Children and families watched as a dancer dropped her orange. A fellow dancer rushed to pick it up for her.
Dressed in blue, UF "Dance in a Suitcase" members silently performed Saturday afternoon at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, moving through the museum entrance. The dancers passed oranges around to each other to show movement in art.
The performance was just one part of Family Day, which was held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The event was free and open to the public, and about 230 people attended.
The Harn joined First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Museums and Gardens campaign, which is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation by promoting healthy eating and exercise habits in children.
"Kids are always moving, so it's a great way to get their attention," said Tami Wroath, director of marketing and public relations at the Harn.
Family Day featured docent-led tours of the museum, where children were encouraged to stretch into positions of African and Asian sculptures.
"It starts teaching kids that art doesn't have to be static," Harn volunteer Martha Bustamente said.
Wroath said the tour was a good example for parents who want to incorporate moving in different ways in their everyday lives.
"They're seeing how the docent (tour guide) is relating to the child and the art and talking about ways they can move in association with the art," Wroath said.
After the tours, children and families participated in an arts-and-crafts session where they moved from table to table creating mobiles.
"They're moving as they're creating the work of art," Wroath said. "And they're creating a work of art that moves on top of that."
The arts-and-crafts session had six tables to visit: watercolor painting, stamp printing, art prints, markers, yarn design and pasting shapes.
"My favorite part was the stamping,"said 6-year-old Josie.
Josie came with her younger brother Silas and her grandmother, Annette Johnson. Josie said she wanted to come back with friends.
Johnson, a former art educator, was glad to hear about the Let's Move! campaign in museums.
"We need more physical education," she said.
The Harn will offer more events associated with Let's Move! throughout the year. One of those will be an initiative with UF students to create activities that will encourage students groups on campus to have a healthy lifestyle and move, Wroath said.
Visitors were also encouraged to gallop around Rory, a steel-horse sculpture, and circle around the Asian stupa tower.
"Sometimes people have that feeling that art museums are stuffy, and you have to stay still, and you have to stay six feet away from the art," Wroath said. "We're trying to show them that you can do fun things in the museum and things that are fun for kids."
Gainesville residents Morgan, 3, and her mother, Angela Donley, craft a mobile at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art's Family Day on Saturday.
