Outreach News
Tapestry forges Outreach Partnership with Wonders and Worries of Austin
"Tasha was amazing and the dancers brought so much kind energy to our group. Everyone here at W&W looks forward to future collaborations. Thank you so much for reaching out and bringing our two organizations together!"
- Farya Phillips MA, CCLS
Child Life Specialist/Program Coordinator
Wonders & Worries, Inc.
This fall, Tapestry embarked upon a partnership with Wonders & Worries – a non-profit organization that provides, free of charge, psychosocial support for children, youth and families coping with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. For one amazing hour on the evening of December 11th, six dancers from Tapestry’s Visions in Rhythm (VIR) and their brilliant director, Tasha Lawson, joined twelve young clients of W&W for the first dance workshop in what both Tapestry and W&W hope will be an ongoing series of workshops.
IMAGINE… You’re a young dancer. You and five of your dance friends have been called upon to share your talent at a workshop with young people about your age. Most of them have never danced before. Not only that, these new guys you’re meeting have got some special worries in their lives right now. Someone in their family is really sick – maybe even considered terminally ill. You’re looking forward to introducing them to the POWER of DANCE.
ADAPT… The place you meet isn’t a dance studio. It’s the office of a non-profit organization. The two rooms large enough to “move” in are carpeted. Twelve boys and girls greet you – eager to find out about dancing – anxious to help you set up in the best spot for the workshop. There! In the kitchen/lunch room! It’s a hard floor! Not wood. But the vinyl tile will be better than the carpet. This will work! You form a big circle and look to your director, Tasha, to get going.
SURPRISE...Their boom box just broke. And the I-pod you brought won’t synch with their computer. NO MUSIC! NO PROBLEM!!! You and your new friends will make the music. You set about showing how it’s done.
CONNECT…With body percussion, you rhythmically learn each other’s names, create patterns, and dive into “call and response.” You break into smaller groups to practice the rhythm pieces. Hands and feet fly as they clap, tap, and snap in unison. You then enjoy watching each other’s groups as each performs with your new friends for the first time. Laughter fills the kitchen and spills over into the entire office as parents and organizational staff rush to the doorways to experience the energy and excitement you’re cooking up with hands and feet.
PERFORM…Halfway through the hour, you let your new friends catch their breath as they watch you perform a body percussion piece from your VIR repertoire. Great performance! Great response!
TRADITION…After your performance, discussion turns to the origins of percussive dancing -- the fascinating history of tap, in particular. Your new friends have a chance to tell something of their own past experiences with dance – or long-held desires to try it!
BODY LANGUAGE…The last portion of the evening is devoted to experiencing first-hand the power of intent and focus when it’s packed into a simple gesture. You don’t need words to understand these messages! The meaning of folded arms, a grimace, a grin or placing the back of a hand to forehead comes through loud and clear. After sending gestures around the large circle, making them grow or shrink as they make their way around, you and your young hosts break into six small groups to play performance games built upon intent, focus, gesture, and synchronization. You perform in your groups of origin and then shake things up as you reconstitute groups for a final few performances. Enjoyment is obvious! As is a lot of new talent!!!
DISCOVER… Your new friends not only participated in every challenging rhythm and gesture activity, they excelled! You’ve been the perfect tour guide to take them to that unique place where individual movement connects within a rhythmic group to create what we call DANCE! And you got to see and feel how powerful a tonic dance can be! As you say “goodnight” to your smiling and laughing friends, you witness how dance sparks an energy and resilience that can help us tolerate the heaviest burdens. Even when the music fails! Of course “the beat goes on” – it’s inside each and every one of us!
THANKS… to Tasha and her talented VIR dancers for their generous gift of talent and time!
By inviting W&W clients to experience what dance can do, we, as dancers, have witnessed the real and substantial power of the art form we love!
Tapestry also shared the Power of Dance with W&W families this fall by offering complimentary tickets to “Footprints,” and plans to do so again when “Souls of Our Feet 2” opens this spring. Watch for future news of Tapestry’s blossoming partnership with Wonders and Worries.
For more information about the important and unique services Wonders & Worries offers, please call 329-5757 or visit wondersandworries.org.