ASU professor explores theater, dance for young children in new book
ASU Assistant Professor Amanda Pintore is partnering with local organizations to further her research and provide arts experiences to very young children in Arizona. Photo by Abigail Wilt
Arizona State University Assistant Professor Amanda Pintore believes in the artistic capacity of very young children. She's hoping to spread that awareness to others with the recent publication of her first book, “Theatre and Dance with Children as Artistic Partners: Devising Performance for the Very Young.”
“It's not just about making theater and dance performances for 0- to 6-year-olds,” Pintore said. “It's about collaborating with them and meeting them as true artists.”
Pintore didn’t initially set out to write a book. But after encouragement from colleagues and mentors, she realized she was ready to share the methodology she had built over the last decade.
“Once I knew I was going to write the book, every class I taught, everything I did, helped me refine what it looks like to learn about this process in written form versus inside of a workshop or rehearsal room,” she said.
Pintore spent five years writing and revising, including during time in Ireland as a Fulbright Specialist. While in Ireland, she worked with undergraduate students studying early childhood.
“The whole closing chapter is framed by the Fulbright experience,” she said. “The book is so much better because of the time I spent there, because it asked me to flip the way that I think about these things, talk about these things and teach these things.”
Fellow ASU faculty member Mary McAvoy, associate professor of theater, wrote the foreword for the book. The book also highlights work from the class Pintore teaches at ASU, Theatre for
Young Audiences Performance Lab. The course is offered every other spring, is open to all ASU students and culminates in a performance for young children.
Over the next year, Pintore will continue putting her research into action as she builds an immersive dance performance for 12- to 36-month-olds with the help of a Herberger Institute Research-Building Investment award. The work will be developed in partnership with the Mesa Arts Center and the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, and will tour at both sites.
In the spring, Pintore will be using her skills in playfulness and fun as she directs “Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea” at ASU. Rehearsals are already underway for this quirky play about a rain cloud who falls in love with a human.
We asked Pintore to share more about her book and her research.
Question: Who is your target audience for this book?
Answer: My hope is that the book will speak to people's drop-in point, whether they identify as a researcher, artist or teacher — whatever their pathway is. My hope is that for practitioners who are just scratching the surface or those that have been doing this for a decade, there's something here for everyone.
Q: What challenges did you face while writing this book?
A: It's a completely different thing when you're co-learning and building with someone versus creating a product for them to learn from. I think the trick is, how do you stay in conversation with the reader even if you're not in the room?
Q: Tell us more about the work you will be doing around the Valley this year.
A: There's an absence of this kind of work in the Valley, and there are key partners who are really interested in serving families with children in this age range. I am very grateful for the support of a (Herberger Institute Research-Building Investment) grant to make this work possible. Olivia Herneddo and Jisun Myung, both incredible artists who also work at ASU, are going to collaborate on the project.
Q: What excites you about your work?
A: It's exciting for me to be very tapped into the humanity of the arts. For me, this is where it starts. If people walk away with a deepened respect for the artistic capacity of very young children, then I will have succeeded. And if they find some tools that are relevant for their contemporary practice, then that is even better.
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