COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ADF strives to provide arts education for all by offering year-round community engagement opportunities. ADF encourages everyone – individuals of all movement experiences – to take part in modern dance. Programs at ADF’s SHS Studios are dedicated to providing a sound scientific and aesthetic base for all levels of training. ADF’s SHS Studios serve as a center for creative activity in which students learn in a welcoming and non-competitive environment from faculty who are experts in their fields.
ADF’S SAMUEL H. SCRIPPS STUDIOS
More than 671 participants of all ages attended youth and adult classes at ADF’s Samuel H. Scripps Studios during 2019-2020 prior to shutting our doors due to COVID-19 in March. In August, the SHS Studios pivoted to presenting several classes online.
YOUTH CLASSES AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Through generous foundation and individual support, ADF was able to offer 70 scholarships to Durham and Triangle youth to attend weekly classes at the studios between September and March. Scholarships to ADF’s Youth Classes were offered in the names of Anonymous and Susan and Michael Hershfield.
WORKSHOPS AND MASTERCLASSES
In addition to weekly classes for youth and adults, ADF’s SHS Studios offered a mix of masterclasses, workshops, and open discussions with local and national choreographers, companies, and faculty including Glenna Batson, Culture Mill, Amanda K. Miller, Kira Blazek-Ziaii, Leah Wilks, Matt Pardo, and Ronald K. Brown. As part of a weekend of events with Ronald K. Brown, a number of opportunities were free and open to the public, including a screening and facilitated conversation centering around the 20 th anniversary of Brown’s breakout work Grace, and a community dinner at the Scripps Studios. ADF also collaborated with Duke Performances to offer master classes with Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Ballet X.
ADF’S PARKINSON’S PROGRAM
The Parkinson’s Movement Initiative (PMI) program, offered in collaboration with Poe Wellness Solutions and NC Dance for Parkinson’s, completed its third successful year. PMI is supported by a Community Grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation, which enables ADF to offer all PMI classes cost-free for people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and their caregivers. In addition to weekly classes, the 2019-2020 PMI offered special volunteer meet-ups to cultivate our growing community of committed PMI volunteers, as well as continuing our Community Connections initiative that works to form a lasting network of meaningful relationships in the community. Due to COVID-19, our PMI classes were forced to cease in-person operations on March 14. Faced with this obstacle, our PMI faculty created a catalogue of new instructional videos on YouTube, with new videos being released each week. The PMI team built a YouTube channel of over 30 videos that the PD community can use as a resource while continuing their movement practice at home. This transition in the face of unprecedented circumstances was met with over 1,800 views, an average of 49 views per video. Live online classes via Zoom were also initiated in September, with 171 visits by 45 unique attendees in the first three weeks of class. Expanding upon our work with the PD community, the They Are All/Dancing with Parkinson’s project bridges artistic and scientific perspectives to seed new ground for research on the beneficial outcomes of improvisational movement, mindfulness, and somatic tools for people living with PD. ADF worked with Culture Mill’s Tommy Noonan
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