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Dance, Dance, Dance -
VSA at the Sacramento City Colledge and Lenaea Festival at CSUS, January 2005
VSAS dancers -Sophia Basquez, Lindsay Rudd, Bylyn Lewis-Geddis, Renee Coleman, Barbara Crow, Jamaal Moore, Pedro Diaz, Stephanie Pina and Thomas Collins -filled the half time at the Sacramento City College Panthers basketball game. Strong competition to cheerleaders!
Dancers performed three pieces: Respect, Feel The Beat and All That Jazz, which they practiced with the local teacher Trinidad Stassi.
Click here to see photos of the dancers!
While Panthers are defending their territory... VSA dancers are awaiting their turn...
The Sacramento City College Transitional Program guides 18-21 year old students with developmental disabilities in learning vocational skills, community interaction skills, and essential living skills. Very Special Arts partners with Sac City College Transitional Program to provide these students opportunities in the arts (e.g. jazz dance, ceramics). The arts are used as a tool in enhancing their self-esteem, socialization, communication, and self-direction. Very Special Arts performances (e.g. the Sacramento City College basketball games) and visual artshows give these students a chance to showcase their talents, enhance their self-esteem, and interact with their peers and the community in a positive, socially-accepted environment.
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Now in its 49th year, the award winning Lenaea Festival is hosted by the California State University, Sacramento School of the Arts Department of Theatre and Dance. The time and talent of its faculty, staff and students, as well as the use of its facilities have helped to make the Lenaea Festival one of the largest high school theatre festivals of its kind in the nation.
It is an honor for VSA students to participate in opening ceremonies of Lenaea. This year dance groups from Luther Burbank High School and CSUS opened the festivities.
The CSUS Community Transition Class is a Sacramento City Unified School District program, based on the CSUS campus, that offers its students with developmental disabilities the opportunity to participate in the university environment. Students enroll in college and community recreation classes, explore vocatonal experiences on and off-campus, and enjoy campus leisure activities as they gain independent living skills. This is the sixth year of their participation in the Lenaea Festival; Very Special Arts boosts students' self-confidence, communication skills, improves their ability to work as a team, and the students have a lot of fun !
Luther Burbank students are waiting for their entry
CSUS Hip hop group is getting the last
instructions from Alice Twilla, the dance instructor
Click here to see photos of the dancers!
"All students in the group have autism,-says Ingrid Royal, LB teacher,-but their memory is amaizing, they can remember the dance moves without much repetition, and they can pick the whole dance in one day".
Music and dance has been long found to improve mental health and promote positive behaviors in children with autism. Music and dance associated play has been useful in both cognitive and social-emotional development. Using music and dance, other cognitive skills, such as cognitive problem solving , language development and knowledge acquisition have been shown to be improved by music and dance associated programs . In terms of social and emotional development, children can benefit from music and dance by learning crucial social skills, such as turn-taking and trust building . Additionally, music has been shown to help children learn to express and
understand their feelings in socially appropriate venues.
