Ballet Arizona and Arizona Opera Partner in Bringing Students Music Movement Breaks
Ballet Arizona and Arizona Opera Partner in Bringing Students Music Movement Breaks
Interactive Free Learning Breaks Inspire Students to Get Active and Involved in the Arts
PHOENIX – Ballet Arizona and Arizona Opera have combined forces to produce a free nine video series whose purpose is to get students moving in both virtual and in-person classroom settings. With arts programs in many schools still not active, this tool helps students develop their rhythm, movement and listening skills while introducing them to the world of ballet and opera.
“This project is an excellent example of how the arts can help support students and teachers in their learning and their well-being,” said Alexandra Papazian, Ballet Arizona Education and Community Engagement Manager. “The traditional learning model is very sedentary, and these videos give students and teachers a chance to reinvigorate the learning experience. Our Music Movement Breaks combine movement, music, classical arts, and history in short, manageable doses that provide students with a fun and rich embodied-learning experience.”
Each video varies in difficulty, and the dances in which the students participate are rhythmic, addressing state standards while promoting learning and movement. Educators may pause, rewind and play the videos as many times as they wish.
“When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I began hearing about the challenges that arts programs faced while adapting to this new virtual, or hybrid learning model. With a common goal to keep classical music and movement alive in the classroom, Music Movement Breaks was born,” said Cassie Robel, Director of Education and Community Engagement at Arizona Opera. “Each video has its own unique dance set to opera arias and ballet classics that students will recognize, keeping them engaged, learning, and having fun. It is a priority for Arizona Opera to create arts programming that support both teachers and students in our community. Collaborating with Ballet Arizona to provide these free, accessible Music Movement Breaks does just that.”
Arizona Opera’s Education and Community Engagement programs are made possible, in part, thanks to the support of: Karen Fruen, The Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation, Dr. Rex Brewster, Invest in Kids Charitable Gift Fund, The Moreno Family Foundation, The Arizona Republic, Fillman Gorin Fund held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, The City of Peoria, and Desert Diamond Casino West Valley.
Music Movement Breaks videos are available on Arizona Opera’s website and YouTube channel. For more information about each organization’s Education and Community Engagement offerings, please visit azopera.org or balletaz.org.
Ballet Arizona
Ballet Arizona is dedicated to preserving and celebrating classical dance while creating new and innovative works. Under the artistic direction of internationally acclaimed choreographer Ib Andersen - a former Principal Dancer with The New York City Ballet and The Royal Danish Ballet - Ballet Arizona follows his lead to the future of dance in Arizona. The School of Ballet Arizona promotes access to the art form of ballet through dance education, with a focus on excellence in the form, directing each student to a life-long love of dance. Following this vision, Ballet Arizona connects to more than 35,000 children and families every year through its free and low-cost outreach programs. For more information, visit balletaz.org.
Arizona Opera
Arizona Opera, entering its 50th Season in fall of 2021, produces fully-staged operas, concerts, and collaborative programs throughout the state of Arizona each season, and is among only a handful of companies in the U.S. that regularly performs in more than one city. Arizona Opera elevates the transformative power of storytelling through music, cultivating community and strengthening a state and people as adventurous and diverse as the place they call home. Since its inaugural year in 1971, Arizona Opera has produced more than 200 fully-staged operas and concerts. The company's artistic history is rich with a blend of operas traditional repertoire featuring baroque, bel canto, and verismo works, turn-of-the-century masterpieces, operettas, and American operas.
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