Kennedy Center Speaker Tells C.C. Ring Pupils To Move Through Science

JAMESTOWN – Kimberli Boyd, artistic director and dancer from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Partners in Education Program, recently visited Ring Elementary School to share her knowledge and experience with pupils. She explained how to use creative movement to help with learning, especially for kinesthetic learners.

“I am here because I am a kinesthetic learner and teacher. When I really looked at scientists and choreographers, people who create dances, I discovered they have a lot in common. So I’m going to ask you, what do you think scientists and choreographers have in common?” Boyd told the fourth graders.

She presented “Moving Through Science,” which uses creative movement to reach all learners, particularly the kinesthetic learner, in ways that allow them to process and retain information effectively and efficiently. In addition to working with students at Ring and Love Elementary
Schools, she also taught a workshop to Jamestown and Chautauqua Lake teachers to learn ways to enhance the teaching of science topics, such as the rainforest habitat, water cycle, rock cycle, plant life cycle, and states of matter, through movement.

Participants explore how to involve students in active learning through warm-ups, improvisation, and simple structures for composing dances.
The professional workshops are part of the partnership of Chautauqua Institution, Jamestown Public Schools and the Chautauqua Lake Central School District who were named among 10 inductees in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Partners in Education Program. This is the second year of the collaboration, which gives the schools multiple visiting artists opportunities each year.

Boyd, CEO and founding artistic director of “Dancing Between the Lines,” is a nationally known dancer, performing artist and artist educator. A graduate of Florida State University, she holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Dance. In addition, she has studied with such notables as Peggy Lymon, Antony Morgan, Clifford Schulman, Ken Genado, Linda Davis, Dorothy Vislocky, Woody McGriff, David Dorfman, and Dr. Pearl Primus, learning the dance techniques of Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Bella Lewitsky and others.

The study of these various improvisational and performance techniques along with the study of classical ballet, inform her eclectic movement style. As a performing artist, Boyd has toured extensively, performing and presenting workshops and residences for many major presenters both nationally
and internationally. She appeared with the critically acclaimed Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, in Washington, from 1988 to 1996 as an ensemble dancer and soloist. As the company’s first associate artistic director, she directed both site specific and theatrical performance events that included members of the host community. Boyd also played a leading role in developing as well as teaching the curriculum for the company’s national training institute on teaching dance in community settings.