Interdisciplinary collaboration builds bridges between the classroom and museum
PITTSBURGH, PA—Expanding on a three-year partnership with Stanwood Elementary (Hempfield Area School District) and Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (SAMA), Attack Theatre designed and implemented a new virtual residency and performance program to bring museum experiences directly to students in third grade classrooms at Stanwood. This ten-day residency launched the creation of Art Transports Us, an interactive virtual field trip, featuring select works of art from the museum and original dance films created by Attack Theatre.
Select artwork from the Ligonier and Loretto campuses of SAMA guided conversations between Attack Theatre dancers and students of four third grade classrooms at Stanwood Elementary. Over the course of the residency, students explored aspects of social-emotional learning through artistic creation, reflections on visual art, and movement generation. Dr. Wendy Milne of the Visual Arts Department expounds on the intent and impact of these workshops:
“This year our students (and staff) were expected to deal with many changes and challenges to their world and many did not have the language to explain their feelings. Developing the ‘Art Transports Us’ theme was based on all of our needs to get up and move away from the computer to express ourselves in new ways. Even virtually, the rapport between the dancers and the students helped build students’ confidence in showing emotions through movement as well as feeling comfortable explaining what they saw in the paintings.”
Known for collaboration and deliberate connections between creative learning and performance programs, Attack Theatre sourced choreography for ten short movement vignettes from student reflections to each work of art. Peter Kope (Co-founder and Co-Artistic Director), Simon Phillips, Sarah Zielinski, Dane Toney (Company Dancers) and Miranda Nichols (Guest Performer) each created and directed two pieces to accompany the virtual field trip. Video was captured at Attack Theatre’s studio by cinematographer Joshua Sweeny, and edited by Dane Toney.
Hosted on the Eko platform, the interactive program allows audiences to navigate select works of art and accompanying movement vignettes. This virtual experience builds on over a year of research and development of programs that connect students in any learning environment to artful experiences, despite the constraints of the pandemic. Working together, Peter Kope and Dane Toney add the role of Digital Experience Designers to their respective positions in the company. Peter shares more about this process:
“When we create a theatrical experience, we think about the audience from the beginning to end. Our work on the Eko platform allows us to explore new ways for audiences to engage with our work. The choice-driven platform gives the viewer control over an experience that we curate and present through our own brand of creative play.”
This project was made possible through the Arts-In-Education (AIE) Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), a state agency. State government funding for the arts depends upon an annual appropriation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The PCA AIE Partner in this region is the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. Additional support comes from Hempfield Area School Board of Directors and Administration and Stanwood Elementary.
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