 After spending a week learning about rhythm and dance from Maciolek School of Dance instructors, Stone fifth-graders performed for parents and classmates on Friday.
Click on the picture for photo highlights.
Click on the picture above for the full performance video.
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Thanks to the Hobbs Hispano Chamber of Commerce - which sponsored the professional show - HMS fifth-graders got a chance to celebrate a Mariachi Christmas
 
| Booker T. Washington Elementary had a group of after school students who participated in a dance program conceived and directed by Maciolek School of Dance. These students who attended class and committed to complete the program participated in the final performance on Friday. Click on the Pictures above for the Full Performance Video. |
The NDI-New Mexico Week 2 Art Contest Winners are Chosen!
Click the NDI-New Mexico banner above for the video highlights of "Broadway Bound!"
Students from Jefferson, Southern Heights, Will Rogers and Broadmoor - along with some of their teachers - got a taste of a Broadway musical when the National Dance Institute came to town on Friday. Click on the picture for highlights.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be?”
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- Maryanne Williamson
This summer, I was traveling back from a meeting in Santa Fe on US 285 and made that familiar left turn on US 82. It was close to midnight and with Artesia in my rearview mirror, the road turned very dark, although in the distance there were islands of light from the oil rigs which I could follow all the way home. When the rest of the state slept, southeastern New Mexico was full of activity. This area of New Mexico continues to burn the midnight oil and drive the economy of the state to a place which is world renowned for innovation in the energy sector. This current energy boom has guided New Mexico and the country through a dark recession that started in 2007. All the while, the oil patch has consequently seen a renaissance of interest in the fine arts. It is also a place where thousands of students call home.
The fine arts play an important role in the development of a student. Each line and song in NDI-New Mexico’s productions are choreographed to stick in each student’s growing brain. Current brain research shows that musical and dance activities turn on the part of the student’s brain that produces brain cells. By the end of the NDI-New Mexico residency, the students leave Tydings Auditorium with larger brains than when they started two weeks earlier.
New York City is where NDI-New Mexico originated before coming to this state. This year’s NDI-New Mexico program pays homage to that Great White Way in the heart of Manhattan - Broadway. The last time I visited New York City, I crossed the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. The buildings grew larger and brighter and the stars completely disappeared from the light of the city. I stayed at the Edison Hotel in Times Square which is the area of town that is as bright as day in the middle of the night. At night a sea of people gathered down Broadway. I went to the old Gershwin Theatre to see the musical “Wicked”. The theater was about the size of Tydings Auditorium, however, the stage itself was a cross between a machine and a work of art. The musical had flying monkeys flying out into the audience on wires and a green witch “floating” up from the stage floor to tower over the audience singing “Defying Gravity”. This is what Broadway is at its best. The lights from the marquee attract the masses from all over the world. The spotlight of the Broadway stage attracts the best of us.
Some students no doubt will be bound for that spotlight. Others will be drawn to other fields where they can share their excellence in the arts, sciences, industry, and medicine. Russell Baker said it best when he said the most important thing is that the students are bound for somewhere. They have a light for the world that only they can give. NDI-New Mexico directors Lizeth and Leslie have brought it out of many of the students these past two weeks.
A culture of a community, at its worst, creates a seemingly unending darkness of limitations and broken dreams yet, at its best, can speak to our better instincts. Like the lighted oil rigs in the midnight hours in southeastern New Mexico; it is the responsibility of the community to help light the way for the students in Hobbs to be bound for excellence.
Thank you for supporting the arts and kids.
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Tyson Ledgerwood
Elementary Fine Arts Coordinator
Hobbs Municipal Schools
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Maryanne Williamson quote from www.thinkexist.com
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NDI-New Mexico director Lizeth was interviewed by the Spur TV Group at lunch time at Southern Heights Elementary.
Click on the picture above for video of the interview.
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The NDI-New Mexico Art Contest Winners are Chosen!
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Click on the NDI-New Mexico pictures above for the preview of "Broadway Bound!"
Booker T. Washington had a select group of students who had good achievement in school. These students who attended class and committed to complete the program participated in the final performance on Friday. Click on the picture above for the video of the performance.
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Jasmine Alvarado and Jaden Najera concentrate during their Wednesday ballet performance at Tydings Auditorium. Southern Heights students demonstrated Fine Arts skills which they have been learning all year. Click on the picture for video of the performance.
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The Mariachi Aguila De Aztlán joined the Ballet Folklórico Paso del Norte as they presented A Mariachi Christmas. This event was put on by the Hobbs Hispano Chamber of Commerce and they invited the 5th Graders from the Hobbs as well as a good representation from the school districts around Lea County.
Click on the picture for highlights.
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Eureka!
Click on the Sunflower Picture above for the full length video of the NDI-NM
evening performance.
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Click on the Run and Jump Picture above for the photo album of the NDI-NM performance.
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A total of 250 students (and a dozen or so teachers) were on stage Friday at Tydings Auditorium showing off two weeks worth of dance and fitness instruction. The students - who were instructed by National Dance Institute teachers - put on a choreographed show with a widely varied science theme that explored among other things, the human skeleton, the solar system, virus attacks and dinosaurs in New Mexico.
Click on the picture above for highlights.
“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” |
- Albert Einstein
Here is something to think about when you look up on one of our cool, crisp autumn nights in Hobbs, New Mexico… Two generations ago, a spacecraft named Voyager left our planet into parts unknown equipped with a camera and a “golden record” with images from around the globe and a musical playlist including songs by Beethoven, Mozart and Chuck Berry. Earlier this month, NASA has confirmed Voyager has officially left the solar system and has now traveled its first miles into interstellar space. This is an important milestone in human history. After all of this time, it is still amazing to think that before Galileo, we thought the universe revolved around us. Galileo was right - we are not the center of the universe. We are a small part of a much larger picture. We are limited. However, the artist and scientist have always reached beyond our limits and designed objects like the spacecraft Voyager which can travel to a place between the known and the unknown.
Like Galileo before him, Albert Einstein also looked to the skies. He did not see the cosmos as random dots in the sky, but a rhythmic pattern. Einstein theorized the structure of the universe as a series of strings like on a violin or guitar. He knew we were not the center of the universe; yet, we were all connected to it. From the far reaches of the solar system to inside the human mind; Einstein envisioned a pattern of rhythmic music. At the end of his life, Albert Einstein had one of the largest brains on record. What made his brain different than everyone else? Was he born with a giant brain or did the experiences of his life have a lot to do with it? We do know when he had a tough problem to solve, he played his violin to help him think clearly and identify new patterns of thought. Albert Einstein knew what modern brain researchers are finding out today - activities like music grow the brain, unlock our limitations and allow us to discover more about the world around us.
According to the renowned brain researcher, Eric Jensen, when it comes to a student’s brain, the teacher is the number one factor in its growth. Uncaring or unqualified teachers are the number one reason for a student’s failure at school. Quality and engaging instruction in art,music, theatre arts and dance grow brain cells. Inadequate and disengaged teaching shrinks the brain. Although you cannot see it, your student’s brain can grow (called neurogenesis) within five days of a highly engaged activity like participating in a full musical dance production with their fellow students.
Your NDI-NM directors know how a student’s brain works and this is why the students are able to pull off “a miracle” in two weeks. The NDI-NM residency teaches students strategies like how to “dance with excellence” and “never give up”. These activities open up a student’s mind to a world beyond Turner Street. In the final analysis, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico’s impact can be quantified not only by the students’ excellent performance today but also a generation from now, when all of their students possess the skills to go beyond their limits in any endeavor they pursue.
Thank you for supporting the arts.
Tyson Ledgerwood
Elementary Fine Arts Coordinator
Hobbs Municipal Schools
Albert Einstein quote from http://www.brainyquote.com
Brain research information based on EricJensen’s findings in Teaching with the Brain in Mind
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NDI-NM Director Interviews
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NDI-NM directors Cristiane and Melanie were interviewed by the Principal's List Group after school at Jefferson Elementary. Click on the pictures above for video of the interview.
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| NDI-NM director Aly was interviewed by the Spur TV Group at lunch time at Southern Heights Elementary. Click on the pictures above for video of the interview. |
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The NDI-NM Art Contest Winners are Chosen!
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The last two weeks of September will be all about science for the elementary fine arts program. The "I Art" exhibit begins with a reception September 20th at 6:00 pm at the Center for the Arts. This exhibit spotlights one of our innovative STEM schools - Taylor Elementary. The second event September 27th at 6:00 pm at Tydings Auditorium is NDI-NM's presentation of "Eureka!" a program about science. NDI-NM is working with Southern Heights, Will Rogers, Broadmoor and Jefferson Elementary 4th Grade students.
Click on the picture above for more about the I Art Exhibit at the Center for the Arts. |
Click on the picture above for more about the NDI-NM residency at the Hobbs Municipal Schools. |
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| While her classmates wait their turn, Southern Heights kindergartner Alina Muro practices her run and jump - as well as the extension of her "crispy fingers" - during Thursday's National Dance Institute instruction. Teachers from the Santa Fe organization are working with Southern Heights, Broadmoor, Jefferson and Will Rogers students for two weeks in preparation for two Sept. 27 performances at Tydings Auditorium. In addition to dance moves, the students are learning about nutrition, self-discipline and good study habits. |
Take a look at some classic NDI-NM clips from years past performed by Hobbs Municipal Schools Elementary Students by clicking on the pictures below.
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"To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak."
Hopi saying
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Stone fifth-graders provided a flash from the past when they spent a week learning dance steps from Maciolek School of Dance, then performed for parents and classmates on Feb. 8.
Click on the picture for highlights.
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Thanks to the Hobbs Hispano Chamber of Commerce and its Foundation, Hobbs second and fifth-graders got to experience the music, dress and traditions of a Marachi Christmas during a performance Monday morning at Tydings Auditorium.
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The National Dance Institute's Aly Sanchez was back in town to provide two weeks of instruction to Will Rogers and Edison students. The workshop culminated with a toe-tapping performance at Tydings Auditorium on Friday afternoon.
Click on the picture for highlights.
"In a troubled world, I pray the Lord to keep, keep hatred from the mighty,
and the mighty from the small…"
- Stevie Wonder
The first picture in a young artist’s portfolio is almost always a self-portrait. Likewise, the Mo-Town musicians created their first music about what was going on in their own lives with titles like "I Can't Help Myself". As the decade progressed, these musicians focused on the larger community. Artists like Marvin Gaye turned outward and helped shape the world by asking "What’s goin’ on?"
The previous decade of the 1950’s created a culture built around the car, a nationwide interstate system, and segregation. However, it was the radio in those cars which began to change the culture of America. The 1960’s welcomed leaders like President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. They gave soaring speeches across the airwaves of black and white television. These speeches established a goal to land on the moon by the end of the decade and asked a segregated people to "… lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." All the while, it was the radio waves and the music of Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross that effectively reached across the racial divide. Their music trained the ears of all young Americans to hear our common melody – Motown. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Motown artists collectively taught us to set goals, right wrongs and "reach out" to each other.
To change a troubled world one must change the culture. It was the Motown greats who helped create the modern America. They are part of the reason segregated schools and separate water fountains are something a student today only finds in a history book about a by-gone age. It was the musicians like Stevie Wonder who lived in a crumbling society of "separate but equal" yet built a soundtrack of tolerance, justice and understanding. It was the music that changed America.
The past two weeks, students of Edison and Will Rogers Elementary learned about Motown and the "Core Four" (Work Hard, Never Give Up, Be Fit and Do Your Best). Their master teachers Alyx and Maki have taught them with excellence.
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Tyson Ledgerwood
Elementary Fine Arts Coordinator
Hobbs Municipal Schools
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For two weeks students at Edison and Will Rogers Elementary will learn to dance while learning the history of Mo-Town.
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The Booker T. Washington Afterschool Program under the direction of Maciolek School of Dance created two performances Friday for their classmates, parents and community at the Booker T. Washington Stage.
Click on the picture above for highlights.
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Mrs. Karen and Ms. Brittney from Maciolek School of Dance taught the students the etiquette of being a dancer including how to learn to get in a line and make a circle by teaching the student where he or she is in relation to everyone else.
The performance is Friday at 4:00 pm for the parents and community at the Booker T. Washington Stage.
Mickey Mouse Club comes to
Booker T. Washington Elementary
Conceived and Written by: MaciolekSchool of Dance
Directed by: KarenSalb and Brittney Sisson
Music and Lyrics from: “Disney’s Greatest Hits” ©Disney
Patton by: Walt Disney Records
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Hip Hop Dance Clas
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The Team from Expressions Dance Academy raised the bar for their Edison Elementary 4th Grade ballet dancers during rehearsals in late October. The dancers are preparing for their first recital December 14th 2012.
Watch the Ballet Rehearsal in October
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Expressions Dance teacher Sara Inman led the dance audition for Edison Elementary
4th Grade Hip Hop and Ballet Class.
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Hip Hop Dance Clas
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The Team from Expressions Dance Academy taught their Edison Elementary class some serious skills during their Hip Hop dance practice in late October. The dancers are gearing up for their first performance December 14th 2012.
Watch the Hip Hop Class in October
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| Fifth grade students at Will Rogers attended their first violin lesso
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| Fifth grade students at Will Rogers attended their first violin lesso
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