NGI Recipient: Erika Roderick
Session Attended: Folk Arts Center of New England - Folk Days (2008)
I had a wonderful time at Folk Arts Center folk days at Pinewoods and I am so glad I was able to go under the youth initiative scholarship! Though I am not new to the folk dance world, it was nice for me to take this chance to come to Pinewoods while thinking about my future role in this community. During the folk days I got to take a larger role in teaching at Pinewoods than I have before. I taught a one day 3-5 year old singing games workshop with my mother, as well as helped to teach rapper sword dancing to the 10-15 year olds. It is interesting for me, as a new elementary school teacher, to begin transferring my love of teaching to my love of dance. I hope to gain more and more experience in this area! I also had a great time learning Romanian, and other types of dance (like Israeli pop line dances!) from Sonia and Christian (sic…should be Cristian), and getting a chance to work on Norwegian couple dancing with Alix and wonderful fiddler Dag Stian. Overall, as a young person in this small yet amazing community, it is wonderful to learn and begin to lead all of these wonderful traditions we share and continue.