By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Choreographer Fanchon Shur, creator of "Flight, Fight, Freeze! Instincts for Healthy Living," and her dance troupe help students at Porter/Hays/Washburn School in the West End release their anger through movement and sound. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

Where Fanchon Shur saw violence and anger, she desired dance and beauty. And because of her vision, students at one Cincinnati school are learning to redirect their aggression.

The 67-year-old choreographer from North Avondale wanted to help students living in the West End, a neighborhood riddled by violence and site of two of Cincinnati's five homicides this year. So Shur and a dance ensemble of seven brought them "Flight, Fight, Freeze! Instincts for Healthy Living," a program designed to confront and combat daily stress.

A professional dancer and a licensed motion therapist, Shur is the former director of the Los Angeles Dance Theater and the Dance Theater of Seattle. She is also the only dancer to ever be inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. Her studio, Growth in Motion Inc. in North Avondale, uses movement as a healer for the body and mind.

Since the beginning of the school year, the company has been working with the junior high students at Porter/Hays/Washburn School (Cincinnati Public) during hourlong sessions. Learning to release frustration and anger through movement and sound, the students have become less violent and more aware of their actions.

After the first session in October, the school experienced a 10 percent drop of in-school violence, based on discipline referrals to the principal. That rate has held steady since.

"The children are at a point now where I don't see as much physical fighting," said Principal Kathryn Chambers. "They are starting to use problem-solving skills in resolving their conflicts."

Seventh-grader Kristal Bishop, 14, of the West End, saw a change in herself following each workshop.

"I don't argue with people so much anymore," she said.

The idea behind the program is that humans rarely release the adrenaline that builds up as they enter dangerous situations or face stress.

"That energy is misdirected into violence," Shur said.

Through movement and sound, participants learn to release their emotions after confronting danger in a creative way. Students are led through a number of activities, including breathing exercises to release tension and using large rubber balls to pound out feelings of anger.

"It's educational, experiential, highly creative expression for these kids," Shur said.

Other exercises mimic the responses of animals, which involve things like role play of an encounter between a cheetah and a deer.

"Humans use the same instinct animals use when they are approaching danger," Shur said.

The fourth workshop is scheduled March 21, followed by a performance of the students and dancers at the school April 4.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com