EDUCATION & OUTREACH

EDUCATIONAL RESIDENCIES

Educational Outreach remains an important part of EDD’s mission. For a third year in a row, Eisenhower Dance Detroit has been named a Detroit School of the Arts Pathways Partner. A select group of arts organizations throughout metro Detroit received this designation and invitation to provide educational outreach to DSA and its feeder schools in the Detroit school system. EDD also has a longstanding relationship with Oakland University’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, as a company in residence.

2023-2024 Season

With funding from the Max and Marjorie Fisher Foundation, EDD again returned to Durfee Innovation Society to provide the Let’s Dance after school program to K-6th grade students attending Durfee Elementary/Middle School. The company also conducted technique and choreography residencies with Livonia Churchill High School, Farmington High School, Detroit Country Day School, Mumford High School in Detroit, and the Detroit School of Arts. Many of these residencies were supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Collegiate level residencies occurred at Oakland University and Wayne State University. The WSU project, partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rose Marie Floyd Endowment, involved EDD guest choreographer, Joshua Peugh, in the creation of a new work involving WSU dance students with the company. The EDD dancers taught master classes at James Madison University, Northern Michigan University, Hope College, Alma College, and Hart Middle School. A two-day EDD Experience intensive took place at The Dance Centre in Alpena, Michigan. In October 2023, EDD launched Club Create at the Maggie Allesee Studios for Dance and Arts Innovation to provide social time and a movement experience for adults with special needs. The company also appeared in a pop-up performance celebrating Black History Month at Detroit Metro Airport.

2022-2023 Season

We are grateful to have received a significant 2-year grant from the Fisher Foundation to support Let's Dance, a collaborative after school dance program at Durfee Innovation Society for K-8th grade students at Detroit's Durfee Elementary-Middle School. The program brings 4 of EDD's outstanding dancers/educators to explore a variety of dance styles with students, guide them in choreographing their own dances, reinforce academic concepts being taught in the classroom through dance, and assist with schoolwork during dedicated Homework Help time. The 27 week program runs October 24th - May 24th and culminates with a student performance. The Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation’s core philosophy is grounded in the beliefs of their founders and the family’s shared Jewish values that life’s purpose is found in service to others. The mission of the Foundation is to enrich humanity by strengthening and empowering children and families in need. In the Jewish tradition of tzedakah, the Foundation works to repair the world (tikkun olam) alongside those who share that mission.

2021-2022 Season

The company conducted several residency programs, taught many master classes and set new choreography throughout the season.

At Zeeland High School, mini grant funding from Michigan Arts and Culture Council supported a week-long technique and choreographic residency with EDD Senior Company member, Alex Hlavaty in March 2022.

In the Detroit school district, EDD hosted a 7 week long residency program at Detroit School of the Arts, Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, and East English Village High School. The EDD dancers taught technique classes and guided the students to create their own piece of choreography. This residency rounded out with a performance. The professional company performed an excerpt of Stephanie Pizzo’s, Surge, and each high school performed their new work. The project was funded by Michigan Arts and Culture Council, the Abrams Foundation, and the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.

EDD dancers had a three week residency at the Middle School and Upper School of Detroit Country Day School, as well as, set two works of choreography. The Middle School work was choreographed by company member, Tara Charvat, and the High School by company member, Brooke Mainland. EDD company dancers taught technique classes to the dance department at Oakland University for one week. Artistic Director, Stephanie Pizzo traveled to Texas where she set choreography on dancers from Texas A&M and Texas Christian University, as well as taught technique classes. Former EDD Senior company member, Lindsay Chirio-Humenay and Senior company member, Alex Hlavaty, traveled to Alpena, MI for a one day workshop at The Dance Centre. Company dancers also taught a week-long residency program to the dancers at Novi High School. Senior company member, Brooke Mainland and company member, Emy Bezbatchenko both set new works of choreography.

2020-2021 Season

The company conducted three residency programs in local schools during this season. The EDD dancers did an exceptional job navigating between in-person, virtual, and hybrid platforms during the residencies. The National Endowment for the Arts funded EDD’s residency with Ferndale High School and the Center for Advanced Studies and the Arts, a consortium school home to students from 7 local school districts. This residency used EDD artistic director, Stephanie Pizzo’s, mainstage work “ARC” as a launching pad for the exploration of labeling and stereotyping. The company revamped “ARC” into a lecture-demonstration performance geared toward middle and high school audiences. After viewing the performance, students entered into discussion with school social workers and the EDD dancers to take a deeper dive into personal experiences with labeling. From there, the EDD dancers guided students in the creation of their own work based on the themes discussed.

The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs provided funding through an Artist in Educational Residency grant for EDD to conduct a 4-week program at Detroit School of Arts and its four conservatory feeder schools: Brenda Scott Academy, Spain Elementary, Duke Ellington Conservatory of Music & Art, and John R. King Academic and Performing Arts Academy. This program involved master classes in dance technique, creative movement workshops, mentoring, and new choreography. The MCACA also provided funding through its minigrant program for EDD to conduct a 2-week program at the Middle School for Visual and Performing Arts in Warren. Here, the EDD dancers taught creative movement workshops, technique class, and guided the students in setting their own choreography.

2019-2020 Season

The company conducted 10-day dance residency programs at Ferndale High School along with the Center for Advanced Studies and the Arts and another 9-day residency at the Arts Academy in the Woods in Macomb county. Both residencies were funded by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and included master class instruction along with setting choreography. Due to Covid-19, the program at the Arts Academy in the Woods was completed via a virtual platform. A third residency funded by the MCACA was to have taken place at John R. King middle school in Detroit but was canceled due to the pandemic. Once again, EDD conducted a 1-week dance residency at Detroit Country Day School. EDD dancers also taught classes and set works on dance students at Indiana University (Pizzo’s “Someone’s Keeper” with the assistance of Lindsay Chirio-Humenay and Emily Bezbatchenko), Oakland University (new work by Stephanie Pizzo), Detroit Country Day School (new work by Alex Hlavaty), and at The Dance Centre in Alpena, Michigan.

2018-2019 Season

In the 2018-2019 season, the company visited two school districts in Michigan, Three Rivers and Owosso, to present Mini-Motown, facilitated a Healthy Kids Residency at Barnard Elementary in Troy. The 2018-2019 season was the first year Eisenhower Dance Detroit was designated as a Detroit School of the Arts Pathway Partner.

POP-UP PERFORMANCES & DANCE HAPPENINGS

Eisenhower Dance Detroit has produced multiple free engagements in the city of Detroit through pop-up performances and classes. In the 2021-2022 season, the company celebrated Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement, with a pop-up show at the Detroit Institute of Arts. In the company’s 30th season, in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, EDD managed to continue sharing the art of contemporary dance through an improvisational “Dance Happening” at Belle Isle Park in the city of Detroit in conjunction with the EDD Youth Ensemble.

EDD company member, Tara Charvat, demonstrates balance as a creative movement exercise during an improvisational “Dance Happening” at Belle Isle.