.