ENOCH - Elementary school students throughout Iron County have been treated to performances and interactive workshops this week by the Ririe Woodbury Dance Company of Salt Lake.
The company visited Parowan, South, Three Peaks and Fiddler's Canyon Elementary Schools, as well as hosting a "parent and children" workshop Thursday evening at Iron Springs Elementary.
Gigi Arrington, education director for the company, said she and the six full-time company dancers were doing lectures and demonstrations at the schools to teach children about the elements of dance - space, shape, time and energy. She said the lesson is fun for the children because they are allowed to participate.
She also talked to the students about what dancers do because dance is not just an art form, but an occupation.
Arrington told students at the Three Peaks workshop the Ririe Woodbury Dance Company has been around for about 50 years and travels all over the world.
"It's important for you to know this is their job," she said.
The children learned about improvisation and got a chance to participate with the dancers during demonstrations of shape and energy.
Debbie Melling, fifth grade teacher at Three Peaks, said her students enjoyed the movement, which was "very eye-catching."
Principal Tim Taylor said the dance company comes to the school every couple of years, and the demonstrations give the children a deep appreciation for the fine arts and dance.
"It gives them culture so when they grow up they will appreciate these things," Taylor said.
Arrington said the company, which performs contemporary dance, took up residence in Cedar City this week as they did the school workshops as well as appearing in a show Tuesday night at the Heritage Center.
The show featured the work of Alwin Nikolais whose choreography was very prominent from the 1950s through the 1980s. Ririe has been reviving Nikolais' work and is the only dance company that has the rights to perform his work.
Carrie Trenholm, assistant professor of elementary arts education at Southern Utah University, said the school demonstrations by the dance company were tied into a dance and science project in which SUU dance students, who were performing Nikolais dance routines with Ririe this week, went to eight county schools in one day. They taught fourth grade students about the water cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation and water collection through dance.
The students learned about the dance concepts of time, space and energy along with the scientific concepts of the water cycle.
"It's really been fun to team up with Ririe," Trenholm said.
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