Joel Melendez

Joel Melendez, Co-founder of the touring duo Matica Arts, has traveled the Americas performing and learning. He is a gifted performer known for his unicycling, clowning, juggling, improvisational and acrobatic skills. Joel is a "physical artist" who loves exploring the vast capabilities of the human body. He is co-founder of Matica Arts and Thrive Movement studio. He is on the Hartford Performs artist roster with his innovative Capoeira program. He also is the Capoeira director at Plus 1 Defense in West Hartford and a teaching artist for Oddfellow's Playhouse in Middletown
Joel is also a musician, Capoerista. Joel sees the arts as a vehicle to inspire, connect and transport the audience to a mystical world free of inhibitions where all is possible.

"Dear Heidi,
The rest of the first grade team would like to express our gratitude to you for coming to Sanchez school and teaching our students math through movement. Our students were highly interested in the concepts you taught them. As teachers, we are excited to share your ideas in the future with our classes. We personally would never have thought about dancing with half of our bodies. It was so much fun to have you be a part of our classroom for the three days you were with us. Our students seemed so much more calm the days you were here as well, which really shows that exercise in the early morning does impact academic performance.
Thank you! We hope to see you again in the future!
Sincerely,
Kaitlin Delipman, Nilda Medina, Maria Colon, and Kathleen Colter
!st grade team and Sanchez School, Hartford, CT

1st grade team, Sanchez school, Whole body math