Dances of the Harlem Renaissance at Seth Boyden

With St. Patrick's Day almost upon us and shamrocks decorating classroom windows throughout the district, Black History Month may seem long, long ago.

But snowstorms delayed Seth Boyden Elementary School's Black History Month celebration, pushing it into March. A lost photo disk added some more time (editor error!) as well as getting bumped by big news stories. But now, finally, on March 16, Patch is ready to report on the "Black History Gallery Presentation & Harlem Renaissance 5th Grade Dance Performance" that took place on March 3.

Wrote Seth Boyden parent Jenny Winters (who is co-coordinator of the Artist-in-Residence Program): "Seth Boyden teachers and staff inspired our children and filled our hallways with beautiful artwork, poems, stories, biographies and more in honor of Black History Month. It was wonderful to see so many families come out to enjoy all the exhibits."

Visitors to the event were also treated to special performances by Seth Boyden 5th graders who studied the language of jazz and dance inspired by the Harlem Renaissance, under the direction of Clyde Wilder, the Seth Bodyen artist-in-residence this year. Wilder spent eight weeks teaching the 5th graders The Swing, The Shim Sham, The Stop and The Charleston—with the help of Ann Biddle of Stories in Motion and 5th grade teachers Ms.Murphy, Ms.Martinez, Mr.Kurlak, Mr.Edgerton, Ms.Bathmann, Ms.Koppenaal and Ms.Lanzafame.

The artist in residence program was paid for through a grant by Arts Horizon written by Barbara Ray and coordinated by Devyani Guha and Jenny Winters.