About this Event
This improvisational dance performance is featured in association with the Hereafter exhibition (on view from May 31 – August 24, 2024) at Contemporary Craft. Join us in an evening where we explore grief, mourning and celebrations of life through dance, movement and writing.
In conjunction with the release of her new book, "The Art of Grieving", author and dancer Sheila K. Collins joins the Wing & A Prayer Pittsburgh Players, in a spirited interpretation of her book within the context of the Hereafter exhibition. Get ready to be enchanted by a night of meaningful movement and graceful gestures, set in the contemplative serenity of the artworks.
About the book - "The Art of Grieving: How the Arts and Art-Making Help Us Grieve and Live Our Best Lives"
Sheila K. Collins is no stranger to grief. After the loss of two of her children, Sheila felt disconnected from the support she needed, living in a society that makes us feel like we can't speak openly or honestly about the one thing we will all become acquainted with: grief.
The Art of Grieving challenges conventional attitudes towards grieving. Part memoir, part grief handbook and guide, Sheila draws on a lifetime of experience as a dancer, social work professor, and therapist to illustrate the value of grieving and how the arts can become grief's collaborator. This book provides guidance and resources on how to use the arts of storytelling, music, dance, and visual arts to make grieving itself a life-long art. When we utilize the arts to honor our losses and celebrate together, as our ancestors once did, we are provided a path to insight that allows us to continuously learn from our grief rather than fear it.
Sheila K. Collins
Dr. Collins has a bachelor of philosophy from Monteith College, Wayne State University in Detroit, a Masters in Social Work from the Wayne State University School of Social Work in Detroit and a PhD in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
In her social work career, Dr. Collins co-founded and directed the Center for Co-Equal Education at the University of Nebraska, training and consulting with school districts across Nebraska on their implementation of Title 9. As a social work professor at the University of Nebraska Dr. Collins headed an NIMH funded grant to work with agencies to improve services to Native American and Mexican American clients in the panhandle of Nebraska. She taught at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and at the University of Texas at Arlington where, inspired by research from her dissertation, The Career Development of Women Administrators in Social Work, Nursing and Education, she co-founded and directed the Women and Work Research and Resource Center working with corporations to better utilize their female employees. After leaving the university, Dr. Collins co-founded and directed with her husband, the largest out-patient behavioral health care clinic in North Texas, Iatreia Institute for the Healing Arts.
Wing & A Prayer Pittsburgh Players
The Wing & A Prayer Pittsburgh Players is an InterPlay-based improvisational performance troupe whose mission is to assist arts and human service organizations in achieving their noble purposes. In collaboration with community non-profits, the group has developed programs and performances to address such tough topics as ending the stigma of mental illness, Changing the Race Dance, and saying No More to gender violence. She travels nationally and internationally assisting individuals and organizations to tell their stories in transforming ways.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Contemporary Craft, 5645 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, United States
USD 0.00
