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Nan
Gilbert
Outreach Director
Janet
Pilla
Outreach Instructor
Thank you's from students
PNC Bank, Hassel Foundation, and The Harkness Foundation for Dance. We are very excited and working very hard but we couldn't do this without their generous funding and support. Thank you from all of us!
During both the Fall/Winter and Winter/Spring semesters, 8 Pre-Teens and 5 Teens from the surrounding neighborhoods of Fairmount and Spring Garden attended modern dance classes on full scholarship. These classes were taught by JRD company member Gabrielle Revlock and JRD staff member Kate Jordan. The Spring Garden Community Development Corporation (CDC) assisted Jeanne Ruddy Dance in identifying students from low-income and at-risk households to receive these scholarships.
In the Spring of 2007, through the assistance of Tessie Varthas at the Office of Language, Culture & the Arts at the School District of Philadelphia, JRD company member and Instructor, Janet Pilla, met with Simon Gratz High School dance director Mikki Stephens, and arranged for a ten-session, in-school residency at Gratz. Ms. Pilla instructed 20 ninth, tenth and eleventh graders in the Limon Technique and the sessions culminated in a presentation by the students, as well as final research papers.
During the 2007 performance season, approximately 90 fifth & sixth graders from St. Malachy School and the Russell Byers Charter School attended a free matinee performance. They were transported to the Performance Garage on buses provided by Jeanne Ruddy Dance. Before the performance the students engaged in a talk-back session about both environmental issues and dance with Artistic Director Jeanne Ruddy and Composer Ellen Fishman-Johnson.
In July 2007, JRD company member and instructor, Janet Pilla led a one-week, intensive Improvisation residency at Archbishop Ryan High School. This residency was coordinated through the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership (PAEP). On the last day of the residency the students took turns leading the others in an improvisation, which encouraged a strong sense of community and leadership skills among the participants.
