Sorensen students immersed in Japanese culture
<p>LiAnne Hunt helps organize a rehearsal of third grade students Wednesday from Sorensen Magnet Elementary as David Hay, 11, a stage hand, helps close the curtain.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - A line of students snaked its way Thursday across the floor of the gym at Sorensen Elementary School.
The third-graders waved streamers of red, white, green, yellow and blue as they walked to create a "rainbow dragon spiral parade" under the direction of LiAnne Hunt.
Hunt, a teaching dance artist born on Hawaii's island of Oahu, spent the week at Sorensen immersing the children in Japanese culture.
Hunt's visit to the school, provided through a grant from the Idaho Arts Commission, was planned long before last week's earthquake rocked Japan.
It's a powerful coincidence, Hunt said.
"The kids, they can't avoid seeing the images of devastation," she said.
A Sorensen student placed a hand on Hunt's heart earlier this week.
In the child's eyes, Hunt could see how the news coming out of Japan was deeply affecting the child.
The Japanese-inspired lessons at Sorensen have provided some balance for the young students.
"It's healing. It's empowering, transformative, cathartic," Hunt said.
Under her tutelage, the students have explored movement and focus through dance.
Hunt's techniques teach teamwork and problem-solving skills while helping the students build concentration and awareness of themselves and those around them.
"They're learning a style of learning - focusing, breathing, moving from the center like you do in martial arts," Hunt said.
Students also learned about the five elements in Japanese culture - space, water, air earth and fire. The elements were represented by the rainbow colors of the streamers in the dragon spiral parade.
The rainbow dance was part of a performance rehearsal for the third-graders.
The students will share what they have learned with the rest of the school during an afternoon assembly today.
Some students will be reading haiku poems they have written on pages they decorated with brush-stroke art.
Another student dance performance will highlight the ancient myth of koi, that they swim upstream and become dragons.
"To have movement and show students the power of expression through movement, it shows infinite potential - that students feel that spirit of 'I can do it.' That is priceless," Hunt said.
Sorensen became the Coeur d'Alene School District's first magnet school in 2007. The learning focus is on arts and humanities, which is meshed whenever possible with the reading, math and science curriculums required by the state.