The Contemporaries’ annual event allows local third and fourth graders to immerse themselves into another country - hands-on.
This year the country is Spain or España as it’s called around the Cultural Activities Center.
The program includes four stations: theater, movement, art and gallery. Each station gives the children a chance to dig their hand into a bit of Spanish culture.
The first Hands-On was in 1975 and didn’t take place in some fancy building. The Contemporaries used the Magic Blue Bus and went from school to school teaching children about pioneer activities.
“We made bread, butter and did sand sculptures,” said LaJuanna Carabasi. “We carted and spun wool and did weaving.”
Ms. Carabasi has helped with Hands-On since the beginning and said more than 30 years later the original emphasis of the program still lives.
“The bare bones of the program are the same as far as the four different groups,” said Marianne Stringfellow, a Contemporaries member with 25 years of Hands-On experience.
The biggest difference?
“It’s become a lot more upscale,” Ms. Stringfellow said.
Upscale includes being able to use an actual stage for the theater presentation and the ease of having a remote control to help with the music in the movement section.
These may sound like little advantages, but they need all the extra help they can get.
“The first meeting we had was the first week of March,” said Juana Mari Ethridge, Contemporaries member. “That’s when we began and we haven’t stopped since then.”
When she says they haven’t stopped, she means it. While no one wanted to try and guess how many hours it took to put it together, it’s clear that no effort is wasted.
For the movement session they had to take the Flamenco, one of Spain’s most complicated dances, and make it workable not just for children but for themselves.
“The children are not the problem on something like that,” Ms. Stringfellow said. “They’ll do whatever, but our people get really scared and think they won’t be able to do it. It has to be simple enough for us.”
There is room for interpretation though.
“Flamenco is about having a great imagination,” Ms. Ethridge said. “We want to bring that to the kids so they will open their own imagination.”
The Contemporaries are trying their best to focus that imagination into all things art.
“What we try to do in Hands-On is not just do another school class,” Ms. Stringfellow said. “We want to introduce various aspects of art that are fun and we use a country as the vehicle.”
With all the work the group does in preparation for the program the term Hands-On also applies to the teachers.
“I bet I have a degree in Spanish art now. I’ve probably read 50 books since March,” Ms. Carabasi said. “I wasn’t interested in Spanish art before, and now I absolutely love Picasso.”
The Contemporaries will perform Hands-On Thursday and Friday for until the middle of October.
That is 20 programs with four sessions per program meaning eight sessions per day. It’s not for the faint of heart.
“It’s a hardcore group of people who are dedicated to the program,” Ms. Carabasi said. “I can be at the store and every once in a while a little kid will yank on his mother’s dress and say, ‘She was in the gallery when I went to the CAC.’”
After an introduction, Ms. Carabasi asks her favorite question, “What did you learn?”
“I always want them to say, ‘I know the difference between realistic and abstract art,’” she said. “That makes my day.”
--rrenfrow@temple-telegram.com
