PS48's Comic Book

29 Jun 2010, 2:20 PM by kaya

For those of you who would like to know if the zombies were defeated at the 50 Cent Community Garden, here's our comic book!

Two Urban Arts Festivals!

15 Jun 2010, 1:40 PM by kaya

The Urban Arts Festival at the 92Y Tribeca was a huge hit with elementary school students. Young artists from PS 46, PS 111, PS48M, PS 48Q, and PS 40 drummed, danced, acted, and sang. They showed films, shared comic books, displayed photography, and made art. Over 275 students were on hand to have a great time.

On June 2nd the Urban Arts Festival Queens took place at the Queens Museum of Art. 120 students shared their final work in the museum's theater and gallery space. Students from the Queens Museum of Art and Leadership Program joined Urban Arts students for an artistic and fabulous afternoon. Congratulations to all students on tremendous work!

Our trip to the Community Garden

15 Jun 2010, 1:14 PM by kaya

In May, Urban Arts students from PS 48's Photography, Video and Cartooning Classes went to the 50 Cent Community Garden in Jamaica, Queens. There we learned how flowers become strawberries, what worms do for compost, and how rainwater can be stored. We were inspired totake photos that we plan to turn into a comic book!

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PS 49: We make dances

27 Mar 2009, 7:01 PM by sarah

I've been working with the 5th graders in the East Side House after school program at PS 49 to learn the foundations of creative movement and dance making. We've been focusing on the idea of "community" as a basis to draw ideas for movement, and last semester many of the students expressed a large concern about the amount of pollution in their South Bronx community. Over the past few weeks we've been utilizing our Dancer's Toolbox (a term I coined that encompasses the elements of dance we regularly use, including level changes, locomotor movements, rhythm, speed, focus and more). I asked the class, "How would you feel if your community were free of pollution?" and they responded with ideas of happiness and pride. We used those ideas to create a dance as a class, then divided up into groups to get a little more space really make the movements travel. Each group had their own take on the dance.

First, Jadell, Tatyana, Machiami and Nakita:

PS 49 After School - Urban Arts Partnership from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.

And now, Daniella, Folashade and Fatoumata:

PS 49 After School - Urban Arts Partnership from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.

They're really into the whole "Take 1, ACTION!" thing. It's a ritual when we do group sharing in class.

We've now taken this dance and created several different duets that utilize these movements but are unique for each pair. They will appear in the end of our full-length dance that is currently in progress. The students will perform in May. Stay tuned ...