PROGRAMS

Riddick Dance under auspices Beauty for Ashes Contemporary School of Dance offers residencies that are structured to implement and achieve the goals of the Virginia Department of Education's Teaching and Learning in Dance and its accompanying strands for Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade students and are aligned with the Virginia Learning Standards in the Arts. Our residencies can also be linked to students’ academic curriculum. Experienced dance teachers with a percussionist from the Art Saves Lives Arts in Education & Community Programs conduct these classes. Rhythm & Roots, creative movement, and modern/contemporary dance classes are accompanied by a percussionist.  Resource and support materials are distributed, which serve as an introduction to our organization. We educated your students on the accomplishments of Riddick Dance , and the artistry of Riddick Dance  and other dance artists. Included are biographies, news articles, interviews, and reviews, as well as a Resource Guide for Educators which contains lesson ideas, a dance glossary, and both pre- and post-performance discussion.

Riddick Dance performances are  collaborative with the audience members. This experience allows participants to look through both lens of the choreographer and dancer. Through this collaboration audience members will experience how dancers retain combinations and how the choreographer's movements have a beginning, middle, and end, while exploring how each phrase is built strategically. Audience members will discover how dance is a part of everyday life through the mind-body connection. Performances conclude with a post-performance discussion with all parties involved.

Details
Full Performance format can vary to suit your needs from tradition two-act with intermission (1hour 45minute) to 70 minute one-actpresentations Mini-Performance are 45-minute performances. Price is determined by number of participants and repertoire requested. Lecture Demonstration are 45 minutes and includes audience participation. Format can be adapted to include performance.

Workshops and Master Classes are taught by David F. Riddick or other company members and include age-appropriate warm-up barre and movement from the company repertoire. We offer instruction in the following techniques and styles:

Ballet
Modern/Contemporary Dance ‘’Riddick Technique’’
Creative Movement (grades Pre-K–2)
Rhythm & Roots Afro Latin and Caribbean /Hip Hop
Rhythm & Roots Hip-Hop

Improvisation
Note: Beauty for Ashes loves to work with Public, charter, private, and independent schools and community organizations should contact the staff of the Arts in Education & Community Programs department for individual residency options and costs. ASL Dance program residencies are customized to fit a school’s or organization's schedule and budgetary needs.

Beauty for Ashes is a registered vendor for Hampton Parks Recreation & Tourism Newport News Virginia and works with Virginia Beach Public Schools.

 

Modern/Contemporary Dance (grades 6-8) 
This will help students develop the understanding of how modern dance and contemporary dance are fuse together. Students will learn basic fundamentals in modern dance such as the release technique with a fusion of Contemporary from the Riddick Technique. 

Creative Movement (grades Pre-K–2) 
This workshop is for students grades PreK-2 – that encourages students to imagine and project their creative minds in to dance. Student will learn the importance of staying focus being on task along with shapes. Students will learn fundamentals in dance suchas jumping, hopping, running and rolling which comes from the Riddick Technique.  Through these exercises students will learn ballet and modern techniques 

Improvisation (grades 3-12)
is a workshop that introduces students to new concepts such as collaboration and team working. Students will develop choreography-through contact improvisation which will develop trust and critical thinking skills. 

Rhythm & Roots Drumming Circle and Dance (grades k-12)
This workshop will be introducing students to dance and drumming students will get to feel and hear the Djembe and see how it creates “gather puts a community at "peace.

All residency programs can be purchased from one to five days or as one-five week group

Drop Down TabArtist in Residencies (2 days - 2 weeks): 
Riddick Dance residencies (2-14 days) feature professional instruction in ballet, modern/contemporary, and Rhythm & Roots (which is a mix of African, Caribbean, and Latin dance, and improvisation.  Additionally, participants will learn about nutrition, physiology, and the engineering design principles through movement. Performances include students learning the repertoire of Riddick Dance, choreography.  Arts-integrated, SOL supported, special needs supported and educational residencies are also available.

We offer instruction in the following techniques and styles:

Ballet
Modern/Contemporary Dance ‘’Riddick Technique’’
Creative Movement (grades Pre-K–2)
Rhythm & Roots Afro Latin and Caribbean /Hip Hop
Rhythm & Roots Hip-Hop

Improvisation
Note: Beauty for Ashes loves to work with Public, charter, private, and independent schools and community organizations should contact the staff of the Arts in Education & Community Programs department for individual residency options and costs. ASL Dance program residencies are customized to fit a school’s or organization's schedule and budgetary needs.

Beauty for Ashes is a registered vendor for Hampton Parks Recreation & Tourism Newport News Virginia and works with Virginia Beach Public Schools.

Note: Company residencies are a more offer in-depth, intensive training opportunity. Classes are lead by the director and/or company members; and addresses both artistic and technical concerns. The residency will culminate with a performance that integrates participants and company members.

Riddick Dance dancers provide warm-up exercises and floor-work that includes excerpts from the Riddick Technique and repertoire. Arts-integrated workshops and classes can be customized to specific curriculum connections for K-12, including Math, Linguistics, Poetry, Engineering, Physiology/Nutrition music, Science and technology and more. Additionally, Riddick Dance programs are appropriate for all ages and skill levels from pre-K to seniors, pre-professionals and college/university level. Residencies programs will conclude in a performance by the participants.

We offer instruction in the following techniques and styles:

Ballet
Modern/Contemporary Dance ‘’Riddick Technique’’
Creative Movement (grades Pre-K–2)
Rhythm & Roots Afro Latin and Caribbean /Hip Hop
Rhythm & Roots Hip-Hop

Improvisation
Note: Beauty for Ashes loves to work with Public, charter, private, and independent schools and community organizations should contact the staff of the Arts in Education & Community Programs department for individual residency options and costs. ASL Dance program residencies are customized to fit a school’s or organization's schedule and budgetary needs.

Beauty for Ashes is a registered vendor for Hampton Parks Recreation & Tourism Newport News Virginia and works with Virginia Beach Public Schools.

Note: Company residencies are a moreoffer in-depth, intensive training opportunity. Classes are lead by the director and/or company members; and addresses both artistic and technical concerns. The residency will culminate with a performance that integrates participants and company members.

Xpress Yourself Contemporary Hip-Hop Workshop Students will explore the intersectionality between African and Hip-Hop movement by understanding syncopated rhythms, linguistics, culture, timing, musicality, level changes, and undulations. Students will learn choreography through the foundational movements of Ballet, Modern, and Afro-Caribbean styles of dance.  By the end of the session, students will have a greater understanding of the origins of Hip-Hop movement.

We offer instruction in the following techniques and styles:

Ballet
Modern/Contemporary Dance ‘’Riddick Technique’’
Creative Movement (grades Pre-K–2)
Rhythm & Roots Afro Latin and Caribbean /Hip Hop
Rhythm & Roots Hip-Hop

Improvisation
Note: Beauty for Ashes loves to work with Public, charter, private, and independent schools and community organizations should contact the staff of the Arts in Education & Community Programs department for individual residency options and costs. ASL Dance program residencies are customized to fit a school’s or organization's schedule and budgetary needs.

Beauty for Ashes is a registered vendor for Hampton Parks Recreation & Tourism Newport News Virginia and works with Virginia Beach Public Schools.

Note: Company residencies are a more offer in-depth, intensive training opportunity. Classes are lead by the director and/or company members; and addresses both artistic and technical concerns. The residency will culminate with a performance that integrates participants and company members.

Modern Lab (Master Class) 

This is an introductory dance class intended to share with students the basics of contemporary dance forms, using elements from The King Project in a structured dance class. The voice of MLK is used as accompaniment, along with other music sources and soundscapes.

Discovering MLK Speech, I Have a Dream

The class will look at the sermon structure of the I Have a Dream  speech, including its cadences. Students are asked to write their own sermons and create movements to them using skills from the Modern Lab.

Creating the 100’s Positions Movement Vocabulary

Depending on how advanced students in the class are, the students may create up to 100 positions or shapes. Each shape will be photographed and posted and numbered on a wall. Students make phrases based on numbers drawn from a hat. The students learn to develop a movement vocabulary before taking the voice of I Have a Dream and map their own movement vocabulary to the speech.

Exploring five fashion or costumes designers of the 1950’s-1960’s

Students research fashion designers in the areas of film, stage, and dance, and explore their impact on popular culture of the day. Based on these data and analysis, students are asked to sketch ideas on paper and then explain how they developed their own sketches

Researching Five Organizers behind the March on Washington

The students identify and research five community organizers who worked behind the scenes. The assignment is to develop character sketches through text and movement. 

We offer instruction in the following techniques and styles:

Ballet
Modern/Contemporary Dance ‘’Riddick Technique’’
Creative Movement (grades Pre-K–2)
Rhythm & Roots Afro Latin and Caribbean /Hip Hop
Rhythm & Roots Hip-Hop

Improvisation
Note: Beauty for Ashes loves to work with Public, charter, private, and independent schools and community organizations should contact the staff of the Arts in Education & Community Programs department for individual residency options and costs. ASL Dance program residencies are customized to fit a school’s or organization's schedule and budgetary needs.

Beauty for Ashes is a registered vendor for Hampton Parks Recreation & Tourism Newport News Virginia and works with Virginia Beach Public Schools.

Tab B4A Dance and Math Camp 

This camp a six-week camp that helps students understand how dance and math are related students will understand basic fundamentals in math such as addition, subtraction, multiplying along with geometry. Students take dance movement and view them in 2d and 3d and start to learn math in a healthy way.