Arts and Entertainment

Movement workshop for families to be offered Oct. 4 at arboretum

Center for the Performing Arts, Penn State Dance Program, arboretum collaborate on free event

Parents and their children frolic on the lawn at The Arboretum at Penn State at a free family movement workshop on Sept. 8, 2013.  Children ages 3–10 and their families are invited to attend a free movement workshop at 2 p.m. Oct. 4 at the arboretum. The event is a collaboration among the Center for the Performing Arts, the Penn State Dance Program and the arboretum. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

A free family movement workshop -- a collaboration among the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State, the Penn State Dance Program and The Arboretum at Penn State -- will be offered at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, in the Childhood’s Gate Children’s Garden of the arboretum’s H. O. Smith Botanic Gardens.

Children ages 3–10 and their families are invited to attend the one-hour event. Participants, who do not need to register in advance, should wear comfortable clothing. No previous dance experience is required.

“We are thrilled to facilitate another family movement workshop in the arboretum,” said Medora Ebersole, education and community programs manager at the Center for the Performing Arts. “We do this to build future audiences and to give the Penn State dance students informal teaching opportunities.”

The workshop provides an opportunity for children and their families to celebrate nature and express themselves through movement. Participants will construct an insect-themed headpiece to wear while creating their own choreography. Dance faculty and the University Dance Company will help participants generate movement that explores a relationship with the natural world.

Elisha Clark Halpin, who heads the dance program, is also the artistic director of ETCH Dance Co. in New York City. She is inspired by the use of gender, autobiography, ethnicity and identity to create contemporary dance.

University Dance Company is a pre-professional organization that provides students with real-world experience to prepare them careers in the field. The group performs annually at University Park and at the American College Dance Festival. Company members work with dance faculty and guest choreographers to enhance their experience.

“We are so grateful to our amazing partners, including the Penn State Arboretum and the University Dance Company,” said Amy Dupain Vashaw, audience and program development director at the Center for the Performing Arts. “Partnerships like this one are a win-win. Folks get to discover the children’s garden at the arboretum. The student dancers who comprise the University Dance Company have the opportunity to expand and apply their learning through interacting with children and their families. And the Center for the Performing Arts takes the opportunity to inform families about our upcoming programs.”

Complimentary parking for the workshop is available at the arboretum on Bigler Road just north of Park Avenue. Additional parking is available at the Lewis Katz Building across Bigler from the arboretum.

The Glenn and Nancy Gamble Endowment supports the movement workshop.

The Center for the Performing Arts schedule of family-friendly presentations this season at Eisenhower Auditorium includes “Clifford the Big Red Dog Live!” Oct. 18, Vienna Boys Choir Dec. 1, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” Feb. 23, Moscow Festival Ballet’s “The Sleeping Beauty” March 31 and Dallas Children’s Theater in “The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)” April 8.

For information about the presentations, visit the Center for the Performing Arts or phone the Arts Ticket Center at 814-863-0255.

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Last Updated September 24, 2015

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