This article was originally reported in the Fresno Bee by reporter Dan Gleason.
Smiling faces and enthusiasm are a clear signal to Evo Bluestein that his American folk rhythm and dance workshops are successfully teaching children to respect and value culture.
For many years Bluestein, a well-known and respected local musician and teacher, has put on short folk music assemblies in elementary, middle and high schools.
About 10 years ago he decided to expand that offering with weeklong visits where he teaches students dance styles that emphasize movement, rhythm and song. The hands-on approach has been a big hit with students and school officials.
“Folk dancing has always been about
community. That’s why it was formed in the first place,” Bluestein said. “With transportation and communication advances, many people have forgotten how to do these traditions, so that’s where I come in,” he said.
Bluestein said the sessions help students learn and enjoy folk traditions while also exposing them to history, sociology, geography, song and even techniques for improving body coordination.
“Best of all, it’s fun,” Bluestein said, while observing students from diverse
backgrounds at Del Mar Elementary School smile and show enthusiasm as they slowly but surely mastered the steps.
There was giggling and a fair amount of slipping and sliding on the Del Mar cafeteria floor, yet Bluestein didn’t let it get out of hand. The students learned to work as a team and were often paired up on dances that required holding hands as couples and foursomes. The sequences were often quick and required a good deal of coordination. Everyone was equal, everyone participated and they all seemed to enjoy what they were doing.
Calling the dance steps while providing his own live music on a fiddle is something Bluestein has learned to do comfortably, although even he admits it can be tricky at times. Offerings vary by school and can include American square dancing, African-American ring games, Appalachian clogging and New England contra dances. Bluestein is constantly working to provide more variety.
Melissa Dutra, a teacher at Fresno’s Del Mar Elementary School, said Bluestein’s annual two week visit has grown into a highly anticipated event on the campus.
“They love it,” Dutra said. She said the students meet with Bluestein for an hour each day and then on Friday they put on an assembly for the entire school. At the end of the two weeks there is a big barn dance where parents and staff join the students for a fun time of song and dance.
Dutra said the students feel comfortable interacting with each other through the dance steps because Bluestein makes it a safe environment for them. “Many of them have never heard of this kind of music. By the end of the week most of them are singing the songs,” she said.
Students who are not fluent in English have no problem fitting right in, Dutra said. “They have as much success as the others, which makes them feel good about themselves.”
Bluestein said he had one teacher near the end of the school year ask him if he could return the first week of the following year so her classroom would be united all year. He said the arts are integral to education and he believes it makes a positive impact on young people.
Terry Marinaro, vice principal at Del Mar, said it has been amazing for her to see the transformation of student attitudes from disdainful, belligerent social contact to purposeful, enjoyable work through dance and music.
As both an accomplished musician and teacher, Bluestein said deciding which should take priority has become the big question of his life. “I used to juggle these things fairly evenly, between dance, solo performing, working in schools and spending time in my garden, but ever since I started the dance week programs and continue to add new schools it has become harder to make time for everything else,” he said.
Bluestein plays so many instruments he has lost track of the precise number. He belongs to several musical groups, including Lyquid Amber, which earlier this year released a compact disc of instrumental world music with progressive folk and bluegrass textures. He also performs with the Bad Boys Zydeco band and is considered one of this country’s most accomplished Appalachian-style autoharpists. He even invented The Evoharp, which he said is based on an old model of autoharp that can no longer be purchased new. It has light and bright qualities and has a different chord arrangement for the performer’s fingers that he says is more sensible than anything else available.
One of four children of Gene and Ellie Bluestein, Bluestein was exposed to music at an early age and said his father, a former California State University, Fresno, English professor who died in August at age 74, was an excellent role model for his children.
“I learned a lot about how to be a teacher from my father and I put a lot of my own self into it also,” Bluestein said. He said activism has been a hallmark with both of his parents, but he doesn’t have time to be as active as his mother, for example. He tries to stay informed and feels like music and education are his form of activism.