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Theatre and Dance Sessions

The two theatre and dance areas of the Tennessee Arts Academy combine practical and creative elements to expand the teacher's ability to interpret curriculum in exciting new ways. Instructors from around the country use their expertise to help TAA participants enhance their skills and renew their enthusiasm for teaching. In addition to the theatre and dance sessions, all participants attend performances, musings, interludes, and special events, with plenty of time built in for networking and reflection.

Tennessee Arts Academy 2023 Theatre Core Classes
Elementary/Lower Middle Theatre
Focus Area: Arts Integration, Creative Drama and Movement
Arts Integration, Creative Drama, and Movement is the focus area for the K – 6 elementary/lower middle theatre sessions. Each day participants will take classes in three areas of study that are especially designed for classroom generalist teachers, librarians, special education, physical education and gifted teachers. Arts Integration will help facilitate the learning process in traditional subject areas. Creative drama will focus on improvisational and non-performance aspects of theatre. A final daily class in movement and dance will be offered. All elementary theatre participants will attend all three classes.

Daily Core Classes

Every day, participants will attend each of the classes listed below.
Embodied Learning: Engaging with Story and History Through Drama
Instructor:
Sindy Castro
Active learning through theatre games, movement, and improvisation allows students to engage directly with the language arts and social studies curricula. Through play and imagination, students are able to make personal connections to characters, stories, and historical content. Through modeling and embodied learning, participants will take away strategies, activities, and mini lessons that will bring drama strategies into the elementary school classroom.
The Heart of Arts Integration: Bringing Creativity to the Center of Your Classroom
Instructor:
Penelope Caywood
In this session, participants will explore how a variety of art-full experiences can spark the passionate pursuit of meaning in the classroom. Caywood will share her very best ideas, handouts, actions, and tools that develop children’s creativity, foster collaboration, and inspire joy in the classroom.
Like a Proton! Wiggle with Words! and Other Fun Ways to Learn with Movement
Instructor:
Missy Lilje
Participants in this session will be engaged by moving while working with standards-based content. Ideas will be shared that encourage creativity and will lead to a more energetic delivery of lesson plans. It isn’t necessary to be a dancer to move the body and engage the brain! Participants will explore simple movement activities dealing with speed, space, and force. Attention will be given to creative prompts to develop new lessons that tie movement with curriculum concepts.
Upper Middle/Secondary Theatre
The upper middle/secondary theatre sessions (7 – 12) include unique sessions each year in at least three of the following areas: acting, directing, improvisation, criticism, movement, playwriting and technical theatre. Instructors from around the country provide stimulating class sessions that reflect a mix of stage and performance techniques coupled with current trends and the latest research in arts education.

Daily Core Classes

Every day, participants will attend each of the classes listed below.
Playing with the Classics: Adapting Ancient Works with Young Artists
Instructor:
Kristin Hunt
Participants will explore practical ways to find, adapt, and stage classic works in the public domain with young artists as cocreators. Sessions will focus on adapting, devising, and applying cocreation techniques to work with existing scripts in the public domain, with an emphasis on using ancient works as a source of “new” material.
Moving and Creating the Laban Way
Instructor:
Renee Redding Jones
This workshop will offer an experiential exploration of Laban’s effort theory and more. The experiences are designed to sharpen the eye, bring clarity to choices, create the functional and expressive life of characters, expand a range of expression, and teach a vocabulary that can be shared with students to develop specificity and nuance.
Act Before You Think! Unleashing the Power of Individuality Through Practical Aesthetics
Instructor:
Tyson Kaup
In this workshop participants will explore practical aesthetics. This brass tacks and comprehensive acting technique employs a simple four-step process in order to mine the essential action of a scene and unleash the power of the actor’s personal self-expression while serving the intentions of the playwright in refreshing and surprising ways.
Please check back regularly for updates and information about the 2023 Tennessee Arts Academy.
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