Linda McInerney, director of Old Deerfield Productions, received a Summer 2013 grant to offer a therapeutic dance workshop for special needs youth in conjunction with her summer show, “My Bronx.”  The workshop was led by renowned dancer and movement therapist Maria Mitchell, who also performed in the show.

As an arts educator, Ms. Mitchell offers a unique approach that uses dance as an alternative educational tool.  Her child-centered workshops have been described as “joyful, creative, healing and fun,” and they often incorporate rhythm sticks and nesting drums.  She has taught throughout New York and internationally in places such as Ghana and Germany.   Her own training includes the Dance Notation Bureau, Dunham, Horton, Graham and Traditional African Dance.      

Ms. Mitchell has worked previously with Terry Jenoure, creator of “My Bronx.” The show was an interdisciplinary theater piece about her growing up in the Bronx, which included original music and poetry performed by Ms. Jenoure.   She was accompanied on stage by Ms. Mitchell and percussionist Bob Weiner.  The show celebrated Terry’s Jamaican and Puerto Rican roots, jazz mastery, poetry and hand-sewn dolls, incorporated into the choreography and shown in an art installation.  Linda described it as sharing Ms. Jenoure’s story “to inspire you to tell your own.”

Emily was dedicated to telling her own story through the performing arts, and she appeared several times in Old Deerfield Production shows, including playing Martha Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol “ while she was undergoing chemotherapy.  Now Emily’s Fund is meant to help others do the same.

“My Bronx” was staged July 12-14, 2013, at the ArtsBlock. and Ms. Mitchell’s creative movement workshop was on July 11, 2013, at Community Yoga Studio, both in Greenfield, MA.