The West Liberty University Center for Arts and Education will host hundreds of area elementary school children for a performance of the W.Va. Dance Company. The Center is sponsoring the presentation, “Exploring Global Treasures,” for elementary school students and the university’s pre-service teachers.

Performances are slated for 10 a.m. on March 8 in WLU’s Kelly Theatre for children from Ohio County elementary schools.   Lou Karas, director of the Center for Arts and Education, explained, “Joining us for the performance will be approximately 215 students from the third, fourth and fifth grades from Bethlehem, Madison and West Liberty Elementary Schools. The College of Education’s Block students, 18 of them, also will attend the performance. Afterwards, several of the dancers will go to the West Liberty Elementary School for a workshop with fourth- and fifth-grade students. Other dancers will travel to Bethlehem for a similar workshop.”

Keely Camden, dean of the WLU College of Education, said the performance will create an artistic expression of West Virginia content standards and objectives for social studies, helping the children understand different cultural contributions.

On March 9 the company will do a workshop for 45 WLU education students who are student teaching this semester. That afternoon, Dean Camden will lead a workshop with the dancers on strategies for working with children with autism.

“Exploring Global Treasures: Travel to Each Continent Through Dance!” consists of seven original dance works and a lecture exploring the historical, scientific and geographical elements of each continent. The Beckley-based professional troupe interprets the themes, music, and choreography of a variety of different world cultures by means of interpretive modern dance, traditional folk dances, ballet, mime and acrobatics.