Alianza Community Schools

The unique visual & performing arts program continues to be another highlight of monarca academy. Partnerships with community artists have been developed to provide students with a robust selection of visual & performing arts options. 100% of the 104 students participate in the visual & performing arts program. The partners and programs students partipate in are as follows: capoeira - a brazilian martial art rooted in liberation. Iuri santos of capeoira angola in bloomington travels to monarca twice a week to provide students with workshops and dance classes. World music - pavel polanco, a dominican musician provides music instruction to monarca students. Ballet folklorico - ana hernandez and carol nunez of baie folklorico macehuani go to monarca twice a week to lead dance classes. Hip hop - indanza, a local dance group provides students with dance instruction as well as popping instruction by koi tran. Art - samuel pealosa, a local artist leads students in exploring art. This year we have added calisthenics. A showcase of the talent will be on december 19th.

The monarch butterfly, the namesake of monarca academy originates in michoacan, mexico. This area of mexico is also know for its day of the dead celebrations. This year, we have partnered with probem mexico and patricia altamirano to bring three teachers from michoacan mexico to engage our families and students in day of the dead activities. They began by creating an "ofrenda" that pays homage to omero gomez, an environmental activist from michoacan who tried to protect the natural habitat of the monarch butterfly. The beautiful display can be seen in the corner of the monarca academy halls. The teachers then took over social studies classes for two weeks and led students in sociocultural education about the day of the dead. Through the classes students learned about the significance of each part of the altars. In the visual & performing arts classes, the visiting teachers led our students in a short skit about omero gomez, the guardian of the butterflies. This skit was presented at the eiteljorg's annual day of the dead celebration on october 26th. In addition, teachers also participated in workshops with the visiting teachers. The visiting teachers culminated their stay by leading a workshop with parents and another presentation of their skit. This event highlights the monarca academy academic, sociocultural, and community model.