QUESTIONS

1. If you were going to present your artwork to a classroom of k-8 students, how would you introduce the piece that is on your Virtual Chautauqua website?

2. What else would you tell them about the piece?

3. Is it relevant to some broad theme or genre or culture? (for example a style or feeling)

-what we're looking for are keywords that will help classify "stages" or rooms in the virtual performing arts center>

4. Virtual Chautauqua has a large focus on education. It is important for us, working with the project, to make the websites relevant to what the teachers teach. There needs to be an obvious connection to math, or history, or science, or language etc. -a basic school subject. What, if any, subjects relate to your art and how? In other words, how do you think your art could be used to teach specific curriculum issues?

5. What questions would you like the students/audiences be able to answer about your performance after they view the sight?

Gary Erb, poet

Discipline

Vindication

1. It is "an activist notebook."

2. It is informed by people I've known. It is based on conversations with these people.

3. Dramatic monologue, political.

4. Current events, social sciences.

5. Does it sound like anybody you know? Is that the way you perceive it yourself?

Britta Erickson, performing arts

"How I Learned to Drive"

"Radio Theater Live"

1. How I Learned to Drive is NOT for elementary or jr. high kids, ONLY high school (IT'S ABOUT PEDOPHILIA) It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. It's an important social conversation about the gray areas of life. It's an issue play. The purpose is to promote cultural conversation about things that affect all of us. The play is caged in an analogy of a driving lesson. Life is a lot like driving; there are detours, turns, accidents, and we don't have a map. It is also about the idea that those who love us the most can also hurt us the most. Ironically, we receive a gift of knowledge from the people who hurt us. Life and love are not black and white, we must navigate throughout the gray areas. Decision-making can be hard when all the alternatives look bad.

Radio Theater Live CAN BE USED FOR ELEMENTARY AND JR. HIGH KIDS as well as high school.

The idea is to recapture the art of listening and using the imagination as people used to do before television was invented. Families used to gather around the radio and listen to serial shows. Every week, they would return to find out what happened to the hero, and the episode would end with a cliffhanger. People would really listen to the words and use their imaginations to paint the picture. Radio Theater Live recreates the radio show. People come to the theater and just listen to a radio show episode being read by actors. There is no set or costuming. They must use their imagination. It is not a play, it's about listening and visualizing.

3. How I Learned to Drive: play, drama, theater

Radio Theater Live: drama, theater, radio play

4. How I Learned to Drive: social science, psychology, literature

(because it's a play and because it uses a metaphor)

Radio Theater Live: history lesson because it's about pre-television life

5. How I Learned to Drive: Why are some decisions so hard to make? Why are some issues not black and white? What can happen when bad decisions are made? What are the family dynamics in this play like?

Radio Theater Live: What is the difference between radio plays and live theater? What is storytelling? What is the difference between storytelling and television? Why do we say that storytelling is a lost art? Why is oral history important?

The text of some of her poems and a brief resume can be found at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~bknuckles/janet.html

Answers to questions:

1. It's hard to write something that's interesting and clear, and entertaining.

3. poetry, West, Colorado, experimental, poem

4. English/literature, music, science

5. Why is sound important in poetry? How does a poet express him or herself through sound? How do sound and visualization go together in a poem? Does the poem help you to imagine?

Joel Haertling

1 . This is a film made without a camera of any kind. Image is produced by the natural occurrence of mushroom spore release. The mushroom spore prints are made directly onto 16mm film, and then duplicated. Film loops are made, and are run through rojectors in special combinations to create a variety of illusions of movement.

2. The lab processes involve taking a positive original film, making an internegative, and then making multiple prints of it.

3. Botany, Mycology, Perception theory of Psychology.

Forest, field, meadow; Summer and Fall growth of mushrooms.

4. Science: Botany; Mycology, Physiology of the eye; perception/psychology

5. Explain the spore releasing phase of a mushroom, and demonstrate how to make a spore print. Distinguish mushrooms from other botanicals

Explain the persistence of image on the retina that creates the illusion of motion in motion pictures.

Denver Center for Performing Arts

Denver Center for Performing Arts Promotional Video

Denver Center Theatre Company Education Department does a study guide for each show, geared directly to teachers and students who will see the plays at student matinees, they have already done most of the curriculum work for you. Our study guides are on-line at our site at www.denvercenter.org Teachers can go there and download the information.

Deborah Reshotko, Dance

My artwork will be a section of "American Painting" (a dance interpreting artwork by seven American visual artists). I'll send you the video this week. I'll also mail you a couple of pieces of promo about the dance that will help kids understand. (I s till don't know how to pull them out and attach them for email-- maybe bcn can teach a basic email course sometime for folks like me.)

Questions for students about performance clip:

How does the movement you viewed relate to the piece of art that the dance is based on?

Did any movements that you saw remind you of communication techniques (e.g. stenography, telegraph, radar, etc.)?

What might the choreographer have been trying to say in this section?

Who could the other dancers that surround the main dancer be?

Jose R. Martinez, poet

The Egg Story; Tireless Home; Velvet Kennedys

1. My poetry attempts to capture aspects of the Hispanic community of southern Colorado. The poetry reflects a variety of issues, such as the impact of the Second World War on the community; cultural conflicts and responses to those conflicts; tension and communication within Hispanic families in the San Luis Valley, etc.

2. I would say the poetry is autobiographical, rooted in my own experiences and my sense of my family's history. The poetry tends to be authentic in its representation of Hispanic life in southern Colorado and also historically accurate. Based on my kn owledge of the Hispanic history of the southwestern United States, I can say that many observations contained in the poetry are microcosmic of the larger history.

3. It is poetry of the Hispanic culture. Specifically set in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado but the poetry reflects the general Hispanic culture of the Southwest.

4. Literature, cultural studies, history, English, Spanish, language arts. Any of these disciplines could feature this poetry. Some poems are bilingual and all speaks to issues of literature and culture and history.

Does this Hispanic poetry capture views of that community not ordinarily seen in other media, such as history books or newspapers?

Does the poetry contain images or scenes or characters that represent parts of Hispanic culture? Name some.

Dinah Leavitt, playwrite and screen writer

1. By my artwork, I assume you mean the digitized sound tape of me reading from my monologue, 'White Trash Etiquette." This material may not be suitable for young children. For older ones i would tell how I was commissioned to write this piece for a Domestic Violence Awareness Week program. I used a character I had been thinking about but had not really created yet. I performed the piece myself which was extremely important to its growth.

2. The character, Shula, became the main character in a screenplay I am working on. Well into my second draft, (a process I could explain) I adore working with this material. It is comedy, coming or age/maturing, irony and southern.

3. The theme is a young woman with few resources who wants to escape her life, taking control and doing just that by using the means that come her way--Etiquette, in this case. She is deep south white trash culturally who uses the tools of higher classes in unusual ways. It is feminist in that Shula saves herself through her own wit and grit without a Prince Charming.

Key words: young women, coming of age, feminist, etiquette, and white trash

4. This is literature--a stage performance art piece and now, a screenplay. One could study Arka-Tex culture from it as one might read "Bastard Out of Carolina" or "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" as cultural literature. If they study films in K-8, looking at a screenplay for format and so on might be fun.

5. I do not understand number 5.

Other work I am doing might interest kids: I have been hired to re-write two history plays for the town of Lake City, CO. It is late 1800's Colorado history and they are pretty good.

Kathryn Winograd, poet

1. I have several pieces, but specifically pieces that were written for children--riddle poems as a way to discover metaphor and sensory image.

2. White space, use of science to write poems, that there are different kinds of poems, how predeterming some parts of your poems can lead to fresh discovery.

3. nature, mother/child

4. Science : how scientific fact canbe used tocreate wonderful poetry images

5. Poetry is about passion; writing what you never dared to speak even to yourself

Bonnie Phipps

http://www.abmall.com/cmc/index.html

1. 45 minutes of music, each piece is different. There are a lot of folk songs from different places around the world. The songs require activities; kids can participate in the songs.

3. keywords: music, storytelling, children's music, band, folk music, autoharp, spoon

4. subjects: language arts (folk tales), science (dinosaur songs),multicultural/social science (songs form different countries)

5. What is folk music?

What is a folk story?

What is an autoharp?

How is the spoon played? How do songs from different countries teach you about cultures?

Boulder Bach Festival

1. The Festival presents three 2-3 hour concerts every January, from which we could select quite a few pieces. I am going to say it will be a set of Songs and Airs from the Anna Magdelena Notebook we performed last year. Hope that's OK.] ANSWER: J. S. Bach was famous for writing beautiful music, but he was also a kind and loving husband and father (he had 20 children!), and an excellent teacher, too. He made a special book of pieces for his wife, Anna Magdalena, and these pieces are from that notebook.

2. The Anna Magdalena Notebook is unique, as it was a personal gift from Sebastian to his second wife in 1725. Over the twenty years that followed, the former court singer copied her favorite compositions onto its gilt-edged pages. In addition to the two large partitas copied by the composer, which open the book, numerous other compositions grace this volume: minuets, polonaises, marches, songs and airs. Several of the compositions previously believed to be by Bach have been determined to be by other composers. Anna Magdalena copied various airs and songs by Bach into the book, often transposing the pieces to suit her mezzo-soprano voice.

3. The pieces are representative of the Baroque era, a cultural style that found realization not only in music, but in architecture, painting, sculpture, etc.

4. The life and times of J. S. Bach relate directly to history, showing how musicians worked and lived in the Baroque era. His music represents the pinacle of the Baroque idea, as well, which can be directly tied to architecture and art. In addition, Bach's music often demonstrates an almost erie use of numerology (for instance, three was an important number representing the trinity, and many works use that and other numbers in their form), so many of Bach's pieces can be mathematically worked out.

5. What was the cultural era of J. S. Bach? Who wrote the pieces in the Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook? What kind of family life did J. S. Bach have?

1. No idea. We still do not have a website.

2. (could not answer)

3. Our work is relevant to a little bit of everything. We are more like acommunity centre for artists.

4. We can relate to any subject. We have alreday worked with schools and we supply whatever the school or teachers need.

5. (no website yet)

1. This is an informational site intend to form the public about the group Talk about the history, what the group does.

3. keywords: folk dance, ethnic, Mexican culture, youth dance

4. related subjects: social studies, PE, arts

5. key information: what they do, where they are located, how to get in touch with them.

Backstage at the Big Top

1. Being as the piece is a performance this question is difficult. As a presenter I would show my work first and ask questions after. I have a study guide for interested teachers. This piece is also directed towards the grades 1-5. 2. The piece is about life backstage at the theater...any theater. It is a good introduction the the lifestyle of Circus Performers. The piece discusses the work and training behind the performance-what looks simple onstage has taken years of practice and training. Afterward I also discuss how I developed the show and how I made the props. 3. The show is relevant to physical comedy, theater, movement, music. 4. First and foremost the piece is an introduction to theater. I also discuss language in that the circus has a language of it's own, words that have been changed from the original (Bulgarian, French, Russian) and 'Americanized'with a twist of Circus to create a new use for the word. Geography is covered during a demonstration of the route the Circus takes in one year.

5. What training does it take to become a clown or performer?

Is a clown just a person in make up?

Is a life of travel something that the student would be interested in pursuing? If so, why?

I am answering this for the dance 2 X 2 which we will have on our website. This piece does not particularly relate to education. We are working on a school touring show "Women in History." This dance will not be completed until June 2000, but we hope to eventually have it on our website. I feel this piece will be more beneficial for this program. In the mean time I will answer the questions for our dance 2 X 2.

1. To introduce 2 X 2 I would first like to tell students that the music was my main inspiration for creating this work. The music is Vivaldi's Concerto in G Minor, and it is performed by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Bobby McFerrin. When I created this piece I was intrigued by the musical phrasing that includes measures of two beats juxtaposed against measures of four beats. In response to this phrasing I choreographed the dance with four dancers, placing them in different combinations of two.

2. I would like to tell them that the dance is an abstract movement piece not designed to tell a story. It is designed to compliment the music with the dancers moving in various rhythm and partnering combinations.

3. 2 X 2 can be classified as modern dance set to classical music. The music is upbeat and lively, while the dance is somewhat lyrical and playful.

4. 2 X 2 can be approached from a mathematical view point. The breakdown of the phrasing can be analyzed through the music and movement, offering a mathematical interpretation of the piece. The dance can also be viewed through a historical perspective. This particular Vivaldi Concerto has been contemporized by Bobby McFerrin offering an interesting look at how classical music is very much alive today.

5. I hope the students will be able to hear the music in a different way. 2 X 2 physically illustrates dynamics and phrasing in the music in a creative fresh manner. My hope is that the students will be pulled in to the piece, and understand and appreciate it in a new way.

Acoustic Stick

1. Few people study how to do this, it is called microtonal. A piano, a harp, a guitar has 12 notes that are useable, before they need to repeat the notes. This has 19 notes. It is a new concept that a few hundred people in this world can play.

2.

3. guitar, micortones, stringed instruments

4. math

5. Note Neil is willing to do blues, jazz, folk or country pieces for audio clips if needed.

Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities

1. The Arvada Center is a multidisciplinary arts center, which means we do a lot of different stuff -- performing arts, like plays, musicals and concerts; visual arts, we have two galleries where you can see paintings, photography, sculptures, etc... and education, we offer over 600 classes each year in the arts and humanities for people of all ages. You can learn to dance, sing, sculpt, act, paint and more at the Arvada Center. The video on our web site will show you all of these things you can do at the Arvada Center.

3. Tough one to answer -- the Arvada Center is relevant to three areas of the arts -- performing arts, visual arts and education. What we do within those areas changes on a regular basis. Bringing the arts to everyone is probably the best answer for a "broad theme."

4. Almost every subject is covered in one form or another at the Center. Here's a breakdown by what we do: Theater -- English, speech, history (depending on the show), language arts, theater Concerts -- music, music history, choir, band, math Visual Arts -- art, art history, history (we host the Arvada Historical Museum) Classes -- art, music, theater, physical education, math, history, language arts, English Playground (we have an accessible playground that kids love!) -- physical education

5. What is the Arvada Center? What are the three main areas of arts that they offer? What would you most like to do at the Arvada Center?

Ofer Ben-Amots

Kaddish Lament

1. This piece is music for clarinet and cello without any speaking or singing. If at all, both instruments take the place of a singer and a story teller and turn the words and sentences into musical tones and phrases. The music tells a story of an old city - the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, a 3000 year old city has much to tell, as she has seen history over a long time: many nations come and go, times of war and times of peace, the rise and fall of kings and emperors, and prophets of all possible religions. As a composer I thought that if the city would tell her story, or just even make a statement, that's the way it would sound: a voice of lamentation starting with the words "I, Jerusalem...". For that reason the subtitle of the piece "Kaddish Lament" is "I, Jerusalem..."

2. I would tell them that this is Jewish music and that in Judaism music can come instead of a prayer. I will probably play to them many more examples of Klezmer music and chanting samples. May be we will be able to talk about feelings and emotions that arise by music. Music is a language which uses tones instead of words. Here the two instruments, clarinet and cello are conversing with each other. Why do they play music instead of just using words? Because there are some things, feelings, that cannot be expressed with words, or to say it differently - they are better expressed with music.

3. I could tell a little more to the older classes (7-8 grades). For instance, about the circumstances under which I wrote this music when visiting Jerusalem a few years ago. The piece is a musical personification of the city of Jerusalem. I wrote it in December 1991 during a rainy afternoon after a deeply mysterious experience at the Wailing Wall (Kotel Ma'aravi). As I was standing next to the Wall, I heard a thin, soft, pure, child-like voice coming from above the wall. It was a forgotten chant full of wailing, dveykut (devotion), and longing. I looked all around and above to find where the voice was coming from, but could not see anybody singing. Instead, I saw a small group of rabbis behind me and could clearly recognize by their hand movements that they were debating over some issue. But the voice kept coming, closer and closer - louder and louder. I felt as if the 3000-year-old city herself was singing to me. When I finished my prayer and went to leave the Wall, I passed by the group of rabbis. Only then, did I notice that it was the oldest among them who was singing in this wonderful clear voice. What had seemed at first to be a rabbinical debate was indeed a heart-breaking, weeping Niggun. In this composition for bass clarinet I wanted to grasp that special moment and remarkable sound.

4. This is certainly "ethnic" kind of music also in many other ways it is western and contemporary. I am afraid that all of the above may be a little too complicated to young students, but may be I am underestimating the students.

5. I think that language and history are the most related issues to my music.

6. Why is 'music' a 'language'? What do we use this 'language' for? How do several instruments converse with each other? What is the role of the composer? What is the role of the performer? Do composers always perform their own music? etc, etc.

note Finally, given the fact that this is an educational site I would like to suggest (after the lengthy explanations above) that you feature a different work of mine which is geared for the young listeners. It's called "Story No. 2" for Narrator and Orchestra and it is based on a story by the French writer Eugene Ionesco. This piece will be much more appropriate, I suspect.

Dance 1:Tilting

Dance 2: Cascades

Dance 3: Unveiled

1. I am not sure which piece is featured on the web-site....and it must only be a picture of a dance also. Basically just prior to any given piece that we are performing in a school at a lecture/demonstration, we would give the audience the basic information such as title and music, choreographer's name, etc. Additionally, we talk about the qualities shown in the piece, sometimes teach audience members some of the movements or gestures from the work, demonstrate particular elements or movements from the dance so that the audience members can look for them as they are watching. We ask them questions like "What do you call a person who creates dances?" and "How many syllables are in that word?", etc. We talk about how creating a dance is like writing a story or a paragraph or a sentence.

2. What else would you tell them about the piece? We talk about qualities in the dance and ask them to watch for these and then to respond afterward with what they thought the dance might have been about. Please also see the answer above.

3. Is it relevant to some broad theme or genre or culture? (for example a style or feeling) -what we're looking for are keywords that will help classify "stages" or rooms in the virtual performing arts center Each piece or dance is different in terms of theme but each dance has an element of design, quality, relationship (dancers to one another), rhythm, pattern, musical style.

4. Dance is easily related to many subject areas. Math: counting, lines, design (circles, diagonals, straight lines, etc.), rhythm, beat, tempo; English/Language Arts: dance phrases are like sentences - beginning, middle, end; words equate with movements or basic locomotor skills; dance phrases build one on the other like sentences building into paragraphs, etc.; Physical Education: basic health and well being, coordination, self-esteem; Social Studies: nuances of various dances relate to cultural differences/similarities or different cultures; Science: dance structure and choreographic designs in space can be related to molecular structure for example; Dance and the process of creating dances builds self-esteem, cooperative learning skills, problem solving skills, etc., independent thinking as well as group cooperation and support.

5. What makes modern dance different than ballet dance, or tap...? Basic questions about KRD---i.e., we are a professional modern dance national touring company based in Denver... What programs does KRD offer? (mainstage performances, educational outreach programs - lecture/demonstration performances, workshops, master classes, residencies in both urban and rural settings), KRD School Who does KRD serve? (Ages 4 through seniors, beginners through professionals, dancers, non-dancers, corporate executives, rural community members, homeless shelters, detention centers,....) How many people KRD reaches each season (20,000-25,000) Where does and where has KRD toured and/or taught? (CO, NY, CA, WY, SD, MO, NC, GA, OR, MN) Contacts with foreign countries: Japan, France, Romania, Russia (can give more info on this) How to find our web page...and how to request information about KRD and programs. What awards the company has received.

Erik's involvement with schools

Yesa Rhythm

1. He has learned a lot of his techniques travelling to other countries. He collected his instruments from other countries. He shows the instruments to the kids and lets them know that they will all get to participate. The first music that existed was percussion with the human voice, about 40,000 years ago. Erik often will pick up some bamboo sticks, jump around, sing, and simulate prehistoric music. Then he shows the evolution of percussion instruments by showing the skin drum from 20,000 years ago, up to the computer drum, the most modern drum. So there is storytelling, history, and playing.

2. The emphasis is on cultural diversity. The rhythms and musical instruments of many different countries have the same roots, so they really bind cultures together in their similarities. We can then be more open-minded to diversity and celebrate the differences when we see that we have the same roots. For example, Latin music, Brazilian music, Jazz, rock and roll, and R&B all have roots in African music. Music is a tool to understand and celebrate cultural diversity.

3. percussion, rhythm, drums, cultural, diversity, instruments, music history

4. subjects: music, history, geography, social studies

5. What is cultural diversity? Where did music come from? Where did modern music come from?

Nadem

I don't Speak English Only

1. We use physical exercises and breathing techniques to show kids how to prepare for the theater. It is a hands-on introduction. The idea of the performance is to teach the artistic and cultural traditions, language and history of the U.S. Southwest and the Americas and to promote dialogue among diverse communities in Colorado and throughout the region

3. keywords: theater, drama, culture, Chicano, Spanish, political

4. school subjects: history, current issues, political science, sociology, Spanish, theater arts, literature

5. questions for students:

How can theater be a tool for communication?

Why is the performance more than just entertainment?

What does the performance say about politics?

What does the performance say about culture?

What issues in the play affect the community?

Waltz from Boglewood

1. This is for the sophisticated young person; it doesn't talk down to young people. It is an American fairy tale. It tells a story through opera. I would introduce the piece by explaining the story a little bit.

2. Humor is used a lot because it is a wonderful way to bring kids into the piece.

3. keywords: opera, music, humor, story, fable, tale, commission, children's music, kids' music, young, youth, fairy tale, fantasy

4. school subjects: literature, drama, history (tales of gods, goddesses, morals, folk tales), science, botany, biology (because there are descriptions of natural elements in the piece)

5. questions: why is it important to learn to listen? how can your mind make its own images? why is closing your eyes and listening and imagining why is closing your eyes and listening and imagining different from watching TV or playing video games? what does it mean that your imagination can take you where you want to go? what does it mean that when you close your eyes and listen, your images are uniquely yours?

-----
TEXT
----
You have seen it now,
eaten with us now,
danced with us now.
The magic of the forest lives on.
Sleep, dream of the wood.
Sleep, dream of music and dancing.
Sleep, sleep, but will you dream of me?

--Lara, the Fairy Princess

Lamb

Changes Desire Finger birds Pollen Voices
text

1.  We are a wheelchair dancing company.  People who can walk and who
can't
walk can dance at the same time.  We are showing that everyone can dance!

2.    It is a good way to include everyone.  Dance is a form of expression
for
everyone, whether in a wheelchair or not.

3.    dance, wheelchairs, disabilities, music

4.    art, music, English

5.    How do the wheelchairs add to the performance?  How do the
wheelchairs   How do the wheelchairs
make the dance possible?  Why is the dance not possible if there were only
walking people?