Dance Education and Performance at the Thrasher-Horne Center

David Parsons, Courtesy of Parsons Dance

A lot of dancing takes place on the main stage at the Thrasher-Horne Center. Some of our most popular events in the past year have revolved around dance. And in our upcoming season, the Thrasher-Horne Center is welcoming an exciting new partnership with Parsons Dance, a modern dance company based in New York City. The company was founded in 1985 by artistic director David Parsons and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley. Parsons Dance is well known for its high energy performances of contemporary American dance. The company performs residency/community outreach activities across the country and around the world every year. They have conducted extensive statewide residencies and outreach in Florida, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Kansas City among others.

The Thrasher-Horne Center is working with Parsons Dance on an outreach program which will include Student Matinee Performances (shortened performances with incorporated audience participation for students K-12 to attend during the school day), Lecture Demonstrations (featuring excerpts from Parsons’ Dance diverse repertory, such as The Envelope, Sleep Study, Class Act, Caught, and Nascimento, while explaining various aspects of production), and Masterclasses (taught by company artists and Artistic Director David Parsons).

Courtesy of Parsons Dance

Mr. Parsons received an MFA from Jacksonville University as the first Howard Gilman Fellow. He has created works through commissions from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, the American Dance Festival, New York City Ballet, and many other well-known organizations. His works have also been performed by Batsheva Dance Company of Israel, English National Ballet, Feld Ballets/NY, Paris Opera Ballet, and many others.  He choreographed and directed the dance elements for Times Square 2000, the 24-hour festivities in Times Square celebrating the turn of the Millennium. New York Magazine has called Mr. Parsons “one of modern dance’s great living dance-makers.”

The Parsons Dance residency at the Thrasher-Horne Center will continue to build on a foundation of rich and groundbreaking dance programming being offered to our Northeast Florida community. Last January, Thodos Dance Chicago presented a touring production of A Light in the Dark: The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. Thodos Dance Chicago was founded in 1992 by the renowned Melissa Thodos. The company’s mission of inspiring expression through dance has established TDC as an original force in modern dance. Reaching young minds through dance education is vital to the TDC mission.  A Light in the Dark is an inspiring story ballet, which explores how a caring teacher helped guide a blind and deaf girl into a career as an internationally acclaimed writer and political activist. In February, the Moscow Festival Ballet presented The Sleeping Beauty. Marius Petipa is widely regarded as the most influential ballet master and choreographer in ballet history. The Sleeping Beauty was the crowning jewel of his career. It is considered by many to be the finest achievement of the classical ballet. The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989 by Sergei Radchenko, the legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet. The performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the Thrasher-Horne Center was both enchanting and magical. Dance is also an integral element in Broadway productions, including those that have graced the main stage at the Thrasher-Horne Center. This past season, touring productions of four superb musicals (Ragtime, Annie, Saturday Night Fever, and Once) all featured unique and inspired dance elements.

Courtesy of Parsons Dance

Dance Education

“In the age of standardized testing, arts environments can provide the safe havens where mistakes are treated as discoveries and expression is celebrated. Higher order thinking is a natural part of the performance and students exit the stage smarter and more prepared for whatever life has in store for them. Dancers have an edge.” Heather Vaughan

Courtesy of Parsons Dance

Dance education and dance as a performing art provide several benefits to students. Dance plays a very important part in the education of thousands of young people throughout Northeast Florida. Both LaVilla School of the Arts and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts has excellent dance programs. St. Johns River State College, Florida State College in Jacksonville, and many private schools have dance programs as well. Research shows that students of dance are highly motivated, disciplined and focused in their everyday lives. They are also creative, imaginative, and have above average communication skills.

“Education in the art of dance develops the knowledge and skills required to create, perform, and understand movement as a means of artistic communication. Exposure to dance history and cultures, kinesiology and anatomy, and movement theories further enriches the dance educational experience.” National Dance Education Organization

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Tickets for concerts and other events and others are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

The Thrasher-Horne Center is one of the nicest venues of its type in Northeast Florida. From concerts by renowned artists, to live theater, to dance, to magic and other fantastic shows, you can see it all at the Thrasher Horne-Center! Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets!

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Arts Education and School Time Field Trips for 2016-2017

Super Scientific Circus, October 11th

Reserve space for your group now.

The Thrasher-Horne Center’s popular School Time Series offers entertaining, educational and engaging performances for students. Through these educational programs, the Thrasher-Horne Center continues its commitment to enrich the lives of the students it serves. There are five exciting performances scheduled for the coming school year.

Super Scientific Circus, October 11th

Parsons Dance, October 14th

Choosy Suzy’s Bully Prevention Show, November 2nd

Seussical The Musical, February 1st

Steve Trash: Ecology Is Awesome, April 28^th

For detailed information about each of the performances, check out the flyer.

Parsons Dance, October 14th

With the current school year winding down, many teachers are already planning field trips for the 2016-2017 school year. Group reservations for performances in the School Time Series can be made now. To qualify as a school group, reservations must be for 12 or more tickets. For every 12 paid tickets, the group will receive 1 ticket free. Payments will be due a month before the performances.

Clay County schools designated as Title One may inquire about the Thrasher-Horne Center Title One ticket subsidy, which is made available through the Roger and Gail Arrowsmith Fund and Thrasher-Horne Center season members. To learn more about this special fund Click Here.

Teachers who are planning their field trips for 2016-2017 can make sure their students will be able to take advantage of these excellent educational opportunities by calling the Thrasher-Horne Center Box Office at 904-276-6815.

Arts Education provides positive benefits to a community

"I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his/her vision wherever it takes him/her." John F. Kennedy

"Every child is an artist.” Pablo Picasso

Young children learn a lot by doing Art

"I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand." Confucius

Choosy Suzy’s Bully Prevention Show
November 2nd

School curricula in many parts of the United States have shifted toward an emphasis on reading and math and away from the arts. Some people now regard art education as a luxury. They ignore the fact that creative activities are the building blocks of child development. Education in the arts helps young children in each of the following areas.

Motor Skills: The National Institutes of Health has found that the motions involved in making art (holding a paintbrush, scribbling with a crayon, etc.) help young children to develop their fine motor skills.

Decision Making: Art education strengthens critical-thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices while creating art can carry over into other parts of a child’s life.

Visual Learning: Drawing, sculpting, and threading beads on a string help to develop visual-spatial skills. Those skills are becoming increasingly important.

Inventiveness: When kids create art, they develop a sense of innovation that will serve them well in their adult lives.

Arts Education

February 1st, 2017

“From dance and music to theatre and the visual arts, the arts give children a unique means of expression, capturing their passions and emotions, and allowing them to explore new ideas, subject matter, and cultures… Arts education not only enhances students' understanding of the world around them, but it also broadens their perspective on traditional academics.”
Dr. Terry Bergeson, former Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State

“I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for in the patterns of music and all the arts are the keys of learning." Plato

According to Americans for the Arts, Art Education provides the following benefits.

• Students who participate in the arts, both in school and after school, demonstrate improved academic performance and lower dropout rates. Despite including the arts as being one of the ten core academic subjects, the No Child Left Behind law has helped to push arts classes to the side. Schools, especially those struggling, can retain their best teachers by becoming incubators for creativity and innovation; places where students want to learn and teachers want to teach.
• Students with an education rich in the arts have better grade point averages, score better on standardized tests in reading and math, and have lower dropout rates—findings that cut across all socioeconomic categories. The arts can "level the playing field" for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances. 
• Data from The College Board shows that students who take four years of arts and music classes while in high school score 98 points better on their SATs than students who took only one-half year or less.

What can students learn from the arts?

"Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life." Henry Miller

Ecology is Awesome
April 28th, 2017

Lisa Phillips, an arts and leadership educator and the author of The Artistic Edge, wrote a blog post about Ten Skills Students Can Learn from the Arts. Here’s a summary.

1. Creativity – Being able to think on your feet, approach tasks from different perspectives and think ‘outside of the box’ can help children to find fulfillment.

2. Confidence –Theater training enables children to step out of their comfort zone, make mistakes, and learn from them. That process gives children the confidence to perform in front of audiences.

3. Problem Solving –Students who participate in the arts are challenged to solve problems. This develops children’s reasoning skills.

4. Perseverance – In a competitive world where people are being asked to continually develop new skills, perseverance is essential to achieving success. Learning about the arts teaches students this important principle.

5. Focus – Research has shown that participation in the arts improves children’s abilities to concentrate and focus on other parts of their lives.

6. Nonverbal Communication – Theater and dance education teaches children the mechanics of body language. They learn how movements communicate a variety of emotions.

7. Receiving Constructive Feedback – Constructive feedback about a performance or visual art piece is part of any instruction in the arts. Children learn that feedback is part of learning.

8. Collaboration – Many arts disciplines, like theater or band, are collaborative. Through the arts, children learn to interact with others and share responsibility as they work together to accomplish a common goal.

9. Dedication – When kids complete artistic endeavors, they associate dedication with their feeling of accomplishment. They develop habits like being on time for rehearsals and performances, respecting the contributions of others, and more.

10. Accountability – When children collaborate on an artistic project, they begin to understand how their actions can affect others.

Arts in a Community

The arts provide us with a universal language, and they have the capacity to breathe life into a community. The arts can bring a community together in a way that commerce, politics, and religion cannot.

Seeing the performing arts, either in a play or in a musical or dance performance, can make an enormous difference in the life of a child or young adult. Some are inspired to pursue careers in the arts themselves. Others take an active interest in the arts which nurtures them throughout their lives.

"Art is the signature of civilization." Beverly Sills

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In this article, I’ve written about the Thrasher-Horne Center’s School Time Series of performances for the 2016-2017 school year. I’ve also written about the impact of Arts Education to a community. From teaching motor skills to young children to teaching young adults about responsibility and perseverance, Arts Education plays an important role.

Tickets for concerts and other events and others are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

The Thrasher-Horne Center is one of the nicest venues of its type in Northeast Florida. From concerts by renowned artists, to live theater, to dance, to magic and other fantastic shows, you can see it all at the Thrasher Horne-Center! 

Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. People will appreciate learning about what they have been missing.

We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, please leave it in the comments section below.

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