Directing
American Odyssey is a look at Orff-Schulwerk in America in 1979. Filmed in 17 schools in 7 states, it documents the creative process in music, movement, dance, theater, and the spoken word, involving students and teachers from kindergarten through community chorus and orchestra. Running throughout are the poem "Sky Dwellers" by Marcia Lunz and the poetic camerawork of Abbott Meader.
For the hearing audience, the great Clark Terry on clarinet. For all, the quick eyes of the students of the Governor Percival Baxter State School for the Deaf soaking in the visiting artist Garbo, professor of clownology.
A look at Spindleworks, a transitional "sheltered workshop" for people with special needs. Under the direction of Nan Ross, the "sheltered workshop" was a vast improvement over what had been before. The film takes its title from the fiber art of the same name by Steve Mann. Shot on a Bolex, all the fades were made in camera.
"Snake Dance was shown in United States Embassies in Africa in the late 1970s and early 1980s to show the American culture was not all Jim Crow and race riots. Arthur Hall came to Maine as a movement specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Maine Arts Commission was so impressed they called in filmmakers. We looked in on a Wednesday and filmed all day the next Friday, using all the film we had - color and both negative and reversal black and white." —Bruce Williams
