Junior Players Program Opportunities
Junior Players programs teach youth to resolve conflicts using non-violent communication strategies such as reflective listening skills, identifying emotions, and pivoting to non-violent solutions. All Junior Players programs are based off of SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Tenets and are integrated with TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) objectives for grades K-12, including 110) English Language Arts and Reading, 113) Social Studies, 116) Physical Education and 117) Art, Music and Theatre.
Junior Players continually adapts programming and outreach to meet the needs in our community. Each year, Junior Players serves thousands of kids and teens throughout the North Texas area.
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Junior Players exists to meet the need of the community and has a roster of over 100 highly qualified teaching artists. No matter the art form, with Junior Players you are guaranteed to receive a qualified professional who is able to tailor lesson plans to your needs.
Discover Arts Education Workshops
Junior Players provides after-school & school day workshops to schools across North Texas. All of our classes are taught by professionals in their respective fields and all program content is modified for respective grade levels.
Classes are 1-hour sessions, with a maximum of 25 students unless noted. We recommend booking a minimum of 10 sessions.
- Discover Africa: Program options include either African Stories, African Dance, or African Drumming. Please specify your preference on the interest form.
- Discover Art: Students explore the different mediums as well as exposure to art history and its influences. Mediums include painting, drawing, sculpture, mural, and mixed media.
- Discover Theater: Students will learn skills in theatre arts, emphasizing oral communication skills. Specializations include Shakespeare, Musical Theater, Improvisation, and Stage Combat - please specify your preference on the interest form.
- Discover Dance: Students learn basic steps that are used towards curating dances. Forms include Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ballet-Folklorico, & Flamenco. Please specify your preference on the interest form.
- Discover Creative Writing: Students experiment with numerous writing exercises to release the creative voice. Students may work on poetry, playwriting , spoken word, and short story.
- Discover Fashion: Students learn basic skills in fashion including fabric type, design, business standards, and even some modeling! Emphasis is placed on personal development and self-esteem.
- Discover Photography: Cultivate young artists through digital photographic projects. Students will use their environment and writing exercises to create artistic pieces of work. This class allows a maximum of 15 students.
SEL Residencies for Grades 6 - 12
- Film Residency: Our film residency focuses on the importance of storytelling in digital media and broadcasting to help students channel challenging concepts into a form of expression, and to help create a platform for their voices to be heard. Through the program, students will develop innovative techniques for gathering and producing news stories, and will enable students to recognize the importance of having a voice and utilizing it to positively impact others around them. The purpose of this residency is to develop skills in broadcast journalism, videography and editing, and writing and collecting newsworthy information from the community and subjects they interview. This residency is a total of 24 hours of curriculum, which can be scheduled as needed, and, as with all Junior Players programs, the instructor, supplies, and technology will be supplied by Junior Players.
- Dance Residency: Our dance residency provides a safe environment for students in our community to come together and discuss any issues they may be facing, either at home, at school, or on the streets of our communities. Part of the Junior Players mission is to provide non-violent alternatives for students looking to deal with any personal issues facing them in their day-to-day lives. This program will provide students with this opportunity while also exposing them to the process of creating a new work and performing that work for their family, friends, peers, and community members. Our professional choreographers will partner with the students to create two dance pieces based off of the discussions had in the classroom, one of which will be performed at a culminating performance.
- Graphic Design Residency: This residency is designed to integrate the arts, female STEM representation, and career development in a program for young women in North Texas. This project contains 12 sessions during which our students will select a woman in STEM from the IF/THEN collection to feature in a marketing campaign they will develop through the course of the program. The program will culminate with each participant creating their own poster with their final design to be printed and displayed in the halls of their school!
Fine Arts Performances
All Junior Players Fine Arts Performances is approximately 1 hour, and all performance material will vary based on the grade level.
- African Griot Performance: One of Junior Players' Griot Storytellers will entertain and educate students on African culture through the telling of stories, folktales, and drumming of Africa.
- Creative Spoken Word Performance: A Junior Players artist will perform the art of spoken word. Spoken word performances focus on words, the dynamics of tone, gestures, & facial expressions.
- Flamenco Dance Performance: A variety of Flamenco dances available for performance! Students will be exposed to a dance performance by a professional company. Flamenco combines elements of Spain’s culture, history, & folklore with rhythm and body movement.
- Strike, Scrape, & Shake: Entertaining and Educational! Mark Shelton treats students to high energy performances on several members of the percussion family. Students get into the act with a little hambonin' body music as Mark discusses the history of percussion. Instruments include Cajon, Hammered Dulcimer, Cymbals, Electronic Percussion, Handpan, & more. Lots of sound & variety!
