SPAC video features fourth-grade students
Saratoga Performing Arts Center recently unveiled “Too Darn Hot,” a video featuring performances by 104 fourth-grade students who took part in SPAC’s publicschool dance residency.
The popular in-school dance residency has continued this school year despite the pandemic, with safe but immersive dance training for students at the Charlton Heights Elementary School and online fourth graders in the Burnt HillsBallston Lake school district.
SPAC education partner Stewart’s Shops will be showing the video in its stores throughout Saratoga County from Feb. 8 through Feb. 22.
Led by SPAC teaching artists Cristiane Santos, J. Michael Zygo and Brian Melick as well as Dennis Moench, former Broadway star and senior director of education at SPAC, more than 100 students (both in person and virtual learners) took part in SPAC’s Dance Residency in the fall of 2020. The students participated in two in-person or virtual classes with Moench and team, and continued with a series of video lessons on the SPAC Learning Library to learn Broadway-style choreography to the show tune “Too Darn Hot” from the musical Kiss Me, Kate.
The students then performed their dance by filming individual videos for the SPAC team to combine into the virtual performance premiering now to celebrate the students’ achievements and share their work with their families, peers and the community.
This program is a reimagined dance residency - a program that SPAC offers to elementary schools every year. As of last year, there were already eight local schools receiving the five to 10 week in-school dance program with SPAC teaching artists. This spring, SPAC plans to provide this virtual programming to other schools who participated last year to keep dance alive in their classrooms.
“We were concerned that we might see a decline in student engagement in comparison to previous years with this new, primarily virtual format,”Moench said in a press release. “But we were pleasantly surprised when we saw all of the students fully commit to the program and give 100% of their energy immediately on day one! Their enthusiasm was infectious. Witnessing the students dance their hearts out, in spite of the many obstacles that we are currently facing, brought us so much joy. It gives us hope for the future to see such resilience in these young artists.”
Charlton Heights Elementary principal Tim Sinnenberg added, “The arts are such an important part of the educational process, and it has been such a pleasure to work with the amazing and talented professionals from SPAC to bring dance to our fourth graders at Charlton Heights. Our students have loved their experience, and practiced with all of their hearts for the recording of their moves.”
Charlton Heights fourth grade teacher Lauren Kritz enjoyed the program too. “My kids (and I) absolutely loved being able to participate in the SPAC Dance Residency this year. The virtual lessons were an awesome opportunity for them to get out of their seats and move during the day,” she said in the release. “They loved practicing the dance over and over to perfect it for their live class!”
Fourth grader Kadynce Dahl, in the release, summed up the experience this way, “I have a lot of energy and I like horsing around so the dance residency was so awesome because I got to use my energy!”