TDF's DANCE PROJECT UNITES DEAF AND HEARING STUDENTS.

"The Theatre Development Fund's Dance Project was not just about dance but about communication, language, cooperation and the power of movement as a means of expression. Everyone involved in this project--teachers, the Alvin Ailey teaching artists, the drummers--were struck by the strength of the bond that was created between the students because of the patience, focus and creativity that was used to communicate," said Theatre Development Fund Education Director Marianna Houston. She was describing a new program in New York City that uses dance as a common language to bridge cultural and deaf/hearing barriers. During December 2000 TDF launched a pilot program, The Dance Project, to serve as a bridge between twelve deaf students and ten hearing students. The project consisted of five dance workshops led by teaching artists from the Alvin Alley II Company with concurrent attendance at City Center performances of Ailey's Blues Suite, Cry, Double Exposure and Revelations by the senior Ailey troupe. The first workshop was held at the Lexington School for the Deaf, with the remaining four at both Queens home high schools (Lexington and Bryant High School). The workshops, which dovetailed with the curriculum of each participating school, included exercises that got the students actually dancing. "Their final project on December 14 was stunning--a group of hearing and deaf high school students moving and stretching in complete harmony to a loud drum beat," Houston said. "Given the proper funding, we are hoping to expand this project to include a larger number of students working together over an entire school year."

Theatre Development Fund (TDF) sponsors, among its projects, twenty innovative programs for theatergoers who are deaf or otherwise physically challenged, including in-depth arts education, information services and special programs. TDF's programs are described at www.tdf.org