The stage is a gym floor,
beige linoleum with stark black lines outlining a
small basketball court. The backdrop is a basketball
hoop, a volleyball net hanging on the wall, and the
standard school wall clock. It’s not the usual
setting for ballet.
But the ambiance doesn’t matter to the audience—about
250 first- through fifth-graders at Anson Elementary
School in Marshalltown. What matters is that Dancers
in Company, the performance ensemble from the University’s
Department of Dance, has come to perform just for
them.
From ballet to modern dance, four members from the
12-person company and assistant director Peggy Mead-Finizio
introduce the children to the world of dance. The
first piece is ballet, with dancers in romantic pastel
tutus, pointe shoes, and traditional hairstyles.
By the second piece, a solo, it’s modern dance,
and the third—which involves audience participation—is
jazzy and acrobatic. The children clap enthusiastically
and shoot their hands in the air when Mead-Finizio
asks questions between the pieces.
This visit was coordinated by Arts Share, which
arranges performances and teaching opportunities
for UI graduate students and faculty. The outreach
program has been in existence for 25 years.
“This is good visibility for the University,
great experience for graduate artists, and an invaluable
service to schools and organizations,” says
program director Leslie Finer. “Arts Share
delivers a big ‘bang for the buck.’”
Finer and eight part-time graduate students coordinate
the Arts Share schedule each year. The artist roster
numbers almost 100.
So far this year, Arts Share has arranged 167 events
throughout Iowa, and by the end of the year expects
to have about 200, Finer says.
In addition to Dancers in Company, Arts Share regularly
sends out the Afro-Cuban Drum Ensemble and Dancers;
Darwin T. Turner’s Action Theatre; Johnson
County Landmark jazz band; and the Maia Quartet.
On campus, Arts Share sponsors events by the UI
Philharmonia, the Oddbar Jazz Ensemble, and the World
of Percussion Ensemble, among others. To honor both
on- and off-campus requests, Arts Share works with
groups in the Division of Performing Arts (the School
of Music and the Departments of Theatre Arts and
Dance), the Writers’ Workshop, and the School
of Art and Art History.
Each fall, Arts Share sends a brochure to Iowa schools,
arts councils, and community organizations that lists
performances, workshops, readings, residencies, and
master classes. These groups in turn contact Arts
Share to help fill gaps in arts programming, tie
the arts into curricula, or reinforce a concept they
are working on, Finer says. Program funding is provided
in part by grants from civic organizations and corporate
sponsors. The Alliant Energy Foundation, for example,
will pay half the cost of any event scheduled in
an area it serves.
When communities or schools pay for an event, part
of that money goes to the performing group’s
University department, says Dan Moore, associate
professor of music in the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences. Moore regularly takes the UI Percussion
Ensemble, Planet Drum, the UI PanAmerican Steel Band,
a percussion duo, and the Afro-Cuban Drum Ensemble
on Arts Share tours.
“It’s a win-win situation for all involved,” he
says. “Performance students learn pacing, scheduling,
what it takes to be a professional musician. Music
education students get to wade right into the classrooms
where they someday will teach. Arts Share is able
to increase our outreach. The schools or communities
gain a performance. And the School of Music receives
money, which may let us fix an instrument or buy
music.”
In Marshalltown, Arts Share worked with a civic
organization called Arts & Children Together
to schedule a three-day series of 13 dance concerts
in elementary schools.
“Teachers and principals often tell us that
their students wouldn’t have the opportunity
to see live dance, a string quartet, a steel drum
ensemble, et cetera, if it weren’t for Arts
Share,” Finer says.
When Paula Morris, Writers’ Workshop student
from New Zealand and author of Queen of Beauty, visited
Central Academy in Des Moines to talk with students
about what it takes to be a successful writer, school
officials wrote to Finer, “Because of limited
funding, we could not offer these opportunities to
our students without your assistance.”
Moore says he’s pleased to work with the Arts
Share organization.
“I’ve been here nine years now, and
Arts Share just keeps getting better,” he says.
Finer says she would love to see Arts Share continue
to increase the number of events coordinated by the
office, especially residencies.
“I think the longer an artist can work with
a group of students, the more meaningful and memorable
the experience will be for the students,” she
says. “I would like us to reach out to every
county in the state. We have been to 64 of the 99
counties in Iowa, and that number continues to grow.”
by Anne Tanner
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