In this production, you’ll:

• experience a performance by HopeBoykinDance, which brings Jacqueline Woodson’s book The Other Side to life through movement. 
• explore themes and concepts from the show, like tolerance, communication, activism, and friendship.

Education Standards Alignment

National Core Arts Standards

• DA: Re.7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
• DA: Cn.11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.

Common Core Standards

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

CASEL Competencies (Social and Emotional Learning)

• Social Awareness: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.
• Relationship Skills: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.
• Responsible Decision-Making: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.

What to Expect

Performance

• This dance performance is approximately 45 minutes long and features HopeBoykinDance.
• The story has some narration but is mostly told through dance.

Performers

• Dancers use movement and facial expressions to communicate the story and emotions.

Sound

• The music throughout the performance includes piano, vibraphone, horns, bass voices, and lots of percussion.
• Sometimes, the music is soft and slow; and sometimes, the music is loud and fast.

Lighting

• Different lighting effects and costumes also help tell the story.

What to Bring

• Please bring any tools that will help make the experience comfortable for you! Some suggestions are: noise-canceling headphones, sunglasses or visors, fidgets, and communication devices. If you need to borrow a pair of headphones or a visor, a limited number will be available for use in the Concert Hall Lobby.

Resources

• Review our Pre-Visit Story: Coming to the Kennedy Center—School Performance.

What to Look and Listen for

The Other Side is a dance piece that tells the story of two young girls, and throughout the work, you’ll see the dancers playing some backyard games you might recognize like Red Rover, Patty Cake, and Double Dutch. How many games can you spot? How do they look different on stage in a performance than when you play them at home? 

While watching the dancers perform, look for: 

• repeated movements and patterns 
• shifts in movement based on the tempo of the music 
• expressions of joy, loneliness, humor, and other emotions conveyed through the movement

Try It Yourself

Annie and Clover decide to become activists and take steps toward making their world a better place. Think of something you (and your friends) can do to make the community you live in a better place. Think of an issue and make a plan for a small thing you can do to solve the problem. And then do it!

Think About

• Consider why Clover’s friends might think playing with Annie isn’t a good idea in the beginning of the story. How do you think the characters might feel when they are dancing on their own sides of the fence? What did you notice when Clover and Annie finally meet at the fence and begin to play together? 
• Why do you think the adults in the story don’t try to change “the way things have always been”? What changes would you like to make in your community? 
• Clover and Annie made friends slowly. They watched each other and moved carefully together, step-by-step. Think about how you make friends. What do you say and do? 
• The fence you see onstage in The Other Side represents a boundary that separates Annie’s and Clover’s parts of town from one another. Think about what a boundary is and consider whether there are boundaries in your life that you believe separate you from other people or from other places or things you might otherwise feel free to do or experience. How would you decide which ones might be okay to risk crossing? 
• Dance is often called a “movement language” because dancers use their bodies to tell a story and express emotion. How do you use your body to express how you feel?

Additional Resources

Here are some links to other resources to help you continue exploring. 

Claiming Personal Power: Resources to encourage youth self-empowerment 

Youth Activism Project: This organization promotes and supports youth-led campaigns in the United States and globally. 

Dosomething.org: A clearinghouse for teen activism—from disability rights to water conservation to positivity campaigns—that can link you to the causes closest to your heart and interests.

The Vice President of Education is generously endowed by the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.

Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Genesis Inspiration Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.