On Generosity

Where would we be without the generosity of our extended community? I often ask myself how have we existied....nay...thrived for almost 40 years now. There are so many people and organizations to thank. I'm going to focus on our recent month of concerts and SummerDance! programs. Tuesday evening we performed at the uniquely fabulous Mohonk Mountain House. The Smiley family, who have owned Mohonk for 142 years, has been so generous to the Company over the decades. Not only are we invited to perform annually in their wonderful Summer Festival of the Arts, produced by Pat Guralnik, but they have been so forthcoming by providing space and time for Bill and myself to write our book about the Arts Education work we do in the schools.

Just taking a moment here to reflect the beautiful three weeks of our 20th annual SummerDance! program at Stone Mountain Farm. If you haven't been to this magical land owned by Robin and Stephen Larsen, where we dance from 9:30-3:30 daily for 3 weeks, please do visit and come to the activities offered by the Center for Symbolic Studies symbolicstudies.org. Our excellent SummerDance! faculty hails from all over the world. Nina Jirka (originally from the Kremlin Ballet) offers envigorating and challenging ballet classes, Toby Stover who has been with The Vanaver Caravan for 34 years, creates new Senegalese/West African choreography. Joel Hanna (1/2 Irish, 1/2 Philippino, from Vancouver, BC, spends his summers with us and offers flashy percussive footwork classes and amazing performances, Kantham Chatlapalli (from India, living in Wappingers Falls) & her daughter Harika teach kuchipudi and Bollywood . Mirah Moriarty of DANCE MONKS (who has relocated from San Francisco and teach in our Fall and SpringDance Institute as well), created a site-specific piece for Stone Mountain Farm. Talli Jackson who grew up dancing with The Vanaver Caravan and is now a member of Bill T. Jones' Dance Company and Gustavo Caldas, our resident capoeirista from Brazil, created pieces for the SummerDancers as well. Many of these dances will be performed on the Walkway-Over-the- Hudson Bridge on Friday evening, August 12th from 5:30-7 PM. All of these teachers and artists share their hearts and souls with the dancers and make an indellible impression for life.

In the midst of all this, the Company travelled to Ithaca two weeks ago to perform EarthBeat! at Cornell University. Harry Aceto, who has played bass with us in the past, put the word out that we were looking for housing for nine members of the Caravan. As a result, we received an e-mail from Scott Wiggins at LaTourelle Resort and Spa www.latourelle.com, inviting the entire Vanaver Caravan to be their guests while we were in Ithaca! The generosity of spirit was such a welcoming energy for us weary travelers! The accomodations were more than sensational. Scott put the guys in a beautiful historic converted carriage barn that was complete with jacuzzi (for Joel's room) and dining/living room where we all ordered Thai take-out for dinner. Eating together, laughing and relaxing, we were able to joyfully plan our rehearsal schedule and talk through the program which was brand new for some members. Sara Milonovich and Moustapha Diedhiou hadn't performed with us for many years. Hannah Tobias had her debut with TVC and everyone was thrilled to welcome her into the fold. What the audience sees onstage is not only dancing and music, it is the culmination of much time together and the ongoing development of relationships. What people also see, perhaps unbeknownst to themselves, is the result of the extention of this generosity of Scott Wiggins who "set the stage" for a beautiful concert evening by offering La Tourelle and making us feel so welcome. Before we go on stage, we always circle up and build that energetic focus and foundation for the performance. We remind each other to be generous with our dancing and that performing is a gift we give to the audience and is then received. How profound is that idea of generosity. There's something about being open and receptive. After the gift of a fabulous night's sleep, great food and a reception from Scott, the Company was then in an even better place to offer themselves and the EarthBeat! concert.

This spirit of generosity was experienced again last week at PS 21 (www.ps21chatham.org) where the Company entered Judy Grunberg's vision of creating a dance and theatre space in the middle of an orchard/farm in Chatham NY. Judy housed the Company for a week in a farmhouse on the property. Nathan and Emily taught Swing dance and Bill composed music for his upcoming symphony. Thank you Judy for your vision and your incredible generosity. Please take the opportunity to visit Public Space for the 21st Century and become a part of their community as well. Generosity begets generosity. We all have so much to share.

Summer events begin!!!

The Clearwater Festival kicked off the summer for the Caravan last Sunday! TVC has been part of the The Great Hudson Clearwater Revival since it’s inception. (I remember sitting at a meeting in the old Towne Crier in Beekman when I actually first suggested the festival’s name!) Then… just a week from today we open Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out stage! I remember our first year at the Pillow in 1981, when the original Inside/Out stage was built. Terry Creach, Sharon Leahy, Terry Fister, Jim Lepore, Rachel List and Toni Smith were all part of our troupe at the time. All of us scrambled onto the newly built platform stage in a beautiful clearing on the west side of the Pillow property, and gleefully clogged and improvised among the surrounding trees and sky. I must say that we were probably one of the rowdiest bunches to hit the ground dancing at the Pillow. That summer we presented a reconstruction of Ted Shawn’s “Boston Fancy:1854” staged by former Denishawn Dancer, Jane Sherman (who would have celebrated her 103^rd birthday two days ago!). We also performed, “Appalachian & Southern Medley” for which the barn doors of the Ted Shawn Theater parted and at first the outdoors and then the actual wooden barn wall became our very memorable entrance and backdrop. That was a thrill! For those of you who joined us last August when we premiered, “EarthBeat! A Journey” you know what an amazing place the Pillow has become. Just a few months ago, President Obama declared Jacob’s Pillow a National Landmark. For us dancers, it is living history. I feel so honored that Ella Baff invited us to return this year to open the new Henry J. Leir Inside/Out Stage and be part of the celebration. I’m so very grateful to the Laskin Family for their generous and enthusiastic support making next week’s performance possible! Hope YOU will join us too. Stay tuned and stay with us as we navigate these challenging times in light of the many incredible new events happening for The Vanaver Caravan this year.

WELCOME

Welcome to the new Vanaver Caravan Website and to our blog. We have some joyful Arts Education news to report. Last week was the culmination of our 22nd Annual Calico Ball with every third grader in the Beacon City School District. Over 275 dancers were joined by Vanaver Caravan musicians and dancers and our very special guest Pete Seeger (who made this year's festival possible!). The Calico Ball has been a template for our World Dance & Music festivals in schools.

Sixteen years ago Vassar Road Elementary School began a biannual residency with TVC, spearheaded by music teacher extraordinaire, Karen MacLeod. Karen and the entire faculty at VRS really took the ball and ran with it, creating a deep learning experience where the entire school came alive with the arts. We culminated the second and third graders in a Festival of Sharing and here are Karen's remarks to the community that day:

Last week a reporter asked me what the Vanaver Dance Residency is all about. I thought about it this past weekend and I think I finally have an answer. The Vanaver Dance Residency here at Vassar Road is like a beautiful garden. To make a beautiful garden you need many things. First, someone needs to buy seeds and tools. The PTA and NYSCA generously gave money. There teachers selected the first seeds - the countries. Next they started preparing the soil, by planning interesting activities to help you learn. Just about 1 month ago we started planting seeds. Mrs. Coyne began projects in Library and you first met Gaby and Livia. Each day the seeds were watered as you practiced your dance. More seeds were planted in music, art and gym classes learning songs in different languages, listening to instruments, playing games and studying artists and art from different countries. Even more seeds were planted as you worked with your partner classes in kindergarten and first grade.

Soon plants were sprouting up all over the school. I could hardly keep track of all the wonderful things going on. There was more practicing and studying and learning. So the plants kept growing. Before long, flowers began blooming all over the school. Colorful maps and projects were hung on the walls. First graders told me about working with you and watching you dance. They could hardly wait to see all of the dances today.

In every garden there are rocks and weeds that must be removed. The weeds in our garden were our doubts – we didn’t think we could ever earn those challenging parts. But then along came Livia with words of encouragement, always believing in us and telling us we could do it. Gaby was there to help us and show us exactly how to do the steps. So we kept on practicing and things got better. Lots of parents came to help in the garden too. They helped you practice. Some sewed costumes. Others counted, washed and fitted your costumes, making sure that we had everything we needed. Some days the ice and snow kept us indoors at home and we couldn’t even get to the garden! Along the way there was lots of hard work and even sweat. It was fun working together. But sometimes you might have wondered if all that hard work was worth it. I know sometimes I wondered myself.

But now we know it was all worth it. Today you gathered some of the flowers from our Vanaver garden. You gave a big, beautiful bouquet to your parents and to everyone here at Vassar. We are all so very proud of you.

And the garden keeps growing. Some plants have begun to drop their seeds which will start new plants as you taught your dance to others. The first graders are already gathering seeds to plant in the garden in two years.

Many years ago, even before you were born, two very special people dreamed of this beautiful garden – Livia Vanaver and her husband, Bill. Livia and Bill, thank you for making that dream come true. We will always remember this wonderful Vanaver garden, because as the garden grew, each of us also grew. Livia, Gaby and Bill, in addition to and, I believe, even more important and lasting than the beautiful flowers we see today, are the seeds that have been planted in our hearts –

Seeds of friendship with buddy classes,

Seeds of cooperation and teamwork as we help each other to do our best

Seeds of discipline, perseverance, and practice.

Seeds of pride and accomplishment in our work.

Boys and girls, these are the seeds you need to water and care for so these seeds grow inside of you. These seeds will grow and blossom for the rest of your lives.

Livia, Gaby and Bill, the children have written notes to thank you for helping us to grow and work together to create this beautiful garden. Here are just a few of their words:

GRADE 3: read Beck & Wexler & Edwards

I never knew how to dance, but you guys changed that fact. You are great dancers.

I feel like I know the dance so well, like I’m a person from the Netherlands.

When we played it felt like we were really in South Africa.

The Gumboot dance is my favorite because you have to use teamwork.

I know two dances now because my brother knows the dance from Italy!

It is going to be the best day ever.

And yes, boys and girls this surely was the best day ever!

GRADE 2 – read Zmud & a few Moy

Thank you Gaby for helping us exaggerate our movements.

The dance has awesome motions and I love the dance.

It was amazing how you fixed my mistakes.

I felt so nervous at first. Then I felt impressed with myself. Just when I started dancing I thought it was so cool. When I danced I felt so free. It has been so fun.

This is just the beginning of a regular blog on our new website. We'll have entries by myself as well as Company members and guests.

May Peace Prevail on Earth,

Livia