Photo courtesy of the Kohler Arts Center.
    

Luna Negra Dance Theater conducts extensive education and outreach programs, serving over 10,000 students each year across the country. We believe dance can be a powerful tool for exploring cultural identity, providing positive role models for Latino and other minority students, promoting self-awareness and creating positive self-esteem. Through our Education and Outreach Programs, we encourage students to explore the world around them, examine their own history and find their own voice to express their unique identity. Our wide range of education programming includes In-School Residencies, In-School Performances, Student Matinees, Family Matinees, a Summer Intensive, and special workshops for the community.

For more information, please contact us at 312-337-6882 or information@lunanegra.org.

Dance Reach Residencies

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Luna Negra Dance Theater's Dance Reach Residencies include short-term, long-term residencies in Chicago and around the country, as well as dance workshops, Latin dance classes, Ballet classes, and teacher training workshops.

The residency program is developed in collaboration with teachers and is tailored to the needs and resources of each specific school or community. Below is a sample of what a residency can include:

• Introduction to Movement/Breaking Stereotypes
  Students are first taught folk and social dances such as mambo, merengue, and samba.  They are then introduced to concepts of contemporary dance.  During this process, they learn how to appreciate their body through movements emphasizing spine work, articulation of body parts and warm up exercises.
   

• Exploring Identity through Dance
  Students learn how to tell a story through dance and develop their own movement.  They are encouraged to use literature, current events or their own history as source of inspiration and are required to conduct some research. Improvisation, critique methods, and exploring different cultural aesthetic forms are also emphasized.
   

• Creating a Dance Production
  The residency culminates with a performance by the students and Luna Negra. Students create their own choreography and learn about all aspects of mounting a dance production, such as developing costumes, props, choosing music, and stage management.

Voces Latinas
 

Photo courtesy of the Kohler Arts Center.

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Voces Latinas offers students a memorable and meaningful introduction to dance and Latino cultures, giving students of all backgrounds an awareness and appreciation of the richness and diversity of Latino cultures through dance.

Through this program, Luna Negra Dance Theater offers students who do not have access to the arts the opportunity to see a full professional dance performance in two ways: by performing in the schools in such various settings as gyms, cafeterias and school auditoriums or by inviting students to attend a performance at professional dance venues such as the Harris Theater or the Harold Washington Library.

The performances are one-hour long and are comprised of three to four dance works, specifically chosen for their cultural and educational relevance. Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro or Education and Outreach Coordinator, Monnette Garcia provide an engaging and interactive introduction to the performance, giving students the necessary tools to understand the works and relate what they see to their own experience.  They explain the cultural or historical context for each work as well as the dance moves, music and choreographic principles used.  The performance ends with a question and answer session giving students the opportunity to interact with the dancers.

Mi Familia, My Dance

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Mi Familia, My Dance is performed at the Harris Theater, during our Fall Season.