Today elementary dance students visited the Museum of Native American History (MONAH) in Bentonville. Ms. CeCe Finley and Mr. Aaron Jones collaborated on an arts integration project for the dance class. Students were introduced to artifacts and histories from First Americans.
Touring the collection the class learned about various cultures, events, and customs from which each artifact was associated. After a grand tour of the Museum, students then visited the galleries on their own. Each dancer selected an object and conducted research on the era, culture, and intended function of the artifact. Students returned to school and will apply this knowledge into dance class. Collaborating as a team the students will work together to produce an original dance work inspired by the history, stories and of the artifacts in the Museum’s collection.
Each student will choreograph a brief sequence that tells the story of their object. All of the sequences will then be combined to create one comprehensive work; an original interpretative narrative through movement inspired by objects from the Museum’s collection. The work will then be performed later in the semester for parents, teachers, students and the community.
Thank you to the amazing staff at the Museum of Native American History for allowing us this educational opportunity as well as the very special “interpretive dance” that was performed for us! We look forward to sharing our inspiration from the new knowledge you provided.
MONAH contains over 10,000 objects and artifacts created by First Americans from the Paleolithic Era to today. Their mission is to educate the public about the lives of these peoples and provide cultural hub to amplify the voices of their legacy. If you would like to know more about MONAH and their collection and programs please visit https://www.monah.org/