Dancing the Book: Movement and the AP Literature Classroom
CONTRA-TIEMPO will lead an innovative program, for students at Foshay Learning Center, using movement to extend students’ access to the thematic and formal qualities of their literary objects of study. Through a series of curricular collaborations, dance intensives, choreographic labs, and performance showcases, students will put together an original production that demonstrates the intersecting knowledge afforded by narrative and dance.
Our primary programming can be viewed through our 3 programmatic trunks: artistic production, community engagement, and dance education and leadership development. Firstly, our artistic production involves the creation and presentation of Afro Latin Activist Dance Theater works on both national and international platforms. Secondly, our community engagement initiatives focus on collaborating with various communities, particularly those from low-income and communities of color in LA and across the nation, to co-create movement and generate dialogue about issues and themes embodied in our creative work. Lastly, our commitment to dance education and leadership development is manifested through our programs such as our FUTURO Summer Dance Intensive, the Artivist Leadership Institute, and school residencies. All three trunks are undergirded by our company’s overall philosophy of art as social action. Since 2005 we’ve engaged them in many ways, always being responsive to our communities while steadfastly upholding our mission and values. We intentionally engage diverse audiences, cultivate dancer leaders, and center stories not traditionally heard on the concert stage, using our engagement process to inform and continuously re-fuel our creative process.