Betsy Blair
Dance and Design


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2010 Calendar

January:  
-Final printing of yB dance booklet Down the Road Dances, Level I  designed for Middle School Teachers, expected to be ready for sale June, 2010.

February: 
-Workshop Presenter at Our Places Tell Stories Conference, "Make Yourself Tall, Make yourself Small", environmental education conference ,Springs Preserve, Las Vegas, Nevada, see http://www.enviroedexchange.org/conference.htm

March: 
-30th Anniversary Concert of the Rainbow Dance Company, Raleigh, NC.
-Pilot program creative dance and  nature learning , in affiliation with Dance Program, Carolina Friends School, Durham, NC  

June:
-anticipation of first two yB booklets with text/cd/dvd available for sale:  Dance Songs for Young Children  (lavendar booklet)  and Down theRoad Dances, Level I  (green booklet).

July :
-CFS Summer Camp :  see www.cfsnc.org/summer for updates on yB workshops for children 

September:
-Arts Together, Teacher Workshop, with focus on 5-7 year olds, for both classroom teachers and dance educators, see www.artstgoether.org

October: 
-Arts Together, Teacher workshop, with focus on 11-13 year olds for Middle School dance teachers, see www.artstogether.org 

Throughout the year:   Open Studio Dates, Open Art Days and yB  Sunday Art Groups, workshops and concentrated art lessons for talented and highly self-motivated children. 


Past yB Workshops:

yB Creativity Workshops for Children 5-11 years old, Summer 2008
Carolina Friends School, Summer Programs

In each of these workshops, Betsy Blair (yB) guides the children through a full day (9a.m.-3 p.m.)involving creative movement, painting and drawing, music and stories/poetry. She alternates the use of vigorous physical activities in a group with quieter times for individual creative expression. Students also have time to play on the shaded playground in the morning as well as a period of "free choice time" in an air conditioned space during the hot afternoons for quieter activities. Each day begins and ends with age-appropriate centering activities. Extended day program until 5 p.m. is available for campers.

"Fairies and Trolls", CFS Session 4, July 9-11 Ages 5-7
"Cowpokes and Critters", CFS session 5, July 14-18, Ages 6-8
"Shaping Space", CFS session 7, July 28-August 1, Ages 9-11


For Pre-school - 2nd Grade Teachers

Playful Songs and Dances, a workshop for Pre-K teachers with Betsy Blair
sponsored by Carolina Friends School
Wednesday, October 11, 2006, at the Chapel Hill Early School
4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Teacher renewal credits available.
Movement and singing with emphasis on dance activities for pre-school children using yB dance booklet #1. Video examples of pre-school-1st graders dancing, open discussion (with Annie Dwyer) of ideas on linking dance to other areas of learning and on ways of including high energy boys within the pre-school classroom dance experience.

Children's Dance: a workshop with Betsy Blair, sponsored by the North Carolina Dance Alliance, Annual Conference, held at Duke University. Friday, November 5, 2004, from 9-10:30 a.m.
Developmental overview of dance in classroom, ideas for students 4-12 years old.

Dance Songs and Stories for Children, sponsored by the North Carolina Dance Alliance, Annual Conference, held at Duke University. Friday 9-10:30 a.m. October 1, 1999.
Movement session with participants, video examples of children dancing from Frog Hollow Show clips, and choreographic concepts from yB dance story "The Dance of the Sunshine Children"

Playful Dances for Pre-Schoolers, sponsored by Day Care Services Association, Chapel Hill, NC., held at Hillsborough Homestead House. Wednesday, March 19, 1997 from 1-3 p.m. Teacher renewal credits available.
Movement session with participants, sharing of dance poems, dance books, dance songs from L. Mackie, yB dance story "The Dance of the Sunshine Children."

Simple Gifts: a Betsy Blair Creative Dance Workshop, sponsored by the Durham Arts Council's CAPS Program (Creative Arts in the Schools), held at Durham Public Schools Staff Development Center on Hillandale Road. Tuesday, December 3, 1996, from 4:15-6:15 p.m. Teacher renewal credits available.
Movement session with participants, presentation of ideas from yB Seminar on Creativity, the teaching of dance within the classroom , Age emphasis 4-8 year olds, two dance poems in Tanner and Laban traditions, "Body Parts Dance", and "Gift to Be Simple" choreography leading into improvisation, discussion on practicalities.

Betsy Blair has led other teacher workshops over the years, but these are workshops (since 1996) related specifically to teaching pre-schoolers dance in the classroom.