BE the roots

Sunny day at Roots International Academy

Black History Month Assembly

Ms. Jennifer- Family Resource at Roots

Ms. Mo- Artist in Residence at Roots

I've Known Rivers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViI6FxdbO8I&edufilter=8Fgp0EfoQura8l48YfL_rA

Alvin Ailey

Skrillex Improv Dance "My name is Skrillex"

here

Body Scores

Students celebrated Dia de los Meurtos!

Jabbawockeez Performance @ 2012 World Hip Hop Dance Championship

bill t. jones

Dance Your Roots Curriculum

Dance Your Roots

A solid root structure

permits and encourages steady, safe growth.

Improvisation and Authentic Movement 

Holistic Arts Program

Improving self esteem & developing a healthy, positive body image.

Our Roots sustain us, ground us and support us. Dance Your Roots encourages creativity, honesty, trust, responsibility, and community through the art of movement.  

Becoming a healthy, strong teenager requires developing a natural relationship with our bodies through:

Self Awareness, Acceptance and Non-Judgement.

Elements explored in the classroom: 

Body/Mind Connection 

Journaling

Meditation 

Music 

Breath Work

Honing the natural rhythm's of our bodies, students will explore their bodies as powerful, energetic beings to combat the stress of growing pains and societal expectations.  Being yourself is often the simplest, yet hardest task at this age.  

Tree roots can be symbolic either of feeling "rooted" in one spot, stagnant and unable to move, or the roots may "run deep" indicating a sense of stability and the ability to find physical, mental and spiritual nourishment. Trees that are uprooted can symbolize feelings of chaos, disarray, despair, or instability.

If we have no foundation upon which to depend for direction, focus, and stability, we have to develop our own.  Being true to one's self is essential to our growth.  

Students will use Authentic Movement, Improvisation and Composition to create and express the stories of their bodies landscapes and life's stories.

Dance Improvisation & Authentic Movement

Dance Improvisation places the emphasis on the imagination and the symbolic nature of images. Taking the natural every day movement of your body and expanding on it through impulse and intention, dancers explore their own bodies in a relaxed state of being, finding deeper communication between the mind and the body. By building awareness of one's movement an individual can then make clear, conscious movement choices.  Not only can a dancer sense new movement possibilities, they can free themselves of habitual ways of moving.  By seeing and feeling, we will explore listening to our bodies and expand on our experience of moving, noticing how we generate movement and what gives us reason to act.  We will work as individuals and in groups, to expand our awareness of our direction and space.   We will focus on free improvisation and advance to structured improvisation, including meditation and yoga for relaxation and tension release.

Dance Composition

This course is designed to give the student a broad introduction to dance composition.  The approach for the course is based on the idea of introducing and developing tools for the dance makers ‘toolbox’, that each student can make use of in the service of finding their own choreographic voice and style.  In addition, the philosophical approach will emphasize rediscovering a sense of play in finding and applying these ‘tools’, the freedom to experiment without internal judgments short circuiting creative exploration.  

Students will learn to generate and manipulate movement through exercises and improvisation, and will expand those skills into shaping dances.  Areas to be explored include elements of movement, music, narrative, group work and site specific work.

Journaling

Journals will be a composite of assignments and reflections that show a deep understanding for the personal topics in this course. The assignments range from written response essays to drawings and free writes. The topics will be centered around the course’s theme of the body, mind/body connection, personal stories, and self reflection.

Nonstop to Rudimental ft. John Newman - Feel The Love

7th Grade Dance 2

7th Grade Dance 2

Love Stories

here

Bianca Brzezinski

Dance

Bianca Brzezinski received her BA in Dance from Mills College, where she was awarded the Dance Innovator Award for choreographic excellence. Her passions include dance, improvisation, nature, and therapy. The art of being true to one's self and innate, personal nature are of crucial value in her work.

Bianca has been teaching improvisation, authentic movement, hip hop, and post modern dance in the Bay Area for the past two years. Her specialities include choreography, self inquiry, and expression through the performing arts. Bianca founded and directed Opal Street Dance Improvisation Theatre in 2010, devoted to movement and theater as a means of finding freedom and comfort in a loving and supportive community. Her goal is to empower individuals, raise body awareness, and allow for emotional and spiritual growth.

Using a holistic approach, Bianca takes a psycho-somatic approach to transform feelings and memories into positive ones so dancers can renew their sense of being and live life to the fullest. Using release as a technique, students develop a sense of being grounded in their bodies while maintaining a sense of freedom in their movement, self awareness, and self expression. When Bianca first started teaching, a student asked her why she wanted to be a teacher. She answered, "because I see myself through you."

Building community at ROOTS with their first performing arts program this year!