Oops...I Ended Class Early

Today was a great class, however, it ended a little abruptly and 10 minutes earlier than planned.

My little tough nut, who is actually 6 not 8, did come back this week and was way more engaged than last week. She was also much more responsive to me which was a huge step, but hung off to the side as much as she could. The class was a little bigger this week with three new students. Before we could begin the warm-up, I asked them to make a circle. Sometimes this is a challenge. So I challenge them. Make a circle. Once they got the shape made, we started the warm-up.

Next we played "Magic Soup." This is not my game, I got this game from one of the teachers I worked with at Dell'Arte, but I tweak it a little for my needs depending on the class.  The "ingredients" are different movements. This was our second week exploring the theme of Autumn as inspiration for movement. I asked the girls to think of movements from last week and we added a few new ones - jump, kick, flat, skip, side-slide, gallop, zig-zag, reaching for the sky, crab-walk. Then we started the dancing. I would "taste" the soup and call out the movements I tasted. Then, I went around and had each student taste the soup- and then called out that movement. This game works great for preschoolers and also worked for my older 8 year olds in the class. 

After a water break, it was time to go into our performance scores. We used mirroring. We began with partners and practiced moving slow with the music, making eye-contact, and passing-off leadership. Then we created an audience for the performance score. We worked in trios creating a triangle shape. Leadership passed around the triangle while the other two dancers mirrored the leader in front of them. This is one of my favorite performance scores with any age group because it always works and looks awesome.

When it was time for my little tough nut to go in the stage space, she started off great. She was the first leader, her movements were awesome, and it looked so cool with the other two dancers following her. But then, she noticed and ran off the stage space. She was smiling, but there is some shyness in her about being out in front, about being noticed. She seems way more comfortable participating off to the side. I could not get her to come back out to dance, but I did give her tons of positive praise for what she did do. I don't mind her being off to the side a bit because I know she is feeling it out still and will join us. Unfortunately, one of my new younger students decided to join her, and this is where things got wonky.

Past drama students of mine have noted that "Ms. Julie gives good speeches." My "speeches" are when I have to use my strong voice to discuss good character and behavior with the students. In drama and dance, whenever there is an audience, there are usually some big lessons to learn about respecting others. And so, out came one of my speeches. This was not how I wanted to end class at all, but because I misread the clock, I ended my speech with "...now come see me for stickers."

I wanted to end the class with free dance with the leaves. Instead, I gave out star stickers and to each student said something affirming. I was sooooo bummed when I realized I had 10 more minutes that I could have used. But, I also think everything happens for a reason. So, maybe it was exactly what they needed.

 Next week begins the theme of color for inspiration for movement, and what they really want - scarves!