10HL Partners with Elizabeth Public Schools

10 Hairy Legs will provide the Dance to Learn program to all second grade students at the Jerome Dunn Academy #9 in Elizabeth, NJ. The Creative Movement Residency includes 11 consecutive weekly classes during the school day taught to 100 students by 10 Hairy Legs Teaching Artists Shawn Brush and Danielle Mondi. Both are graduates of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, earning BFA's in Dance, as well as current performing artists. The professional company will perform at the school on Wednesday, December 13 at 9:30 am with students in the program participating. The performance is free and open to the community.

10 Hairy Legs Executive Director Elizabeth Shaff Sobo noted, "We are pleased to return to Elizabeth Public Schools to provide Dance to Learn to all 2nd grade students at Jerome Dunn Academy #9. We greatly applaud that they embrace the value of creative learning through dance as an important component of their students' academic growth."

Dennis Argul, Supervisor of Music for the district stated, "The Elizabeth Public Schools are thrilled to have the Dance to Learn program as partners once again this year! Our experiences with the partnership last year at William F. Halloran School #22 was so successful that we were able to hire a fulltime dance teacher and now offer dance as a performance art on that campus. The students at Jerome Dunn Academy #9 are eager to begin learning the art of dance and the untapped talents of these students will be a joy to watch come to fruition! I am eager to see the students grow and blossom as dancers and scholars!"

Principal Yalitza Torres added, "Here at Jerome Dunn Academy we are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with DTL to offer our 2nd graders the joy of dance. We know the value of the Arts and its impact on teaching and learning. Our students are elated, honored and overall ready to dance!"

Classroom Teacher Barbara Fahoury expressed her enthusiasm - "How wonderful, I can't wait to see our kids learn through dance! We are even more excited to see them perform. This is truly a dream for our kids! Thank you Dance To Learn!"

The Geraldine R Dodge Foundation partners with Young Audiences, Dance New Jersey, professional dance companies and teachers topromotethe Dance to Learn experience. 10 Hairy Legs was awarded a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for the fourth consecutive year to deliver the program. Dance to Learnis a four-year interdisciplinary and inclusive dance curriculum with the goal to advance dance education in schools and community settings.It is a model of dance education that meets or exceeds the NJ Department of Education Core Curriculum Standards for Dance and the National Core Arts Standards in Dance.

The Dance To Learn curriculum is both arts-based and truly arts-integrated because it encourages students to explore, internalize and transform classroom learning and the elements of dance while developing their individual creative voices, offers opportunities for students to reflect, critique and connect personal experiences to their learning of dance and in their classrooms, is adaptive to any dance style, genre, or culture, provides an inroad to kinesthetic learning and connects to language arts, mathematics, science and social studies, physical education and music curriculums and offers formative and summative assessment and documentation tools to help measure the effectiveness of student learning and facilitator impact.

About 10 Hairy Legs

10 Hairy Legs is an all-male repertory dance company performing existing and newly commissioned works. Since our founding in 2012 we have commissioned 14 works from choreographers Doug Varone, Doug Elkins, Tiffany Mills, Manuel Vignoulle, Julie Bour, Megan Williams, Al Blackstone, Raja Feather Kelly and founder Randy James. We have served more than 75,000 patrons, students, artists and educators throughout the NY/NJ region, in NYC at BAM Fisher/Fishman Space, New York Live Arts, The 92nd Street Y, Brooklyn Dance Festival, Modern Dance at Bryant Park, Dixon Place, Gibney Dance, Joe's Pub, West End Theatre, Fire Island for the DRA Benefit Week End, Dance at Socrates, Koresh Come Together Festival; on tour to the Choregus Dance Festival in Tulsa, OK and as a guest artist at its Benefit Gala in July 2017, appearing with the Joffrey and Geneva Ballets; in Seattle, WA, The Cayman Islands, New England and Rhode Island; broadcast nationally and internationally on NJTV's State of the Arts, The Meredith Vieira Show and Nick Cannon's Red Nose Dancathon, and in residence at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. In December 2016 we were the only American dance company appearing at the Cape Town (South Africa) International Dance Festival. In our 2018 season we will tour to 10 states outside of New Jersey. We provide a wide range of education programs for all ages focusing on the many facets of maleness as expressed through dance, serving more than 6,500 students and educators each year.

"...since its formation in 2012, its rapid growth has been astonishing...The diversity of this programming is a treat for audiences...this company has also become a welcome source of choreographic commissions." - Robert Johnson.

In 2015 10 Hairy Legs launched 10 HL Projects, which includes women for specific productions outside of the all male company. The first of these was a new full-length work based upon C. S. Lewis'

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, choreographed by James that had its World Premiere at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in January 2016.

Our Artistic Collaborators are choreographers Al Blackstone, Julie Bour, Seàn Curran, David Dorfman, Dan Froot, Doug Elkins, Raja Feather Kelly, Heidi Latsky, Cleo Mack, Tiffany Mills, David Parker, Stephen Petronio, Claire Porter, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, Doug Varone, Manuel Vignoulle, Christopher Williams and Megan Williams; musicians Tigger Benford, Sarah Biber, Jane Chung, Lachlan Glen, Kyle Olson, Robert Maggio, Bryan Strimpel, Michael Wall, Dorian Wallace and Peter Whitehead; and designers Abraham Cruz, Oana Botez, Cindy Capraro, Benjamin Heller, John Lasiter, Naomi Luppescu,Mary Kokie McNaugher, Dennis O'Leary-Gullo, Lauren Parrish, Amanda Ringger, Amanda Shafran, Ken Tabatchnik, Olivier Theyskens, Asa Thornton and Tuce Yasak.In addition to their work with 10 Hairy Legs, our company members are currently featured artists with The Bang Group, Stephen Petronio Company and Zvi Dance, among others.

Leadership funding for the company has been provided by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Music USA's Live Music for Dance Program, The Frank & Lydia Bergen Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, The O'Donnell Green Music & Dance Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Johnson & Johnson, Magyar Bank Foundation, Thee New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Dept. of State, receiving a Citation of Excellence, the Rutgers Research Council, The Hyde &Watson Foundation and the generous contributors to the Rita & Philip Levy New Works Fund.

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