On Sunday June 1st, Greenbelt saw an artistic display outside of the Greenbelt Community Center. An artful afternoon brought together residents, many crafting with tie dye while a performance was being showcased. On this particular occasion, guests were able to stay and watch the Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s dance department perform. “The performance made it worthwhile to stay,” Roosevelt student Chris Iraheta claimed. As they performed a crowd compiled to watch and the group of students built a stronger devotion. The performance was regarded well by the community, leaving a lot of people excited to learn more.
For the first ever time under Angel Chinn, the ERHS dance department put on a display for the Greenbelt community outside of Roosevelt. Ms. Chinn couldn’t hide her enthusiasm about the opportunity to show Greenbelt the talent of the group. “This has gone well, I’m excited to do more in the future.” Looking to share more of school’s art, she says “I hope that I can grow the program in the future to be as big as the school’s science and tech. program.” She wants her students to have a strong dedication to engage with the community. Every day she pushes her students to take more steps to get better. Using opportunities given by the community helps her determine where her team needs to improve while also providing crucial experience. “I want my students to experience performing for the people outside of the stage,” Ms. Chinn explained. Through her two years of leading the dance department, Ms. Chinn has inspired her students and given them ventures to learn from.
Vanessa Zanin led the tie-dye craft, and for a third year she introduced the community to creative possibilities. Participants were welcomed to bring their own clothes, as long as it was cotton and pre-washed. For those who didn’t have clothes to bring, bandanas and cloths were offered for free. People who signed up prior to the event were given the materials and greeted on arrival. On many occasions “People walk by and question ‘what’s going on?’ and I invite them to join,” Zanin stated. After grabbing the cotton material of choice, an instructor put the participants at a table to choose a pattern, fold to match the pattern desired, and use rubber bands to hold together the fabric before it gets dyed. Instructor Amanda Larsen, who participated last year, praised Zanin: “She practices what she preaches and is amazing”. Residents picked between a multitude of colors to finish their beautiful work, placing the fabric on the warm grass to set. Many enjoyed conversations while letting the fabric rest before taking it home in a plastic bag to continue the next steps of cleaning the material.
Vanessa Zanin will be hosting another tie-dye event at Springhill Lake Recreation Center on June 8th. She hopes to keep doing events in the future and she plans to have The Greenbelt Honk! Situation performing. Zanin, who performs with the band shows creativity through their uniforms. “I make my members dye their own uniforms,” she says, blending the arts of music and craft. For more information, sign up and be sure to have fun!
