Interested school principals or parent groups are encouraged to read the descriptions of TrICA’s school-based programs listed below. The cost for these programs is shared by the school/parent organization (school budget or parent fund raising) and TrICA (through grant funding). To learn more, request a program, or to talk with Jon Swarthout, TrICA’s Artistic Director, please phone us or e-mail Jon.

Cultural Respect Program

TrICA offers this series of classes free to low income, at risk pre-schoolers and kindergarteners. The students are exposed to a variety of different world cultures through dance following the Dance Rascals model (see below). Through this program we endeavor to cultivate in students a respect and appreciation for different cultures and ethnic groups. This program has expanded to include all Treasure Valley Head Start Programs.

Dance Rascals

This is an arts education and outreach program that introduces children to the art of dance.  TrICA travels to preschools, kindergartens, daycare facilities, elementary schools, and after school programs. The classes are designed to show the power and relevance of dance, using various historical and cultural dance styles. While basic dance steps are taught, instruction is designed to be technique-light with emphasis and enthusiasm given to the children’s natural movement tendencies and communal play.

The Dance Rascals curriculum focuses on dance, but students come to understand the cultural, political and historical basis for those dances. For example, in learning about the Big Band Swing, teachers and students discuss the personal stress caused by WWII and the emotional release of the music and dance of the big band era. When teaching the South African Gumboot dance, students learn the history of apartheid, racial injustice and the healing power of art.

A few schools in which the Dance Rascals program has been offered: 

• Trinity Treasures
• Foothills School of Arts and Sciences
• Riverstone International School
• Longfellow Elementary School
• Cynthia Mann Elementary School
• KASP
• YMCA Guided Discovery Pre-School
• Anser Charter School

Dancing Through School

DTH is a two-week in-school intensive in which TrICA works in partnership with individual schools to integrate artist-in-residence programs with the school's curriculum. Groups of children receive classes with a professional teaching artist and live musician. They learn and rehearse choreography, and put together a show to be performed for the rest of the school and their parents.

Dancing Through School Curriculum Options:

• Dancing Pants – a literary focus using the work of Shel Shilverstein 
• Footprints Across Africa – a cultural focus examining the folk tales, music and dance traditions of specific geographic regions in Africa.
• Life’s Lessons – developed with TrICA guest teacher, Corrine Nagata, this program focused on four character values.
• Heroes – the qualities of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Opera Winfrey, Martin Luther King (along with various SuperHeros!) inform dance steps to highlight their contributions to society.
• The Cultures of Idaho – an historical investigation of Idaho that makes up the framework of the community today; a study of the cultures of Basque, Chinese, Mexican and Native American peoples through the uniqueness of their traditional dances. This program is to be unveiled in fall, 2009.

• Chief Joseph Elementary School, Meridian
• Washington Elementary School
• Garden City Community School
• Foothills School of Arts and Science
• Anderson School, Bozeman, MT
• Punta Mita Elementary School, Punta Mita, Mexico
  

Contract Workshops

If a school or organization has a particular need, TrICA artists are available to work with teachers to create a special curricular program. These classes usually complement a topic of study already underway in the classroom, making it richer with a hands-on, kinesthetic experience for students.

For Example:

• Anser – Kindergarten dance program for the all-school performance
• Washington Elementary – Series of themed kindergarten dance classes to enhance their study of The Age of Jazz.