TALENT BEYOND WORDS - UNVEILING SPATIAL, EXPRESSIVE, KINESTHETIC, ANDMUSICAL TALENT IN YOUNG-CHILDREN

Talent Beyond Words was developed to identify and serve children with potential talent in the performing arts, especially dance and percussi on music. Participants in the program included elementary-aged student s attending two inner city schools. All pupils at targeted grade level s received instruction over several weeks in order to provide rich opp ortunities for dynamic assessment by teams of professional artists, ar ts educators, and specially trained teachers from participating sites. Students identified as a result of the audition processes took part i n demanding after school curricula over the course of 3 years. The stu dents' proficiency levels in their respective performing arts were imp ressive, as was the esteem they gained from teachers, classmates, pare nts, and from their own disciplined efforts.