Dear Parents, Guardians, Caregivers & Family –

Performing Arts Workshop is delighted to have your child participate in our artistic residencies through our partnership with your local afterschool program and the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF). Performing Arts Workshop is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping your child develop critical thinking, creative expression, and basic learning skills through the arts. We are in the final year of the AFA three-year project and this year we are proud to have served more sites than the previous two years.

What does this mean for your child?

• In the current 2009-2010 school year, your child has participated in a performing arts class during their afterschool program 1-2 days during the week.
• Our artists have worked with your child at the following afterschool sites: Drew Elementary School, ER Taylor Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, Malcolm X Academy, Paul Revere College Preparatory, Visitacion Valley Boys & Girls Club, or ROCK Beacon.
• Your child has studied with one of our trained professional artists in one of the following art forms: Creative Writing, Capoeira, Kung Fu, Hip Hop Dance, or Hip Hop Music.

In this newsletter, you will get a small sample of the exciting things happening in our classes and partner sites. Please always feel welcome to visit and witness your child in action firsthand!

If you’d like more information, please contact me via email at mariel@performingartsworkshop.org or by telephone at (415) 673-2634 x 203. Also, check our newly re-vamped website: www.PerformingArtsWorkshop.org

On behalf of the Workshop and our Teaching Artists, it has been an extreme pleasure working with your child this year!

Sincerely,

Mariel G. dela Paz
Program Manager, Artists-in-Communities
Performing Arts Workshop

Creative Writing at Paul Revere: My People
Matthew Davison

Rahman currently teaches Hip Hop Music, particularly the art form of Rap, to the teens at Visitacion Valley Boys & Girls Club and to the middle school-aged youth at the Community Beacon Center.  Rahman has been able to hook students into the art by teaching them the tools in creative ways by rapping back and forth using only the words on a juice box label (“juice box battle”) or playing Hip Hop scrabble.

Students learn the history of Hip Hop and discuss its current artists.  They also tell their personal stories through the musical forms of freestyle and rap.  With this skill, youth reflect on their own these experiences and dialogue on the important events that concern them most in their personal lives.

Kung Fu at ER Taylor Elementary: Mastery of Kung Fu
Scott P. Phillips

As students have gathered experience in this Chinese art form, they are challenged to go beyond what they believe they can do, changing the very foundation of their individual physicality, coordination, presence, and gaining a broader vision of what it means to be human.
-Scott P. Phillips, Teaching Artist

This is Performing Arts Workshop’s third year teaching Kung Fu at ER Taylor Afterschool. To ensure that students are receiving the highest quality and rigor of arts learning, Teaching Artist Scott has formed an advanced level class to meet the needs and desires of students that have taken the class in previous years. Over the duration of the school year, classes have met twice a week. Each class consists of a warm-up, basic Kung Fu stances, and playing instruments for each other to accompany their Kung Fu routines. While both beginners and advanced students continue to unfold the traditional ten-line Northern Shaolin routine of “springy legs,” students in the advanced class are further challenged and tested on their mastery of skills. Excelling students are awarded the opportunity to practice Kung Fu with the added element of using wooden swords and are encouraged to use improvisation in two-person routines.

Hip Hop Music and Dance at ROCK
Beacon Rahman Jamaal & Becca Rozell

Rahman currently teaches Hip Hop Music (particularly the art form of Rap) to the teens at ROCK Beacon. Rahman has been able to hook students into the art by teaching them tools of expression in creative ways through activities such as “Juice Box Battle” or “Hip-Hop Scrabble.” They are educated in the history and current representations of Hip Hop. They are encouraged to tell their personal stories through the musical forms of freestyle and rap. With this skill, youth are able to reflect on their own experiences and dialogue on the important events that concern them most in their personal lives.

Becca Rozell teaches Hip Hop Dance on Wednesday afternoons at ROCK Beacon. While attendance tends to be low, the students who attend regularly are excited and work hard. There is one girl in particular, who comes back knowing the new material and motivated to get as much done as possible during the class time. She has talked about showing her family her dancing. She was never considered the dancer in the family; her older sister was a dancer She is a fast learner and it’s been very impressive how much material she has learned. The smile on her face has made the experience and challenges of low attendance completely worth it.

A Note from ROCK Beacon: Calling All Middle Schoolers!
We would like to invite all middle school youth residing in Visitacion Valley to join ROCK Beacon Afterschool Programs at Visitacion Valley Middle School. We provide academic support and enrichment activities for FREE! Our fabulous staff is well trained to teach different skills, facilitate fun activities and support our young people in any way possible. Activities include homework help, cooking, skateboarding, sports & recreation, hip hop workshops, and golf.
Overall, ROCK Beacon is dedicated to nurturing the healthy development of children by listening to their needs and providing opportunities to those who might not otherwise have access. ROCK aims to promote the positive development and long-term success of youth through a combination of in-school and afterschool learning enrichment, sports & fitness, leadership training and outdoor adventure opportunities.
If you would like to join the ROCK family, pick up a registration form at Visitacion Valley Middle School, 450 Raymond Ave. in Room 101. If you have any questions, please contact, Erica Hernandez, Middle School Program Coordinator at Erica@rocksf.org or (415)260-8774.

Music at Visitacion Valley Boys & Girls Club: Teens Rock Out!
Jason Brown

There are few organizations that keep the interest of youth over the years especially when they don’t have to be there! That is impressive! As a teenager, I went to an afterschool program only if there was an incentive like stipends or school credits. Then again, I lived a privileged and safe life as a kid. Luckily, the youth participating in programs at the Visitacion Valley Boys and Girls Club are getting great resources. Visitacion Valley Boys and Girls Club Staff are amazing and reflective of the community served. The facility is immaculate! But most importantly, once members start attending Club programs, they stay!

I am one of two Workshop artists currently facilitating residences. Every Friday night from about 6-8 we rock out! The Workshop provides a drum kit, bass guitar, electric guitar, and amps. I match with a microphone, trumpet, keyboard, conga drum set and various percussion instruments. We sit down, have themed discussions about various aspects in life like love and aggression (on separate occasions, of course), and then transform the discussion into music using rhythm patterns, melody, improv and line lyrics.

Some of the youth have training like the Brothers Sosoato, who play for their church band. Others have never accessed instruments prior to their participation in my residency. We have a lot of fun! Somehow, my quirky approach to music matches the kids’ interests. Yes, the discussions are loud, transitions can be abrupt, and I remind them every so often to watch the expletives, but these teens are building musical skills and exchanging ideas about life! They love each other, feel safe with one another, and share each other’s joy and pain.

They have decided to plan a show for April 16th after much deliberation. They don’t know that it’s my birthday. I don’t think I will tell them. Watching them perform will be the best gift of all!

Afterschool For All (AFA)
San Francisco’s Afterschool for All Initiative (AFA) is a citywide collaboration between Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF), several city departments, the San Francisco Unified School District, and community based organizations to support diversity in quality afterschool programs for all elementary and middle school children by 2010.  Performing Arts Workshop received an AFA Grant Award in to provide quality arts programming in your child’s afterschool program.