Culture
Grant Brings Dance To Beacon School Students
By: Sarah Hawley | Athens Messenger staff reporter
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Students at Beacon School are getting a lesson in dance after receiving a grant for the artist-in-residence program earlier this year.
This is the fourth time Beacon School has received the grant, and the second year for instructor Lisa Moulton to work with the students at the school.
Moulton works with students of all ages on movements and motions to act out songs.
During a recent lesson, the students used pompoms to re-create the movement of leaves moving in the wind and falling to the ground.
The program teaches rhythm and motion to the students, said Moulton.
Each school receiving the grant has the option to select the type of art program to bring to their school. For Beacon School it is movement and dance.
The program, which is taught once a week for 30 minutes, fulfills the student’s needs in physical therapy, coordination and creativity, among other things said Moulton.
“The rhythms bring joy to the kids,” said Moulton. No matter the level of participation a student had in the activity, all of them were smiling and somehow participating in the program.
Moulton said she likes the use of props such as the pompoms in the classes because it helps the students to see an extension of their movements.
The program is sponsored by VSA Ohio, the state organization on arts and disability.
The Adaptation, Integration and the Arts residency program partners teaching artists and educators in classrooms inclusive of students with and without disabilities to enhance teaching and learning through an arts-integrated residency and curriculum.
Residencies are academic content standards-based, utilize Universal Design for Learning strategies, across all art mediums, and reach grades pre-K through 12.
Moulton also works with students at Hope Haven School in Jackson County.
The primary goals are to improve academic achievement; better prepare students for life, work and post-secondary education; and better prepare educators to support learning and inclusion for students with disabilities.