Thousands of Fifth Graders Dance on Music Center Plaza on Thursday

 

MEDIA ADVISORY AND PHOTO TIP:

Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.

 

THOUSANDS OF FIFTH GRADERS TO DANCE ON THE

MUSIC CENTER PLAZA AS PART OF THE ANNUAL

BLUE RIBBON CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL

 

Event Offers Many Students Their First, Live Performing Arts Experience and Showcases the Value of Arts Education in Schools

 

 

WHAT: Over 3,000 fifth grade students from throughout Los Angeles County will be performing a choreographed dance on the Music Center Plaza as part of the Blue Ribbon Children’s Festival.

 

Celebrating its 40th year, the Festival is a three-day event that welcomes over 19,000 fifth graders from Los Angeles County to the Music Center for a free dance performance in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This year’s Festival features Diavolo. Led by Artistic Director Jacques Heim, this compelling company redefines dance through their dynamic movements, trust and teamwork. Following each performance, students join together on the Music Center Plaza to perform a short dance inspired by the production.  For many students, the Children's Festival is their first, live performing arts experience. 

 

This program, like all the educational programs the Music Center offers, is strengthened by the work of the arts teachers.  Elementary dance teachers from across LAUSD prepare their students to fully engage in the performance.  The Music Center is committed to these educators and the work they do.  We applaud LAUSD’s efforts to expand and strengthen arts programs.  In this time of budget shortfalls, the Music Center urges the District to maintain these invaluable arts teachers.

 

WHEN: Thursday, February 18 at 10:30 a.m.  Media should arrive by 10:15 a.m. Check-in at volunteer table, located between the flagpoles on the plaza.

 

WHERE: Music Center Plaza, 135 N. Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles

 

STREET CLOSURES: Hope Street will be closed between First and Temple. 

 

MEDIA RSVP REQUESTED

Leticia Rhi Buckley, 213-972-3335, lbuckley@musiccenter.org, (day of event 213-435-7467)

 

Since 1970, The Blue Ribbon has hosted over 600,000 children for one of California’s longest continuing arts education programs. Each year a special program is tailored especially for fifth-grade students.  In preparation for their trip to the Center, each teacher and class is furnished with special materials created by the Music Center; specific to the performance the children will see.  Included with this information are instructions for a dance that the children perform on the Center’s Plaza, following the performance.

 

Thanks to a generous gift from Maxine Dunitz, a Blue Ribbon member, each student will receive A Journey through the Music Center, a book written specifically for the Festival and designed to introduce students to the Center and the world of the performing arts.  Thanks to Dunitz’s gift, the book is updated and reprinted every year in perpetuity so that all students attending the Festival will receive the book to use for years to come and to share with family and friends.

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