Skirball Artist-Teacher Partnership Residency Program at Westminster Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles Unified School District

The school auditorium is filled with energy and excitement as the students gather each week to experience music and dance, as well as learn about the culture of West Africa. "Hey, wassup," calls Olivier Tarpaga, Music Center teaching artist, and the students reply, "Wassup, wassup" to the rhythm of the djembe played by Olivier. The students look forward to every Tuesday because they get to work with "Mr. Olivier."

This year at Westminster Avenue Elementary, three second grade classes and one first grade class participated in the Music Center’s Skirball Artist-Teacher Partnership Residency, a professional development model that supports collaborative planning and teaching between teaching artists and classroom teachers. The four teachers selected this particular dance residency for their students because they wanted an art form that would engage their students' minds, bodies, and spirits, while introducing them to another culture. Located in the city of Venice, Westminster Avenue is a Title I school with an enrollment of 485 students, consisting of 75% Hispanic, 15% African American, 9% Caucasian, and 1% Asian. Many of these students have few opportunities to experience the arts outside of school. This residency with Olivier introduced students to an unfamiliar culture, helping to "foster an appreciation for cultures other than [their] own as well as an understanding and a love for the arts" (Melisa Lauer).

During the residency, the students were introduced to the dance, music and culture of West African countries, including Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Senegal. Olivier worked with the students to help them understand the relationship between dance and music in traditional West African society. They learned key dance elements such as rhythm, focus, cooperation, and teamwork through drum patterns and the accompanying West African movement and dance. They also discussed the importance of dance in the daily lives of West African people and learned several West African language greetings. As Angela Parris put it, "Students see and meet the cultures of our ever-shrinking global society."

In addition to being on the Music Center teaching artist roster, Olivier Tarpaga is a choreographer, dancer, and djembe drummer. Originally from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Olivier has performed and taught dance and drumming all over the world, including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, France, Germany, England, Wales, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Canada, French Guyana, Israel, South Africa, Botswana, Mali, and America. Currently, he teaches African Dance in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, and in the Fullerton and Los Angeles Unified School Districts.

At Westminster Avenue, Olivier taught students specific dance steps, but also integrated movements that the students created. For the culmination, he combined all the elements that the students learned during the residency, including the choreographed dance, West African greetings, improvised dance movements, and call-and-response movements to various drum patterns, accompanied by the live sounds of the djembe. During the presentation, fellow students in attendance picked up the drum patterns and also participated with enthusiasm. "Most of my students thought that they could not do a series of dance combinations. They practiced until they 'got it'. And the students who may not excel academically, got to shine as leaders. A great sense of accomplishment and self-validation were the fruit from seeds of perseverance," stated Angela Parris.

The residency program's focus is to help educators gain skills and content knowledge in an art form, and explore integration strategies with other areas of the curriculum. Principal Betty Coleman's hope was that "teachers will gain an appreciation for the art form; and more importantly, that the teachers will take what they've learned back into the classroom, so they can use the skills learned to teach their students." With this goal in mind, Olivier worked with the four teachers to connect his lessons to the themes of courage and heroes, and to grade level language arts standards by means of storytelling through African folktale. "I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn something new, especially cultural. It's fascinating to discover how we're all the same, yet different. I have learned that although we are different, we humans are the same," shared Angela Parris. In addition, Melisa Lauer expressed, "I gained a lot from the artist. Not only did I learn from him in terms of his expertise but also I learn from his different teaching style. Cooperative teaching and cooperative learning offer an opportunity to gain a new perspective. It's also more fun!"

Westminster Avenue has been working with the Music Center for 4 years. The school's mission is to "work in partnership with the community: to provide quality education for all students, educating them to develop lifetime learning skills, to enable them to function in a highly technological society; and, to encourage all students to embrace differences strengthened by common needs of a diverse democratic society." Betty Coleman has been the principal at Westminster Avenue for the past 15 years, and holds the belief that all students should be exposed to the arts. She believes that the arts teach students beyond the text books and truly educate them. She states, "You can not educate the whole child without the arts. The arts motivate students to come to school and they reach all students in different ways."

From the administration to the teachers, the staff at Westminster Avenue cares about their students. They strive to provide students with a well-rounded curriculum, including music, dance, visual arts and drama. Suzette Parris shares, "It is important that children be exposed to the arts as well as the academics. This creates a well-rounded adult." And Mrs. Lauer adds, "I am a strong believer in the value of arts education. As a child, I was heavily involved in the arts and still value that experience today. Also, I believe that children are often times engaged and excited more when we teach through the various art forms. I think that art should be taught not as an extracurricular activity but integrated throughout our core curriculum."

In the past three years, the Skirball Artist-Teacher Partnership Residency Program at Westminster Avenue has been generously supported by the Playa Vista Educational Trust. Playa Vista and the Music Center have been working together to sustain and expand quality arts education programs for partner schools in the areas surrounding the Playa Vista community. With deep appreciation, the teachers at Westminster Avenue and the Music Center look forward to continuing the partnership with the Playa Vista Educational Trust next year!

For more information about bringing student workshops to your school, call (213) 250-ARTS or email us at schoolprograms@musiccenter.org.

Written by Cammy Truong, School Communications Associate

Browse the Music Center Artist Directory for artists that can perform in your school, or read more about the BRAVO Awards and download a current application. View the Snapshots Archive.