Students learn about dance

Thanks to a grant funded by Humanities Montana, students in Whitehall were recently able to take part in a program to learn more about community dances.

According to Whitehall teacher Robyn Smith, Mark Matthews made a recent visit to the school for the program that encompasses the gamut of fun and easy to learn community dances such as squares, contras, and circles.

Mathews is a writer, historian, dance instructor, officer with the Missoula Folklore Society, and writing instructor at the University of Montana College of Technology.

During the program, local students also were able to learn the history of the dances, focusing on how both European and African styles of dance blended together in the county to form a unique dance culture.

Humanities Montana is Montana's independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), founded in 1972 by thirteen Montana citizens-academic and civic leaders-in response to Congress' National Arts and Humanities Act of 1965. Since that time, Humanities Montana has benefited hundreds of Montana organizations and thousands of its citizens, providing support for public programs in the humanities throughout the state.