Rincon Youth Storytellers Residency
Donation protected
On July 11 and 12th and July 18th and 19th, from 9-noon, the students from the Rincon Youth Storytellers will learn the choreography from Sia's performance on American Idol. Sam Mitchell will also discuss the work of Contemporary Indigenous Choreographers and Directors and the ways in which they continue to foster healing, education and survivance as Native and First Nation people.
The Dance Theatre Residency at Rincon
The group’s mission is to bring together participants across race and class lines to create provocative, poignant community-based dance theatre. Participants include - students from the Rincon Youth Storytellers, Tribal Elders from the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians community and UCSD students, including Native American students from the Native American Student Alliance based at UCSD. The funds are needed for transportation to and from the reservation, payment for performers brought to the reservation and payment for teachers, teaching the dance workshops on the reservation.
PROJECT GOALS:
• To teach UCSD undergraduates and Native teens simultaneously through an intensive mentor-based program. The program would run on several mentor-teen partnerships that will be sustained from the inception of the project in 2016-17. This means that some teens will have had the same mentor throughout their entire high school experience.
• To introduce teenagers who are undecided about attending college to UCSD students excited about knowledge and inclusion. The project operates on the premise that college education should be available to all people and that dance and theater can effectively reach those who are uncertain about college, and help them enroll, enter, and thrive at college.
• To encourage collaborative relationships between UCSD and Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians by including teens, tribal elders, UC faculty and students and members of the community as collaborators in the making of a new dance theater piece. Through participation in rehearsals and discussions, students and faculty can have a direct impact in the direction and development of a new dance theatre piece.
• To promote academic preparation through a unique mentorship program and weekly creative workshops that build portfolios and create opportunities to perform original dance theatre pieces. The project also exposes teen participants to cultural activities, the college admissions process, and guided campus tours. The Dance Theatre Residency at Rincon will work closely with the UCSD admissions department to help prepare the teenage participants (most of who are entering into their senior year of high school) to complete their college applications.
• To build community and disrupt segregation. Performances will connect with audiences (mainly the Native American community in Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians) who do not normally attend university dance theater events. By including teens, tribal elders, UC faculty and students and members of the community as collaborators in the making of a new dance theater piece, this project just extends the boundary crossing of the Dance Theatre Residency at Rincon across lines not only racial, ethnic and class divides, but also those of age.
• To expose teens to the top rate theatre and dance events that take place on the UCSD campus, as well as distinguished visiting artists.
Organizer
Sam Mitchell
Organizer
La Jolla, CA
