Sharon Bonavoglia, Seneca Valley, 7th grade Performing Arts

some thoughts on 2 technologically savvy productions from the mind of a middle school teacher

Troika Ranch (www.troikaranch.org) is an interactive multi-media dance troupe established as a technical collaboration between choreographer and composer. During a live performance the dancer creates portions of the musical score and portions of the set using video and computer technology. Don't miss the opportunity for founders Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello to interact with your students in a performance and/or workshop. Together they are a collaboration of creativity and respect that infuse their dialogue with character training as well as technological and artistic information.

 
Performance artist Laurie Anderson's (www.laurieanderson.com) Puppet Motel is an ingenious interactive CD-ROM that can be shown to students for its own creative, thought-provoking and collaborative artistic expression and it is also used as a prompt for student works in classrooms across the curriculum. From personal narrative to the green room of a television show each of the 20 initial icons connect the user to an imaginative exploration of the world of artistic expression and symbolism. Five minutes or five hours, it's well worth the investment of your time. Next year my students will be coming up with icons of their own to storyboard and create an interactive storytelling CD-ROM.      green bow