The Art of American Dance

In 2016 Crystal Bridges Museum featured The Art of American Dance as a special exhibition. The collection explored American visual art related to the many forms of dance and featured 90 works, ranging from realistic to abstract, by iconic and wide-ranging artists.

The galleries contained dance-inspired paintings, prints, sculptures, and photographs from the 1830s to the recent past allowing viewers to explore the variety of ways Americans embrace dance as part of everyday life, as well as the diverse forms of professional dance.

AAA Dance teacher, Karen Castleman, took advantage of the exhibition as an opportunity for students to see, experience and research these specific American dance forms. Mrs. Castleman collaborated with the Museum and the professional dancers that would serves as the speakers and featured performers during the exhibition to provide her students an educational opportunity that involved research, participation, creation and performance.

Prior to the show’s arrival Mrs. Castleman researched the exhibition thoroughly to have knowledge of the variety of dances, cultures, eras, and artists the exhibition would represent. Her plan was for her students to see the artworks as primary resources for research and inspiration. Students would research the works, artists, era, and dance form; submit their findings through a presentation and paper; collaborate with their instructor to choreograph a dance piece inspired by the painting and perform the work at the fall dance concert.

INTER-DISCIPLINE CONNECTIONS: DANCE/ VISUAL ART/ ART HISTORY/ HISTORY

On the day of the exhibition’s opening to the public, AAA dance students were the first guests to experience the traveling exhibition. Museum educators facilitated tours for the students, highlighting specific works and genres. The tours allowed students the opportunity to ask questions and contextualize the culture, music, and history illustrated within the works as well gain a better understanding for the significance of the dance style.

After the tour students revisited the galleries on their own. They were assigned to select a work and identify the dance style as well determine how the artist interpreted sounds, created atmosphere, gave attention to the performers and movements of the dance.

From studying the formal properties of the works of art each student then identified characteristics such as mood, color, and action that would translate to create a choreographed dance inspired by the work of art.

As part of the requirements for their research students shared their findings and discoveries from what they learned about their selected work of art and the connections to the dance style they would develop in a presentation that was recorded.

Under the guidance and instruction of their teacher Mrs. Castleman, the dance students collaborated using their research to create several dance vignettes inspired from the exhibition The Art of American Dance.

Visual Art Students Experience the Exhibition

The success of the dance performance and the continued availability of the exhibition led to a collaboration between fine arts disciplines at the academy.

AAA art teacher, Crystal McWilliams, also saw the strong possibilities for educational lessons with the exhibition. Mrs. McWilliams asked Mrs. Castleman to join her classes to share knowledge about the various dance forms as they self-guided through the works in the galleries.

Classroon Collaboration

After spending the afternoon at the Art of American Dance exhibition learning about the various dances and having the opportunity to see the many art styles using dance as subject matter, Mrs. McWilliams assigned a project to measure what her students learned.

Returning to the school the visual art and dance classes joined for a unique collaboration. The dance students performed their choregraphed vignettes while the visual art students drew their fellow dance student from life.

Museum Performance

Arkansas Arts Academy has an active partnership with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Twice a year the school hosts an event, AAA Night @ the Museum, which is an evening where the students activate the galleries with performances, poetry, and dialogue for the public. For the spring 2016 event the dance students performed their vignettes created from their research of The Art of American Dance.