Toddlers - They Tell Me What to Do

I do not sweat more than when leading my toddler classes. Wait a minute, I do not lead anything, they run the class! I love it though. Last week when I played the ukulele for a freeze dance, the tots took over by telling me to "freeze" and "go," and again this week. It is quite adorable.

I have a huge tote bag that I bring with me that has all my teaching props ready to go - scarves, a few instruments, fabric, fabric, fabric, a stuffed bear, a magic wand, all the necessary things.  The tots found the bag and just started pulling things out, "Ok, its scarf dancing time!" I don't fight it, I roll with it. This is how I have figured out how to teach toddlers creative movement. They tell me what to, I just make suggestions now and then.

For the story part, I read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. When we got to the cat, I showed them how to stretch like the cat. One of my little ones went into a downward dog with one foot bent in the air, "It's yoga," he said in his little toddler voice. The cuteness is unbearable at times.

I have learned to love teaching toddlers creative movement and music, though my first year doing these classes for this age, I felt, was very challenging. Now, I really look forward to it. The difference with this group is that I really have to let go of trying to get them to do what I planned or want them to do. I bring the music, the instruments, the props, and we play. I don't even do things in order anymore. You want to start with the ukulele, sure. You want me to cover you in fabric, ok. You want to jump up and down for awhile, let's do that.

My classes are, usually, very structured. The toddlers, apparently, are my kryptonite because all structure goes out the window. And it works. I think part of the success of these groups are the excellent teachers in the classroom. They participate and enjoy the children as much as I do. With a supportive group of teachers around, every class is a success and everyone has fun.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

This week's preschool story dance class was about being thankful, but it almost wasn't. I had actually planned to do "Peaceful Piggies" since we did not have class last week. Then I realized that this was their last class with me before the holiday. I did not have a thanksgiving book in my stash, so I decided to visit Ms. Melanie. I knew she would have some good books on this very theme, and she did! On her book shelf was Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes.

I am thankful for Ms. Melanie!

Each story dance class begins with the snake breath. This helps get the kids to quiet their bodies while being active and engaged. Letting out the S sound requires them to exert some energy and there is only so loud one can get while making it. It also catches on quickly. If the group is getting too noisy or losing focus, I start the S sound and everyone joins-in pretty quickly.  The "Snake Breath" is new to my classroom management repertoire and is proving to be a reliable tool.

Then I introduced Ms. Melanie's book. The author talks about being thankful from a child's perspective. She describes being thankful for swings, slides, play-dates, kittens, puppies, school, mommies, and daddies. When we read each page, I asked the students to do a "thumbs-up" if they were thankful for those things too. This book was nice for the preschoolers because the sentences were not too long and the language was accessible to their lives. The illustrations were detailed and colorful, filling-up every page.

After the story,  I used a ball from the classroom to lead a sharing circle. I make eye contact with each student and ask them the same question. Today's question was what are you thankful for? Whoever I roll the ball to answers the question. I heard lots of mommies and daddies, brothers and sisters, nannies and poppies and, of course, toys! Since this is story dance class, after each student answered the question, they got a turn in the middle to dance on the leaves to the tambourine. Oh yes - the author was also thankful for fall leaves, so that worked out nice.

I transitioned the children to the yoga dance party by revisiting yoga poses from previous classes. I had displayed a few yoga cards for visual assistance. A very adorable moment occurred when one of the little one's took notice of the cards and totally lit-up. I could not help but smile at his reaction. He got very excited and started recalling other poses from the book we had read last time.  After reviewing the cards and poses, I called them-up to turn-in their story squares by color. I also turned each color group into either "mountains" "trees" "triangles" and "twisty pretzels." Then we had a yoga dance party.

I am thankful for my colleagues, my students, my family, and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Integrating "Book Time" with At-Risk Girls

I have a great group of girls for the hour long story dance class.

Last week was our first class together and it went great. For the cool-down at the very end of class, we sat in a circle, and I asked the group of inner city 5-8 year old girls to each tell me one of their favorite books or stories. We went around the circle, the answers were...concerning.

The first response was Justin Bieber. (pause). Do you have a book about Justin Bieber? Yes. (ok well, at least she's talking about a book). Most of the girls when asked this question gave answers that seemed odd,  I think there were more movie references than anything. One girl did have a book of all the princesses. Another girl said that the book we read that day for our class (Dance with Me by Charles R. Smith Jr. - also in book recommendations) was her favorite. I told her and the other girls that any of the books we read in class, they can find at the library (which you can almost see from our building). There was a little bit of an excited buzz that went around the circle.

I wonder what kind of exposure these girls are getting to good books? Who models good reading habits for them? Have they ever even been to the library?

Based on the answers of the previous week, I decided to incorporate "book time" into this week's class. I brought a stack of age appropriate books that I have in my collection and put them out. I was going to save this as an end of class activity, but they were so excited to see the books, they just picked them up and started looking at them, reading them, and asking me and the staff person to read. So instead, I set the timer for five minutes, and told them when the timer goes off, we will put the books away and start our warm-up.

I love that a major part of my job is to get kids excited about reading.

It was working with at-risk girls like these and recognizing the need for more exposure and opportunities with literacy that got me to start incorporating more and more literacy into my dance classes. Now it has become a class of its own and the format seems to work really well. I like, and I believe the kids also like, having fun kinetic experiences with language and literacy. There is also music, and instruments that come out sometimes, we write words on the board, and look at the pictures in the book, sometimes the girls read the story along with me. Story Story Dance! has all the learning styles covered.

Book time is now an official part of this class for my girls group. I am so glad I decided to bring all the other books. It was a last minute on a whim thought. The books were already in the backseat of my car not doing anything, so I grabbed a bunch and brought them in with me.

Preschool Pretzels

I ran the story class for My Daddy is a Pretzel with the preschool groups which went very well. I am always a little unsure of how things are going to go with such a young group, but they surprise me each week with their enthusiasm and ability to stay engaged and on-task. Just like with the older kids, we practiced our snake breath, did our warm-up, and had a pre-reading discussion about jobs. This was actually funny. The best answer for what job does your mommy or daddy do? - "fire truck."

Then we read the book. On the first page of the story, the illustration shows the kids sitting on colorful squares, a bunch of them piped-up "story squares!" Each week I pass out different colored felt squares called "story squares" to help keep the children in place during the story. They were very excited to see themselves  reflected in the book. We read the book and tried out moves in our own way on our story squares - similar to the other groups. For pretzels, I had them all get twisty in their own way.

Then we practiced the yoga poses standing up for "Yogi Says" and closed the group with the yoga dance party. They loved my green ukulele, which is becoming such a wonderful teaching tool, and it is so light and easy to transport. We played a variation of "freeze dance," when I play - you dance, when I stop - yoga pose. They did great with this. I made sure to call out all the different poses I saw, "I see a triangle, I see a tree, I see a bridge!" This was helpful to get all the kids participating and trying out different poses.

One little guy was stuck on doing the lion pose and roaring at everyone, but once I started giving out the verbal attention, then he started trying new things. They all want to be noticed. Every class from preschool to kindergarten, they all say it "watch me!" It's cute and adorable, and they all do it, from the east to the west.

The very last class ending pose was the rainbow pose. I have seen different versions of poses with this name, but what I had them do was lie down on their backs, relax, and look up into an imaginary sky with big white fluffy clouds going by - can you see them? Now look for the rainbow - can you see it? As the kids are lying down calmly and quietly, I pass out stickers, releasing them to their teachers.

I try not to do stickers for every class. I want stickers to be a surprise at the end. For years, I didn't give out anything at the end of each class. I would wait until the final class to give each student a participation certificate - which they all love to get. It took me years to get over it and that stickers are ok. I was concerned that kids would lose the intrinsic value of the class and get too focused on stickers. This has not been the case. Even on the days where I don't (or forget or run out of time) to give stickers, I don't hear any complaints. They don't notice, because, I think, they just had a lot of fun and are leaving the group happy. So now, I have three booklets of stickers I keep in my Mary-Poppins-Like tote bag (along with scarves, tambourine, bells, a toy microphone, felt squares, and anything else I may need). It is good to keep things with you even if you don't plan on using it, sometimes, in the moment, you many need a plan B, or C, or D.

"Old Lady" Props with the Preschoolers

Last week I ran the Story Story Dance! class with the preschoolers and it went surprisingly well.  The class sizes were much smaller than the kindergarten group, which I think just works better, about 10 students. When it got to be that time in the class to start handing out the props that go with "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams,  I handed the props to two students at a time and called them up to do the movements; the rest of the students mirrored their movements from their story squares. Next,  I did something I did not do with the other two classes - I took back the props after they were done and lined them up in front of me on the floor in the order they appeared in the story and the students rejoined the group in the half circle.  Though I have double of everything, I would put out one of each to go along with the story, and put the second matching prop away. Each time the story reviewed all the clothes and their corresponding movements, I would point to, or pick up the prop, and the students did (and said) the movements from their story squares. This worked great. I was not sure how this was going to work with the little ones, but laying the props out as we went along was really the way to go. And after the story - monster mash dance party!

I have been writing a lot about this book and the props because these were my first classes using the book this way.  For me, trying something new is kind of exciting because I really have no idea what's going to work, how the children will respond, or if they are going to like it at all.  I knew that they would like all the little props, but did not know at the start which way would be the best way to incorporate them.  Sometimes the best way to plan for something is not to plan, but to let things happen. That is the approach I took with this. Each class experienced the story and props in a different way, no one cried, no one got hurt, and I think most of the students (who knows maybe all of them) had fun.

Trying Something New

Often times, you can plan and design what you think is an amazing lesson (or program) that your students will have a great time with, and it goes okay but not great, but the thing that you made up on the spot with just what you had around you, is the most creative innovative program that draws the most excited responses from students. And sometimes you can plan something, then actually get to implement it, and have it actually work. Those times are awesome.

12 Kids-A-Leaping

Every year around this time, I find some way to integrate music from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. The music offers wonderful inspiration for creative movement classes for children and adolescents. This past week in the preschool creative movement class, I introduced Nutcracker music to the students for leaps over the "snow" (batting). For young students, they don't need much to jump over to get them actually jumping, something as simple as colorful tape stuck to the floor can be all they need to encourage a jump. I like to make a story out of the exercise, or some guided imagery, turning the props and the activity into something exciting. I told the students that the batting is the snow and they are the leaping reindeer. I also told them how I was a reindeer in the Nutcracker when I was five; clearly the experience has been inspiring!

When leading exercises for children this young it is absolutely necessary to show them where to start and where to finish their turn. I put a large foam square puzzle piece on the floor - this is the start. Then I demonstrate how to run and leap over the batting. The child's turn is finished when they return and sit back down on the mats. I crank up what a former student referred to as "the big song" and stand on the side with my tambourine. As each child leaps over the batting, I hit the tambournine! This adds drama and excitement and the kids love it.

During the winter months, I have a lot of fun creating classes using the batting and other white fabric or tulle as props to encourage movement in the children who are natural performers and for who play is their language. For children who struggle with imagintive play - and there are children who do - the props can be their way in.

Dance Story

This week was the final class of my eight week creative movement class for girls. It was a great ending. We repeated the yoga warm-up from last week and another version of Dancing Group Cactus Pose with Earth Bell. Since it was the last class, I pulled out the scarves and let them free dance for about 10 minutes after the warm-up. While they danced, I called out what I saw - which was awesome because I saw so much of what we had been working on throughout the class. In their free dance they showed axial and locomotor movement, mirroring/joining, contrasting, and levels. I also called out their groupings - a trio over there, a duet up here, a solo! This helped them become more aware of each other and though I desperately tried to direct them to the center together to find a group ending, what ultimately worked was yelling out Final Pose! It was sensational.

I am very proud of what occurred next in our dance class. I asked the girls to gather around the big board. We are going to write a story. Since our theme is nature, I encouraged them to use nature words (reminded them of the list from last week) and laid out the yoga cards to help stimulate ideas. In the round, each girl contributed a sentence. We were able to make it around the group twice. They did a phenomenal job. And the little tough nut participated all the way until she was picked up right at the end of the story. I think her experience in the dance class ended on a good note. I'll never really know, but I think so.

Then I put on music from  Groove Armada's album Vertigo. Great beats and mostly instrumental, great for a dance class and for creative writing exercises. It's also music that I like, personally, and it has been a reliable teaching aide for years. I have actually been using music from this particular album with elementary and junior high kids for about 10 years. Good music is good music.

I gave the girls the scarves - they love using them and the props totally help them to expand their range and palette of movement. Then with the music, I narrated their story, and they danced the story to life. It was awesome! There was a mountain, and snow, and girls playing, and a castle, and a dragon, and a star that came and went, and it was just incredible. And they really did have a beginning, middle, and end.

I am proud of my girls.

Fire. Wind. Water.

The inspiration for class this week (and next week) is Nature. We began with breathing exercises, then yoga poses. All the poses we did were inspired by the natural world: Star Pose, Tree Pose, Mountain Pose,Crooked Branch Pose, and Group Yucca Pose. These poses come from the Children's Book of Yoga by Thia Luby, a resource I use often when integrating yoga into the dance and drama classes I teach.

I wrote all the poses on index cards and decorated them with a picture of the natural object resembling the pose. Before I showed the girls a pose, I showed them the card and had them say it back to me. Then we would do the pose together. They all seemed to enjoy this warm-up activity.

The next part of class got them traveling in the dance space. The rules to the game are -while I shake the tambourine move freely in the space. When I hit the tambourine, create your own Cactus Pose, a tableau of bendy and spiky shapes with your body. This was a lot of fun. Then I challenged them to create cacti poses with a partner when I hit the tambourine, then as an entire group. It was a lot of fun to lead this exercise and the girls seemed to have a great time bending their bodies in interesting ways to become the spiky plants. I enjoy leading the group improv activity structure that goes from solo movement, to partners, to small group, to whole group all together; the structure has a great build-up and is a great format for team/group-building. Mirroring exercises are also successful in this format.

Next we gathered around the big board to do some brainstorming and more literacy. This exercise can be improved with some really great visual images of nature, or by holding the class outside.  It was dark out during the class, so looking out the windows wasn't much help. Not that it really would have been that much help since I teach this class in the middle of a city. However, the girls were able to come up with a great list of nature words to play with.

I introduced the girls to one of my favorite physical theatre improvisation exercises; an adaptation of Natural Phenomenon. Thank you Ruth Zapora and my exposure to Action Theatre for this one. I would call out a word from their list - wind, sunshine, waves, thunder storm, etc. and they would embody that natural phenomenon in movement. Then, we did a performance score.

First I had them do stage crosses. One girl was babbling brook, one was fire, and one was wind.  Then I had them cross as duets, then as a trio. For the last run, I used a little side-coaching telling them to respond to each other - "Fire- what happens when wind shows up?" and the dancer had a great movement response! She got it, and the other dancers did a great job too. Fun was had all around. Those are the moments I love to be around for when I am teaching. When you get to witness when one of your students gets it, discovers something, has an "aha" moment.

That's why it is great to be a teacher.

Fun with Fabric

Props can have a profound influence on how children (and adults) move. This week I am using left over fabric to create a "bridge"  for a preschool movement class. The fabric is long and rectangular with dramatic colors and patterns. It can be transformed into whatever I need it to be; this week it is a bridge!

The Bridge Game

Lay the fabric across the floor. Each student has a turn to cross the bridge with a movement challenge like hop, skip, slide, across the bridge (locomotor movement- traveling). The rest of the class each has a spot sitting around the bridge. Their movement is to act like various things that could be in the moat like alligators, fish, waves, lava, and whatever the kids come up with. Their challenge is they cannot move from that spot while acting out the movements (axial movement - in place). When the student makes it across the bridge, they next have to tap out someone in the moat and take their spot. That student is the next to cross the bridge. This game  invites students to explore different kinds of movement and creative expression.The game also allows me time to observe each student's movement individually and make assessments about their gross motor development.


What else can fabric do?

I have used blue tulle as water and waves, and white tulle and white fabric as snow. Fabric in movement and drama can help develop language and pre-math skills because you can explore concepts like under, over, around, inside, outside, through, on, in between, next to, near, and far. You can also just bring in fabric and let the children discover what it can be. They are great at that!

Playing with Constrast

In the dance class with my older girls this week, I expanded on the theme of opposites by introducing them to contrast. In the previous class, we explored opposites in language and literacy, and explored the language in movement. This week we took that a little further. After we did all our warm up exercises, I introduced a movement game. This exercise was originally inspired the drama exercise "Projectiles." I don't know where that game originated, I learned it from a fellow Emerson student while we were teaching together for a youth theatre summer camp many years ago. The structure of the exercise can be found in various drama and movement games. There are also hints of Laban in the version I used in class.

Structured Improvisational Movement:

Prep -I wrote opposite pairs on index cards. The deck included:

soft/hard, open/close, loud/quiet, big/small, hot/cold, heavy/light, on/off 

The Exercise - Each student had a turn to draw a card. As a group, we traveled across the floor (stage cross style), to a marked end point, moving/embodying the first word on the card. When we reached that point, we turned and traveled back to the start moving/embodying the contrasting word. This is a very structured, contained, and low-risk exercise; these kinds of exercises invite a lot of freedom to individuals who may be new to the medium.

My girls had a great time with this exercise. 

We ended class with a performance score. I had three students by this point. I kept two in the performance space and one in the audience, and kept alternating performers. I used one piece of music. In each new duet, they took a moment to whisper to each other, then gave me the music cue. Their improvisational dance score was to show joining/mirroring and contrasting movement. They also needed to show both axial and locomotor movement.

They had a great time and so did I. I left class that night feeling energized and excited to design the final two weeks of the program.

Inspiration: elements

A Group Emerges

Wow. Wow. Wow.

In our last class it became clear to me what this group is about. The group identity emerged. There was a group force. They were one group. I did not realize that until I began writing about it. Groups are created and go through their own gestation period. And then one day when it is ready, the group emerges, it is whole.
 
Class started a little differently than usual. All the girls arrived in pretty crumby moods. Two reported they were "angry" and stood against the wall. The remaining students were a chorus of "headache," "stomach ache," and "bad day." They were a unified front. I listened to their grumbles for a bit and then devised a new plan for the class. My structured lesson would have to step aside for a moment.

My skills as an improviser kick in. I am creating and performing simultaneously. I am reading the audience and responding to it.

I ask them to choose a spot on the floor and lie down on their backs. I lead them through the three deep breaths we usually begin class with. Then, I lead a guided imagery. We returned to sitting and I lead them through some breathing exercises that I use in my own meditation practice. Stuck breath is the best way I can describe some of my students.

I had them check-in with themselves by finding their pulse. Each girl tried to find her pulse, I went around to each girl and found it, then showed them where to feel on their wrists. Then, I told them we would do an experiment to see if we can get our pulses moving faster. This became a follow the leader game. I started by using an imaginary jump rope and told them we were playing follow-the-leader and I am the leader. I did this for a about a minute then ran over and  tagged one of the students saying  "She's the leader!" We all did her movement. Then, we created a follow-the-leader-line traveling around the space. Each girl had a chance to be tagged and lead the group. After everyone got a turn. We gathered in a circle. The girls were panting and smiling. Without prompting, they all checked their pulses and described how fast they were going. They were smiling, laughing, excited, invigorated and talking to each other about the experience.

After a brief water break, we gathered in front of the white board. A spontaneous conversation erupted about the brain. They were so into it. Each one had a question, or something to share. The group was formed. I then turned this energy onto the book I brought. It was a book about opposites, the theme this week. Again, excitement erupted. I showed the cover and opened the book, they started spontaneously reading it out loud together. I turned the pages, and they read the book as a chorus. Then we went to the white board. Tell me opposite pairs. I couldn't write fast enough.

 We were ready to dance and move the opposite pairs. One girl shouted out Freeze Dance and so we added an element of that to it. I would call out an opposite pair from the list. They would move on the first word, then I would ring the earth bell to signal the next word. After exploring the opposite pair in movement for a bit, I would pause the music, freeze, and share the next pair. They were so into. One of the pairs they came up with was Mom/Dad. This they had a lot of fun acting out. The movement exploration overall seemed to be a great and much needed release for the girls (who were all cranky and unwilling to move less than an hour ago).

There was a pretty large group all the way to the end even though we did lose a couple. All the pains and grumbles and anger was gone. We danced it all away. I tossed the scarves to them and yelled Free dance! Here is where their game happened. One girl said, Hey! Why don't we pass the scarves to each other? And so they did. Some girls had two scarves, some had one. They would dance up to each other and trade scarves, all while dancing. This was their dance. That was their structure, their game. And they created it together. On their own.

An ensemble.

Color Dances Part II

Last night was a great class.

I begin these groups sitting in neutral. This means sitting criss-cross and spines long and straight, hands on our knees. This position alone invites some great dialogue with the girls. We talk about posture and relate posture from dance to our lives. I noticed the little tough one was slouching and not really taking any deep breaths, much like her first class. Without singling her out, I shared with the girls how taking the deep breath actually sends oxygen to our blood which goes to our muscles, which helps our bodies to dance. This opening circle helps me not only to gather the group, but create the group, as well as prepare our minds and bodies for the class. We begin with a deep breath in and out. On the second breath, we exhale all the troubles and worries of the day. Then a third breath for cleansing. Sometimes we gather all the good energy on that inhale. Then, I ring the earth bell. The bell signals class has begun, and we sit in stillness and silence for as long as it rings out.

Next we do the shake down. Two students wanted to lead it, so we did it twice. It is great to find those little moments in the class that invite the girls to take on leadership roles, as small as they may seem. When one of my young students expresses interest in being a leader, I am inclined to give them that moment. The creative movement class can be a fun and safe way for individuals to try out being a leader. They may be more inclined to take on leadership roles outside of the dance class, which is the hope and intention.

Next, we continued the warm-up in a structured free dance reviewing levels. To classical music, we explored movement in low levels, medium, and high. We also recalled dancing in our space (bubbles) as we danced freely. Then, we free danced to the drum, hitting poses of various levels. At some point, I make a game out of it, and the girls laugh as they try to keep up with the drum. It is  a great way to get everyone smiling and not thinking, but doing.

Our literacy component for this week was brainstorming words and phrases associated with different colors. We made lists for red, green, blue, and yellow. This was great. They got very into it (hands were shooting up!) and we read each list out loud together. When it was time to turn these lists into movements, one of the girls said she had some great things to share for the color orange. This turned out to be a great moment; I invited the girls to make their own lists at home and bring them to the class and we will take time to share and dance them. I will be very excited and keep my word if any of the girls return with a color dance of her own.

The design of the next part of class is inspired by an exercise that can be found in Augusto Boal's Games for Actors and Non-Actors. First, we created a circle standing in neutral. Then, each student took a turn to enter the center of the circle where she says a color out loud and a movement for that color. The outer circle mirrors the movement. Once everyone felt confident with the color and corresponding movement, I turned on the music and took out the scarves.

There was such a small group by the end that instead of a performance score I had planned (which was breaking them up into small groups where they would then create a color pattern and dance it),instead we improvised a dance using the movements from the circle. We were the dancers and the audience - drama! We explored these movements in various levels, and played with them, making them our own. It was beautiful and fun and the girls were happy and smiling.They were passing off leadership, they accepted all the offers, and they kept the flow and the rhythm.

It was a true ensemble piece

Oh, we did have an audience. There was a mom, she was smiling. I'm glad she got to see her daughter in a leadership role, being creative, while dancing beautifully.

Next week 's inspiration: opposites

The Power of Scarves

Of my collection, I am down to seven pastel colored scarves. I had seven dancers in class tonight - that worked out perfect.  I used the theme of color to tie the class together and explored levels in movement and dance. The one who started off a tough nut exhibited no-outsiderness today. She volunteered to lead the group in the "shake down" and stayed with the group the entire time she was in class tonight. I am so proud of her. Again she was picked-up before finishing the class, but I think this was the best class yet. No attitude from anyone towards me or the other girls and full participation by everyone who attended. We also had a new student tonight and her expressions throughout class conveyed joy. It is a rather indescribable feeling when you witness and experience someone's joy in response to something you have created for them. Although I have been doing this for about ten years, I am still always a little surprised, like "you really like this?" And then I feel like I did something right. I feel like I did my job. I feel like what I do is meaningful and worth doing.

Sometimes its just a smile from a nine-year-old who joined your class that one time that keeps you motivated, and its enough.

After the warm-up, I placed the scarves in the dance space. I invited each dancer one at a time to choose a scarf and sit in that spot. I put on some Tchaikovsky and we explored our personal dance space, "bubbles," by painting the interior with the scarf. We started low level, reaching and stretching our arms and legs in different ways while "painting" with the scarf, then to medium, then to high. Then we traveled. We danced in a circle dancing with our scarves, each dancer in their own bubble and aware of the other bubbles around them.We had a blast.

 I design my classes with the idea that everyone will be present until the end, although I know this isn't true ever. Girls get picked-up when they get picked-up, sometimes its during my class. I have learned to deal with this and have - overtime- been able to adjust to this and adapt to the environment I am working in - which is just what any teacher would have to do. ADAPT.OVERCOME. IMPROVISE. Wise words passed down to me from my Dad (and also a Clint Eastwood movie). And its true.

The performance score was very simple and amazing. I feel it is so unfair to the world, that most of the time, I alone get to witness their creations. They are often surprisingly sophisticated.Writing about it won't nearly do it justice. When I hit the bell (an earth bell), change levels and keep moving as long as the bell rings out, legato movement. And same with the drum, staccato movement. Of course we used scarves - they loved the scarves and the scarves invited new ways for them to move. It was so cool. They had so much fun keeping up with the bell and the drum, and it looked cool and they found so many shapes in their own bodies. It was great to see them get to that point where by the end of class they were exploring movements that were not their typical movements. They were starting to really get creative and challenge themselves. I could also see them starting to become more aware of each other.

There is something magical about scarves.

There were three dancers left for the last ten minutes; I ended class with free dancing with scarves, but I sort of treated it like a performance score. As they danced, I called out things we had been exploring in the classes that I saw in their free dance, like, "I see axial movement. There's  locomotor movement. Nice levels!" and so on. I think everyone had a good time tonight.

Creating Color Dances

I just finished creating my next two creative movement classes for the after school program. The theme for the next two weeks is color as inspiration for movement. Through this theme, I am able to include the literacy and language component by reading "Color Dance" by Ann Jonas  in week one, and making lists of words and phrases related to color words in week two. For instance, I will ask students to think of a color - blue. What images come up? what do you think of? what do you feel? Then, I will write their responses. I bring a travel size dry erase/paper-pad easel which makes this possible. I purchased this at Staples and I have to say, I love it. It's easy to carry, very light, easy to prop-up, and works ideal for the traveling teacher.

Incorporating literacy into my dance programs has become a very important feature to the design of my classes. In the past when I would incorporate literacy and language, it happened pretty organically. Now I am very deliberate.

Through the theme of color, the classes will focus on bodies-in-space, bodies-in-space-in-relation-to-other--bodies-in-space, boundaries, levels, size, and patterns.

Creating shapes and movements inspired by color is very much influenced by Boal method. Augusto Boal, one of my biggest influences, encourages the spect-actor to embody many abstract ideas in many different ways. By creating physical images of abstract ideas with our bodies, we can play with, explore, transform, and become more attuned to our environment and ourselves in it. The experience of making concrete images with our bodies of larger abstract ideas allows us to make discoveries about ourselves and our world we may otherwise be unaware of. This process is captured in one of my favorite Boal quotes:

“The human being perceives what it is, discovers what it is not, and imagines what it could become.” - Augusto Boal

 Yeah, that's why I do this. Through dance, drama, and movement, we are actually thinking about thinking. As a teacher - of anything - this is always, I believe, the desired outcome. That regardless of  subject or age you teach, you are teaching your students to be creative, higher-level thinkers.

Cracking A Nut

Last Monday was the first day of my creative movement class at the local girls youth center. Some of the girls knew me because they had taken classes with me before. Then there were a few who I was meeting for the first time. The girls' ages range from 5-8. One of the girls who I was meeting for the first time appeared very hard. Her arms were crossed, closed-off. She looked angry. I went around the circle doing attendance asking each girl her age, what grade she is in, and how they liked school so far. She was 8 and she gave very short quick answers. Then we began the warm-up.

I asked the girls to sit criss-cross, hands by their sides,  with their spines long and straight. This one sat next to me slouched, arms crossed, no smile. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. She kept her eyes with me participating as much as she was willing to at that moment. A little breath in and out, and she was not going to be uncrossing those arms or sitting up straight. I didn't make any big thing about it. She was participating at her level. I accepted it fully and we continued the rest of the warm-up.

Our movement inspiration for this class was Autumn Leaves. The first movement exercise we did to instrumental recorded music.The girls created improvised movements to leaf-related words - shake, rustle, bend, jump-in, twirl, kick, and flat. This particular student had been participating with very little enthusiasm up until then. And then the drum came out. This changed everything.

They were instructed to create a leaf shape with their bodies when the drum hit. Bam! an image. In between I would play the drum in various ways encouraging them to use the movements from the previous exercise.  During this entire exercise with the drum, she had the biggest smile on her face. She was 100% actively participating. She was unclenched and open and free. She danced with other people.She made contact. And then, I think she noticed.

She started to walk away from the dance space to sit out. At that very moment, someone arrived to take her home, and she left before finishing the class.

I hope she comes back next week.