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| 400 Children to Perform in Luckman Dance LOS ANGELES - The Luckman Dance ResidencyÂs third annual Event of the Year performance, Dancing Makes the Headlines, will take place Wednesday, May 22, 2002, 7:00 p.m. at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A. Four hundred Los Angeles elementary school children that have participated in the LuckmanÂs weekly Dance Residency classes will perform in the Luckman Theatre under the direction of director/co-producer Samuel Donlavy. Admission is free. The performance will feature students from Eagle Rock, Robert F. Kennedy, and Westminster Elementary schools. In a new twist this year, Dancing Makes the Headlines provides an evening of dance vignettes loosely and thematically based on the concept of a school-created newspaper that comes to life. As the dancers gaze or read further, they find themselves listening and dancing to familiar and not-so-familiar music from AmericaÂs history. The choreography created by Luckman Dance Residency Program choreographers and teachers Laila Abdullah, Bubba Carr, Leonard Crofoot, Samuel Donlavy, Zaki Rubenstein, and Camille Strayhorn has been designed to enlighten, awaken and fulfill the high enthusiasm of the young performers. The music, by Scott Joplin, Elvis Presley, George Cohen, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, and others, will be performed by a five-piece band under the direction of musical director Kevin Bowers. Dancing Makes the Headlines has provided the children and their teachers with additional opportunities for creativity and involvement. This year, for the first time, the thirteen classroom teachers will join their classes in a showstopper finale. The classes are also creating, painting, and helping to erect the showÂs 30-foot by 30-foot backdrop. The goal was Âownership and pride, according to director Donlavy. ÂThese Âstars are young technicians, too, he explains. ÂEncouraging these efforts furthers the LuckmanÂs goal of outreach to the community by completely immersing the Luckman staff and teachers, classroom teachers, school principals and children in this culminating performance. The 30-week Luckman Dance Residency Program, a California Arts Council Arts in Education demonstration project, is co-funded and sponsored by the C.A.C. and the Luckman Fine Arts Complex. It focuses on third, fourth and fifth graders from the three selected schools. Since October 2001, a qualified teacher has traveled to each of the schools to teach a weekly class. Some of the older students are participating for the second year. ÂItÂs not just dance classes, says Donlavy, who is also a teacher in the program. ÂThe Luckman Dance Residency instills in the children a whole new philosophy and method of thinking. In fact, the classes are less about dance and more about achieving and creating something at its best. The philosophy constantly raises the bar. Once the dancers have mastered a step, they are challenged to repeat the move Âbackwards, half tempo, and always with conviction  thus striving for perfection. Classroom teachers have reported better study habits, higher grades and increased school attendance. Dancing Makes the Headlines is co-produced by Camille Strayhorn and Samuel Donlavy for the Luckman Fine Arts Complex. Although admission is free, seating is extremely limited with reservations required. Demand for seating last year exceeded capacity, so early reservations are highly recommended. WHAT: WHEN: WHERE: TICKETS: INFO:
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