Shadows and Dance

We've had a few weeks off for winter break and we return to school seeing we have about a month until production.  It sounds like a lot of time, a month, but as far as number of rehearsal days it is only 20.  It's time to move.  I am blessed with a PE teacher on our staff, Sarita Truijillo, who is a magnificent dance instructor.  She came in this week to teach a dance to the Oracles. The oracle is our attempt at humor and history.  The history is that the founder of the settlement of Byzantium (which later came to be called Constantinople, and then, Istanbul, was Byzus,  a Greek colonist.  Legend has it that Byzas went to the Oracle at Delphi seeking advice on where to found a new colony.  The oracle told him to build his new settlement across from the land of the blind.  After sailing a bit, following the path of the mythical journey of Jason and the Argonauts to the Black Sea, Byzas found himself sailing up the Dardanelles, into the Sea of Marmara, and just about to enter the straits of the Bosphorus when he came upon the  settlement of Chacedon (what is now Kadikoy--the asian side of Istanbul). From all accounts it was an awful spot: no wind, no hills for protection, no running water, no natural harbor for ships.   Some of his crew went exploring in their boats across the Bosphorus to the golden horn, to what is now the European side of Istanbul.  There the land was perfect, a wind to ward of insects and disease, running water, a natural harbor, hills for protection.  Upon seeing this Byzas is said to have declared:  The people of Chalcedon must be blind not to have seen this magnificent land.  It was then he understood the Oracle's prophecy.  And so he built his settlement there.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  Our play about the Hagia Sophia incorportates this story, with dance and some humor.
  I always try to incorporate dance into the productions for a couple of reasons: it gives voice to many students who otherwise might not participate, it adds an aesthetic dimension to our shows that is quite popular with our audience (most of our 1,000 students see the play), and it gets another adult involved.   I gave Sarita the music and she developed the dance.  I also had a few kids on hand that weren't interested in doing the dance but used the shadow screen behind the dancers, some overhead projectors for rear light projection, and a puppet, cardboard and scissors to see what they could do to support the dance.  All in all a creative session.  And it left me with a positive feeling about where we are at this point in our process.  The next step is work with our shadow artist and decide on the shadows behind the dancers, and of course continue to rehearse and refine the dance.
Here is are some photos of our work with shadows and dance today.  I will try and add a video later as well.