An exciting performance designed for students
Now celebrating its 5th year, Be the Groove’s Collective Beat program
is a great way to bring the groove to your school, library, or community
center. Through percussion, dance, and participation, we ask our audience
members to redefine what rhythm is, how it is made, and what role rhythm
plays in their lives.
Collective Beat encourages learning through performance by challenging
audience members to explore rhythm in a fun, educational, and interactive
way, all while promoting the value of being an ensemble, a group working
together. Featuring four BTG ensemble members, the performance examines why
individuality is crucial to a group’s identity and how both “the parts” and
“the whole” that make up any group are equally important. One theatrical
piece highlights the realities of bullying in a musical and ultimately
playful manner. Another spoken piece addresses the rhythms of our everyday
lives by poetically exploring the challenges of pacing oneself. The
performers push the audience towards being open to the unexpected, leading
them to discover surprising things about the people and the world surrounding them.
Be the Groove members also engage the audience with a few moments of
participation—both with the full crowd and by selecting volunteers to come
on stage—incorporating instructional moments that impart musical terms
like “tempo” and “dynamics” to get students thinking critically about what
they’re seeing and hearing. The goal is to stimulate the children’s perception
of performance modes they are perhaps familiar with, while also challenging
their understanding of the intricacies that underscore the tenants of music
and dance.
Collective Beat was specifically created to engage young people, to begin
conversations about the arts, and to inspire audiences to consider new ways
of applying rhythm to their everyday lives. The show’s high-energy blend of
rhythmic choreography and technical drumming, in addition to vocal components
like beatboxing and spoken-word poetry, appeal to students of any grade. Each
program is tailored to the specific age group of the audience. When coupled
with workshops or a BTG residency, Collective Beat is an effective and
illustrative introduction to the rhythmic arts, or it can stand alone as a
comprehensive educational performance.
Regardless of the setting, Collective Beat generates an exciting
energy that will leave your group enthusiastic about rhythm and performance!