Specifically, it was for the local birds, a tribute to the winged denizens that inhabit nearby watersheds, from stately herons to common pigeons. And it was causing quite a flap in Karen Nicola's first-grade class at Montclair Elementary last week.

Nicola had enlisted Bulitt to come in and teach her class about fowl in a unique way -- through interpretive dance.

The children first listened to a story about a pair of birds, the ill-fated Hector and his mate, Helen, residents of the Lake Merritt watershed. It was a classic Greek tragedy -- Hector got tangled up with carelessly discarded fishing line and perished.

The class then used felt-tip pens to write their thoughts on little shirts and dresses from the Goodwill Store.

And then the dancing began. Picking a cloth partner, the children fluttered four at a time as Bulitt recited their written words in a sing-song manner, which was repeated by the kids who were not dancing:

"Dear Hec-tor," sang Bulitt.

"Dear Hec-tor," echoed the class.

"I'm sor-ry."

"I'm sor-ry."

"That you got stuck in the fish-ing line."

"That you got stuck in the fish-ing line."

"When you died."

"When you died."

"From, Ja-cob."

"From, Ja-cob."

The class, initially shy, warmed up quickly and soon nearly everyone was vying for a chance to do a shirt dance.

Inspired by nature

Bulitt has been doing interpretive dance for 25 years, and has always been inspired by nature and birds in particular. She performed a dance called "Under the Wing" at Lake Merritt last September for Coastal Cleanup Day.

She received a civic arts grant from Berkeley in association with that city's Shoreline Bird Center, and has done the same performance she did at Montclair Elementary, called "Sharing the Watershed and Honoring Birds," at Fairmont Elementary in El Cerrito, Grant Elementary in Richmond and the preschool at Berkeley Montessori. The goal is to teach kids about the importance of the watershed and its inhabitants. All parts of the class have a meaning.

"To children, the notion of the shirt or dress is like feathers," Bulitt said. "Clothes hold memories, and they can write something down and leave it behind for the birds."

The clothes, along with bird memories, will be on display at the Tilden Nature Center in Tilden Park from August through September.