4556 Dancing Threads Guide

see “final DT cover“ for cover design This guide accompanies the four-part instructional television series Dancing Threads: Community Dances from Africa to Zuni, a production of KET, The Kentucky Network. Teacher’s Guide Writers: Anndrena Belcher Nancy Carpenter Arden Kucate Paula Larke Margaret Norman Production Photography: Dave Crawford Our thanks to Susan Booker of the Lexington Public Library, Lexington, KY, and Dr. Charles Joyner of Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, for their help with information on resource materials. © Copyright 1995 KET Foundation, Inc. 600 Cooper Drive Lexington, KY 40502-2296 (800) 354-9067 ISBN 1-881020-22-3 The Kentucky Network 2 Dancing Threads: Community Dances from Africa to Zuni Program 3: Weevily Wheat Context ................................................. 20 Table of Bonnie Prince Charlie Over the River To Feed My Sheep Contents Before the Program ................................. 22 Weevily Wheat Instructions ..................... 23 After the Program.................................... 24 Finding Out More Talking About It Introduction .............................................. 4 Showing What They’ve Learned About the Series ........................................ 5 How To Use This Series ............................. 6 Program 4: Zuni Harvest Dances Where To Use This Series .......................... 7 Context ................................................. 25 Program 1: Goin’ to Boston The Zuni People Harvest Dances in Zuni Culture Context ................................................... 8 Before the Program ................................. 26 What Is a Play Party? For Multicultural Understanding Before the Program ................................. 10 Preparing for the Dance Dances Today and Yesterday Zuni Harvest Dances Instructions ........... 27 British Isles Immigrations and After the Program.................................... 28 Settlement in the New World Finding Out More Goin’ to Boston Instructions ................... 11 Talking About It After the Program.................................... 12 Showing What They’ve Learned Finding Out More Talking About It Pulling It All Together ................... 30 Showing What They’ve Learned Opportunity for Teachers ......................... 13 Connecting the Lessons to Students’ Lives Program 2: Little Johnny Brown Creating Your Own Dances For Teachers and Older Students Context ................................................. 14 Chain of Transference Some Resources You Might Find The Story of Little Johnny Brown Helpful ................................................ 32 Images in the Song Before the Program ................................. 15 African Settlement in America About the Presenters Games People Play Anndrena Belcher ........................... 33 Making the Blanket Arden Kucate .................................. 36 Little Johnny Brown Instructions ........... 16 Paula Larke ..................................... 37 After the Program.................................... 17 Finding Out More Talking About It Showing What They’ve Learned About Ring Plays ..................................... 18 Teacher’s Guide 3 The fun thing about living today is that we can view the past and the cultural teachings of the ancients and carry those Introduction teachings forward to the benefit of ourselves and our world. Urban lifestyles may not hold as many opportunities for rural-based community dances, but these dances can be enjoyed in urban as well as rural settings. If young people do not have their own com- By Anndrena Belcher munity-supported dances and gatherings, that’s all the more reason to introduce the dances in the classroom. Students can then Jean Ritchie, Paula Larke, Arden Kucate, take them out into the community and and I all come from cultures rooted in the make a place and a way for them to flourish necessity of a reciprocal relationship with in their particular home environments. the land and the air and the waters. Our The dances and play parties included in people have worked the small farms of New Dancing Threads come out of the rural Mexico, Alabama, and Kentucky. Each of us cultures of the Southern African-Americans, comes from a culture rich in the arts; for the ancient Zuni Indians of New Mexico, and stories, songs, dances, games, and the the Appalachian mountain folks of Eastern making/crafting of tools, clothes, Kentucky. The series is designed to provide a housewares, and personal ornaments were, connecting thread to each specific culture and still are, a part of everyday life. through the dancing and oral history of the The Zuni tribes of Arden’s New Mexico dance leader, while connecting each culture homelands were threatened with extinction, to the others through the common threads both by the Spaniards and by the white man. of dance and rural-based economic histories. Old-time Appalachian mountain farmers Each dance can be integrated into units on struggled to survive and raise their families the history, culture, economics, art, cos- on what they could grow and gather from tume, oral literature, music, architecture, the rugged and hauntingly beautiful land geography, and politics of yesterday and they lived on. Nor was life easy for the today. African-American rural folks of Paula’s The main thing is: Have fun dancing Alabama childhood community. She didn’t and see what you feel by participating in one learn all the old games and stories from the of the most powerful forms of the demo- old people who tended to her, but what she cratic process in the land! did learn was their “way,” their “essence,” as she calls it. It is the “way” of each of the ancient cultures represented in Dancing Threads that gets passed on through the stories, songs, games, riddles, sayings, and community dances. And it is the “way” of these old cultures that very well may help us see our way into human understanding and mutual cultural and generational respect. As Little Tree’s grandmother in Forrest Carter’s book The Education of Little Tree advises, “If it is a good thing, pass it on!” 4 Dancing Threads: Community Dances from Africa to Zuni In each program, students in the television studio follow step-by-step instruc- About the tions and then participate in each game or dance as a group. This segment is followed Series by a short interview with the artist about the historical and cultural contexts out of which the dance sprang. The game “Weevily Wheat,” for example, refers to an individual by the name of Charlie, a reference to Dancing Threads is a series of four half- Britain’s “Bonnie Prince Charlie” of the hour programs featuring outstanding 1700s. performers—African-American, Native Anndrena Belcher hosts two of the American, and Appalachian—teaching programs, teaching traditional Appalachian traditional dances and games, some centu- games brought from the British Isles by ries old. early settlers. A noted storyteller, Anndrena The activities are all “community is featured prominently in the popular KET dances,” involving patterns of singing, series Telling Tales. African-American dancing, poetry, mimicry, and play acting, musician and storyteller Paula Larke and used in olden days to teach social customs to Zuni dancer/storyteller Arden Kucate a whole community. Some are courting complete the talent for this series. dances; some are for play after coming Because the series was created for together to work; some are used to celebrate students of all ages, this teacher’s guide seasonal accomplishments such as the offers a broad range of suggestions for harvest. People of all ages have enjoyed them activities to expand on what students have and passed them on for generations. learned from the tapes. Please adapt the Dancing Threads gives young people a discussion questions and activities to an multicultural and historical perspective, appropriate level for your students. encouraging them to value their own and other cultural traditions. The programs also show students that they don’t need expen- sive things to have fun. As host Anndrena Belcher says, “You’ve got rhythm in your fingers and your hand claps; you can jump; you can make motion; you can create it all. And because the dances and games are old, it’s another way of recycling what we’ve had that worked.” Teacher’s Guide 5 perform the dance, you can play each part as many times as necessary until they are How To Use comfortable with it. Students will enjoy and appreciate the dance much more if they have This Series practiced enough to feel comfortable with the motions. Then dance the entire dance. If you are working with students older than those featured in the programs, you may want to use the instructional portion to While an instructor on tape can never teach yourself the dances and then teach offer the warmth of a real live visitor in your them, without the video, to your students. classroom, this electronic resource does The final segment, the 10-minute have its advantages: Through the magic of interview, can be used at any time and with videotape, you can introduce your students all ages to give students insights into the to these top-notch experts as your schedule cultures and traditions featured in the series. permits. With your VCR, you can start, stop, The Dancing Threads programs are rewind, and review the tapes as often as you closed-captioned. If you have a decoder, you like. can use it to show the song lyrics on screen. We recommend watching each half- Finally, don’t be too demanding of your hour program all the way through the first

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