[Adta] Follow Up on "Student Seeking Guidance"

[Jessica Gonzalez]

Thank you, Lisa, for your concern about my situation.  I have  
received many responses thus far and you are not alone in being  
concerned.  I have definitely been presented with a task that is much  
bigger than myself.  I am seeking and praying for guidance and doing  
my best to be as prepared as possible for this trip.  It is coming up  
on me very quickly!

I realize, as with any new situation, that I will not truly know how  
things will go until I am with the group in India.  I tend to be a  
fairly flexible and compassionate person.  So, I am praying for the  
ability to read the energy coming from the girls as to what they are  
comfortable with.  It is difficult to communicate with my partnet  
because she is already in India.  However, her mother is the  
president of the non-profit organization we are going through  
(projectrescue.com, rescuearts.com).  I think I may try to get a hold  
of her and see if I can talk to her a little bit about it since she  
is more easily reached.

Thus far, I have been feeling like I clearly will not be working on  
any intensive therapy with these young women for a number of reasons:  
I am not a trained professional, I will not be there very long, and  
that is not really my purpose at this time.  Although I have not  
heard back from my partner about her idea of the main objectives yet,  
I plan on focusing primarily on introducing them to the basics of  
dance and movement.

It may ease you to know that my partner has been doing drama therapy  
with the girls for some time.  She has spent one month with each of  
the girls that will be coming to the camp.  So, expressing their  
feelings about their past is not something entirely new to them.   
Expressing themselves through movement will be failry new.  However,  
as I have discussed with Rebecca (my partner in India), many of the  
girls have a natural dance ability and have even choreographed some  
dances for past performances.

Some activities I am looking into using:
1) The mirror exercise: I will move in front of the class and they  
will imitate me.  As they get more comfortable, I will try to pair  
them up with partners.  I realize that there may be girls who do not  
want to dance and this is not at all about forcing anybody to do  
anything.

2) Using photography: a few options for this one.
         - bringing photos of dancers in poses that emulate certain  
feelings/emotions (ie. anger, sadness, joy, etc.)  and having the  
girls guess what mood it is.  And, also have them come up with their  
own moods.

3) Music exercise:  I feel very strongly about the power of music to  
move us, especially as a dancer.  So, I would like to have exercises  
where I play different types of music and just allow them time to  
feel the music and dance to it as they please

So, sorry for such a long post, but can anyone give any feedback on  
how all of this sounds?

Thank you so much for all of the guidance!!!! =)
Jessica