Dear Families,

Performing Arts Workshop (The Workshop) is excited to report that your child has participated in artistic residencies through our partnership with your local afterschool program and the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF). Last year, The Workshop received a 3-year grant from DCYF to provide quality arts education to after school sites. The Workshop is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping your child develop critical thinking, creative expression, and basic learning skills through the arts.

What does this mean for your child?

• In the 2010-2011 school year, your child participated in a performing arts class during their afterschool program 1-2 days during the week.
• Our artists worked with your child at the following afterschool sites: Malcolm X Elementary, Paul Revere College Preparatory K-8, E.R. Taylor Elementary School, Bessie Carmichael Elementary School, Tenderloin eighborhood Development After School Program, Mission Learning Center After School Program, Jamestown at Horace Mann Middle School, Hamilton Family Center, Girls After School Academy and Visitation Valley Boys and Girls Club.
• Your child studied with our trained professional artists in one of the following art forms: Creative Writing, Spoken Word, Capoeira, World Dance, Hip Hop Dance, or World Music.

In this newsletter, we take a deeper look at the learning taking place within the residencies at two of our partner sites: Mission Learning Center and Tenderloin After School Program. We highlight stories from the perspectives of teaching artists and site leadership in an effort to illustrate the nature of the our work.

If you'd like more information about the Workshop residencies offered at your child's after school program or would like share feedback with us, please contact me via email at aurora@performingartsworkshop.org or by telephone at (415) 673-2634 x 203. You can visit our website: www.PerformingArtsWorkshop.org .We also encourage you to see the Workshop first hand by visiting your child's class.

On behalf of Workshop teaching artists and staff, it has been an honor to work with your student this year. We look forward to a continued partnership for years to come!

Warmly,

Aurora King
Program Manager
Performing Arts Workshop

It's Like a Family, A Dance Family
By Laura Choe, Program Manager at Tenderloin After School Program

"Shay is a really good instructor. She should be on America's Got Talent." Nada, age 8

"It's like a family" "Like a dance family." Marie, age 13 and Simran, age 8

The Tenderloin After-School Program (TASP) is thrilled about our new collaboration with Performing Arts Workshop to bring hip hop dance classes to our participants. The series is funded through DCYF so TASP doesn't have to pay a thing. Classes meet two times a week through the end of May, for ages 5-9 and 10+, under the expert guidance of Shireen "Shay" Rahimi. Shay brings the perfect balance of encouragement, discipline, extensive knowledge of hip hop music and dance; and a deep understanding of the power of dance. She sees dance as an ideal medium through which young people can learn self-esteem, resiliency, teamwork, and critical thinking. Her intentionality and commitment to the healthy development of young people is a perfect match with TASP's overall mission of nurturing healthy, strong, engaged kids.

Our hip hop workshop folds directly into two cultural festivals organized by TASP. The first was the wildly successful African American Festival and the second will be our Cinco de Mayo Festival. Participants in the dance workshop have the opportunity to perform on stage in front of audiences that exceed 100 people. This give our young people a concrete goal and provide a critical experience of accomplishment—an experience that they can build on for years to come.
But the real measure of success is on the faces and in the words of the kids who are attending our hip hop classes each week.

"We learn how to get along with other people and help them learn the steps if they missed a class.... You feel good being in the class and once you try it you won't want to miss any more." Marie, age 13.

"My favorite thing about the class is seeing the kids get along. That makes me happy. And I like the music." Nada, age 8

Obviously, these kids are not only building skills, staying physically active, and preparing for a big performance; they are clearly learning how to work as a team and having a lot of FUN! And isn't that what being a kid is all about?
At a time when arts education has been cut in so many schools and the narrow emphasis on test scores now overshadows all other aspects of youth development, this partnership between TASP and Performing Arts Workshop is all the more critical.

Hip-Hop is More Than '5,6,7,8'
By Shireen "Shay" Rahimi, Hip- Hop Teaching Artist

Hip-Hop dance is more than just a '5,6,7,8,...' count to pick up a few steps, or performing on a big stage somewhere with lots of lights and an audience. Hip-Hop for me, is a way of life. It is ultimate freedom from all negativity, an escape from bad memories, and an outlet to express creatively. Hip-Hop is deeper than what people see. It is sanity in an insane society. Now days, it's hard to see Hip-Hop in its rawest form. I see Hip-Hop on the faces of children smiling when someone comes into their life to point them in the right direction and help guide them. Hip-Hop is love, expression, power, faith, knowledge, music, movement, motivation, sanity, and for me: HIP-HOP is life!
– From Shay Rahimi and The Dopest Outsiders

My name is Shay Rahimi, and I am currently teaching hip-hop dance at the Tenderloin After School Program in San Francisco. Twice a week, students ranging from 7 years old and up participate in a performing arts- based workshop that challenges them to explore the art forms of hip-hop dance and underground hip-hop music. It is my hope that the residency provides a space for dancers to really explore their own creativity and the ways that it links to their world.

My objective at Tenderloin After School Program is not only to open up the eyes and ears of today's youth to an alternative outlet of positive expression, but also to build life skills and a positive character. In my class, kids need to work as a team. My ultimate goal is for students to understand the importance of teamwork, practice and performance and how it plays a role in everyday life.

Mission Learning Center: A New Spin on Literacy
By Lillian Egloff, Mission Learning Center Program Director

Rahman Jamaal of Performing Arts Workshop delighted our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at Mission Learning Center when he began teaching a spoken word workshop class, twice a week in their after-school literacy class. I asked my student Eduardo what he thought of Rahman's classes that first week.

"I love learning from Mr. Rahman," he said as his face lit up.

Additionally, after the first few sessions, students began to check in every day at the beginning of class to find out if Rahman would be teaching that day.

The Performing Arts Workshop class has particularly impressed teachers at Mission Learning Center, given the extra challenge of being an artist-in-residence at an intensive literacy program. Mission Learning Center serves struggling elementary school readers who have fallen up to four years behind their classmates in reading. When Rahman came on board, he was asked not only to teach a compelling class about spoken word poetry, but was mandated with meeting daily literacy goals to help the students ultimately meet the center's mission of improving students' reading by at least two years over their seven months in the program.

Rahman rose to the challenge, creating a seamless curriculum that adapted Performing Arts Workshop's mission to the Mission Learning Center's goals. Mid-year reading assessments have shown significant increases in students' reading levels already, and the students recognize the value of what they're learning from him.

"I like how he's teaching and that he helps us a lot," says Mildred, a 4th grader in the program, "He gives good information about what to do."

The students and teachers at Mission Learning Center are hopeful that they will be able to collaborate with Performing Arts Workshop for years to come.

Coming Together for a Common Purpose: Spoken Word Poetry and Literacy
By Rahman Jamaal, Spoken Word Teaching Artist

My residency at Mission Learning Center is one that I can always look forward to. Not only are the kids full of personality, but the staff, lead by Lillian Egloff, demonstrates a high level of respect, participation, kindness, and responsibility for the students. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30pm, students gather in a circle to practice greeting each other in a different language-- anything from Chinese to Arabic. Students are timed and assessed on their ability to genuinely communicate and collaborate -- such as how quickly they complete the circle, how well they make eye-contact while shaking hands, and if they address each other by first name. This ritual is designed to socialize the students and is typically followed by a student or two sharing something interesting from their personal and/or school life – anything from "my dog is going to have puppies" to "we learned about Egyptian pyramids today." After this, students get to call on their classmates to ask clarifying questions.

I am always thoroughly impressed by how well the students adhere to the expectations of the environment, which are as disciplined as they are fun. The classroom culture established by the staff makes my job as special guest hip hop teacher that much easier. Rarely is any student ever disengaged, and even when they are distracted they will give themselves grades based on their honest assessment of their own focus. Ms. Lillian has established a class environment of civic responsibility and academic competency for her students as well as I have ever seen, and her methods for pulling focus and allowing students to express themselves are both seamless and effective.

During my time there, I have been able to merge my hip hop workshop with some of the fundamental goals of the Mission Learning Center Program. Under the umbrella of spoken word and hip hop, we have explored areas of literacy such as diction and clarity, basic grammar, and rhyme. It's a joy to work with the kids at Mission Learning Center. It is definitely one of the best sites I've taught at, hands down.

After-School Highlights
After-School Highlights is a collaboration between the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF), Performing Arts Workshop and our amazing after-school site partners. Performing Arts Workshop works with DCYF to develop critical thinking, creative expression and basic learning skills through the arts in out-of-school time.