Queen of Uganda Visits the Lower School

The Lower School was honored by a visit from Sylvia Luswata, Queen of Uganda. Her Royal Highness came to LREI to learn about the connection between early childhood movement and dance. She came as the guest of Deborah Damast’s dual roles, LREI Movement Teacher and Artistic Advisor/Core Faculty Member of the Dance Education Program at NYU. Prompted by her own daughter’s interest in dance, Queen Luswata intends to establish the first ever National Ballet and Modern Dance School and Professional Company in Uganda. While her husband was busy at the United Nations, the Queen and her entourage had appointments to visit several prominent dance institutions, but observed children only at LREI. What better children to see in action than our fabulous movers?

As they watched, Deborah led Kindergartners through the many passages of her movement class. Children experimented with shapes and tempos, leapt over her outstretched legs, “painted” the room with colored scarves, and took part in a folk dance from Bolivia. This was our visitors’ first experience with “creative dance”; quite a departure from the classical ballet they were expecting to see! As the children began exploring, creating, discussing and enjoying a free yet structured class, the visitors began to smile and to recognize the underlying connection between the various dance forms. At the end of class, the Kindergartners blew kisses to Queen Luswata and wished her well. She thanked them for sharing their dancing and students received a big round of applause. It was a wonderful sharing all around.

The creativity and spontaneity that our children embody at LREI spoke volumes about creative dance, our school, and the pedagogic possibilities of a challenging, yet open curriculum.

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