Hoboken Teens And Pre-Teens Learn How To Interpret Current Events Through Dance

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Middle School and High School students are participating in the Dance & Democracy Project, working with performers from Nimbus Dance company in Jersey City on how to explore, understand, and express social and political events and issues through creative dance.

The program includes hands-on dance instruction and co-creation with students creating their own original movement pieces.

A high school and a middle school cohort will create an original piece which encompasses student movement pieces and the Nimbus Dance Company that will be performed on Friday, June 3 in the Hoboken High School’s auditorium at 7 p.m.

The performance will take place after free dance workshops for the entire community that will take place from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Halie Benway, a sophomore at Hoboken High School, said, “The Dance Democracy Project is very near and dear to my heart because it gives the chance for people to see a teenagers point of view about our society. As teens we see things through a different lens from people younger than us or people older than us. [It] gives us the opportunity as students and young adults to discover, learn, and present injustices and modern day topics in a creative way."

Halie added, "After this experience I believe I will develop better collaboration skills and develop a better understanding of current events. These are very important skills to develop at this age since they are crucial to have once you're an adult. I am very excited to work on this project and present something truly remarkable.”

This project was followed by a field trip that Hoboken Middle School students attended on March 9 and 10. Hoboken Middle School students were able to attend a Nimbus Dance Performance entitled "Raucous Caucus Tango: A Comedic Eulogy For Democracy As We Once Knew It."

The show is Director Samuel Pott’s latest choreographic creation, forged with a notable team of artistic collaborators including 2-time Grammy award-winning composer Pedro Giraudo, playwright and New Jersey arts leader Alysia Souder, Jersey City Poet Laureate-Emeritus Rashad Wright, and nine Nimbus dancers.

Raucous Caucus Tango's plot was about dancers struggling with the challenge of addressing politics given the current state of confusion in the US. The performance took us on a journey trying to explain how our country ended up in its current state. They proceeded to perform stories about the origins of power and government.

Racial divisions were touched upon and dancers shed light on the fact that people don't pay attention until violence occurs. The dance piece overall asked us as audience members to help be the change the world needs.

A Q & A directly followed the performance which allowed our students to ask questions and discuss dance concepts with professional dancers.

The educational purpose of this field trip was so that students in Pre-AP Dance class could see first hand how dance companies draw on written texts, politics and history as source material for works of dance as they explore, adapt and interpret source material in the creation of a new work.

Throughout the marking period, our Middle School Pre-AP dance students create dance studies based on short stories, considering the ways that dance can be used to interpret the narrative of character, theme, and important moments from the story.

By attending a professional dance company's production, students in Pre-AP Dance had the opportunity to explore how “Raucous Caucus Tango” communicates linear and abstract narratives. Students will turnkey this experience through the creation of a dance phrase and a written reflective piece that expresses how Nimbus was able to tell their stories through the dance concepts of time, space, and energy to the characters that unfolded within this story.

Students were able to explain the choreographic choices made by Samuel Potts in this original dance piece, and how the movements helped them be able to interpret the characters and overall meaning of the story being told on stage.

Vivian Allen, a Hoboken Middle School student, said, “Dance and Democracy has helped me to better convey the emotions of a dance and tell a story. I am able to experiment with choreography and relationships with other people. Dance and Democracy has shown me a new side to dance that I had never known before. It has really helped to improve my knowledge of dance and my creativity.”

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