Circus Movement

When I spotted the hula hoop in the store, I knew I had to get it and create a class around it. This led me on a hunt to find just the right circus book to create the next story dance class. Surprisingly, I had a pretty hard time finding a usable circus book. I went to libraries and books stores, and no one seemed to carry anything I could use. I looked online and saw some books, but did not have the option of picking them up and looking through them to see if they were just right for the class. So I decided to take my chances with what I could see online. I ordered Circus by Lois Ehlert and it worked out great for Story Story Dance.

During the reading of the book the children were elated. They responded with oohs and ahhhs and applause for each page. The colors are vibrant and there are many shapes throughout the text that I could stop and ask, what shape is this? It worked out great. We even acted out eating the snacks during the intermission. The only thing that seemed to be missing from the story was jugglers. Though they did not appear in the story, I took out the scarves at the end of one of the classes and added the juggling element. The children and I threw the scarves back and forth to each other to the music, and it was super fun.

We acted out movements based on the characters and events in the story. Since we became the circus performers, we ended class by attending the "cast party" and free danced for the end of class:

·      World’s Biggest Elephant – Elephant breath

·      Ride on the prancing horse -Gallop

·      Walk the high wire -  Walk across rope, or tape, as the high wire

·      Human Pretzel – Link arms

·      Flaming Hoop/Fearless Leaping Lizards - Jump through the hula hoop.

·      Marching Snakes – Belly crawl “marching”

·      Whistle Twinkle Twinkle – Use this as a rest, sit on bottoms and whistle/hum the tune.

·      Head in a Lion’s Mouth – Act out

·      A Big Hand – Everyone applauds

Animal Masks and Movement

After two months on hiatus from foot surgery, I am finally back in the classroom! This week, I kicked off Story Story Dance with animal masks and the book Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae. This book introduces many different animals, but I focused on the ones that I actually had masks for. This worked out great because if I had done all the animals, this would have been an hour long class. As it was, this class went over my allotted half-hour slot and took about forty-five minutes. Luckily, the teachers were great and happy for the extended class considering the kiddos would have shortened outside time due to the heat. Sometimes things just work out.

The masks were very simple, made out of animal face paper plates from the super market and tongue depressors for holding. I got this idea from a yoga teacher I worked with who used the plates in her children's yoga class to help children embody animal poses.

Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae

For this class, I read the short poems about each animal from the story and students explored smaller movements in their sitting positions.  After the story, we created a big circle with movement space in the center. Every student was given a mask and each animal had their own music. I used short musical compositions from a pre-ballet music selection. In partners, students came to the center of the circle and explored the larger animal movement.

As always, the children surprise me. The children seemed to love taking their masks and scaring the children in the outer circle and the children in the outer circle seemed to love getting scared! After every set of animals had a turn in the center, we went to the animal dance party, where all the animals dance together and the children become any animal they want to be.

In the beginning of the story, the narrator introduces the animals as waking up in the jungle and the end of the story, the animals go to sleep. So of course we ended class with all the animals falling asleep in the jungle. The fake snoring was hilarious! I traded masks for stickers and ended class. It's great to be back!

"Peaceful Piggies" Yoga Characters

"Peaceful Piggy" Flann

 The kindergarten and pre-k classes did in fact enjoy the masks. They were a little too big, but we rolled with it. The kids thought they were silly and fun. I would read them a page from the book Peaceful Piggy Yoga by Kerry Lee Maclean (also in book recommendations!), then talk about the peaceful piggy in the illustration. I brought different props to go along with each piggy character. Two students would come up and become those "peaceful piggies" and demonstrate the pose for the class. The format worked really great, especially for the smaller pre-k group. For the larger kindergarten class,  we only had time for half of the book; I will do the second half of the book during our next class.

I brought back the ukulele and did Yoga Freeze Dance for our dance party. I encouraged the students to incorporate movements of the different characters and poses we had explored in the book. The end of class dance party varies each week. Sometimes we freestyle, sometimes we freeze dance with special poses, sometimes we play Magic Soup. The rules of the dance party may change, but I always leave time for the dance party; it wouldn't be story story dance without it!

I have not yet done peaceful piggies with the preschoolers. I think the format will have to be a little different and more contained. I think I will leave out the masks, but use the character props, and have everyone pretend to be peaceful piggies. I am pretty sure this group will be able to get into piggy character without the assistance of a mask. I'm still exploring ideas for this one.

I am also looking forward to the second half of Peaceful Piggies with the pre-k and kindergarten. They all seemed to enjoy taking turns being different characters and getting-up in front of the group.

"Peaceful Piggy" Jack in Tree Pose

Masks, Yoga, and Cool-Downs.

Sometimes when I am planning a class, it happens all it once. I get a creative surge and I just have to go with it and it completely consumes all my thoughts. Sometimes that happens the day before the class I am going to teach, like today.

I was thinking about building-off of last week's yoga book with Peaceful Piggy Yoga by Kerry Lee MacLean (read more about it in book recommendations). I originally wanted to bring in a stuffed animal pig to embody "peaceful piggy," but on the day I went to search for one, I came up empty handed. Now here I am the day before the class with no little piggy to bring. So I start rummaging. Because I have been doing this for 10 years, I have accumulated many odd things, because in the mind of a drama teacher - I could use this one day! Today, that day came.

I pulled out one of my "bins-o-things" and what do I see staring back at me? Two pig masks that I made years ago! yes! These were prototype masks, but perfectly usable. They are made from a soft pink foam and already cut to shape. I added the noses, and some features with pink felt, to try to soften them up (pig masks are a little creepy, but hopefully in the context of the book, it will all go ok). As I continued to rummage, I found enough other props so that the peaceful piggies can get into their characters that appear through the story. For instance, I have kerchiefs for the cowboy peaceful piggies, I have fancy waist wraps for the ballerina peaceful piggies (in lieu of tutus), and I have fancy scarves for the movie star peaceful piggies. Throughout the book,  I will call up two students at a time to put on the peaceful piggy mask and accompanying costume pieces, and teach the class the pose.

And then we end class with a dance party of course! Since yoga freeze dance went so well and we are still on this yoga theme right now, I will probably end with that.  After the dance party, I will have them do "corpse pose" from the book. Having students lie down on their backs at the end of physical activities like this is good to help them calm down and breath properly.

When I was training with the teachers at Dell'Arte, one of my mentors ended her elementary aged drama classes with "Graveyard." In this game, everyone lies down on their backs and they cannot move. If you move, even a subtle inch, she would go over to the student and tap them out. This goes on until there is one (or two) students left and they "win." Some kids would have total meltdowns if they got tapped out. I eventually took this idea and reshaped it into a different game for preschoolers, I call the "People Garden."

In the People Garden, everyone lies down on their backs and creates pathways using their bodies. Each student has a turn to "wake-up" and walk through the garden paths as anything they want to be - a butterfly, a cat, a train, a tiger, once a kid wanted to be a roller coaster. They walk all through the garden, they have their moment, they have all the attention, then tap the foot of someone else; they stand up and become whatever they want to be and the other student lies down in their spot. I love this end of class cool-down, but it is time consuming. There is no rushing the garden, so it is something that has to be planned for.

I am very curious how the kids will react to the masks tomorrow. My prediction is that some will love it and some are going to be like "no way," and hopefully, no one will be terrified and cry
(fingers crossed!).

"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.

Magic Wands

Magic wands are extremely helpful when teaching young children. You can also use magic bells... magic anything really. And the best part about them, is that they work! For my creative movement preschool program, I use an earth bell and refer to it as the magic bell. When I ring it, everything freezes.  Silent signals are extremely useful with this age group and all age groups really. Calling it magic is what gives it its power. The children make it work.

I start each creative movement class in a circle. I do a check-in at every circle to help students get focused and prepared for the class which requires a lot of listening and following directions. During this check-in, I look at each student directly making eye contact with them, then I roll them a ball. The rule is only the person with the ball can talk. I ask everyone the same question, and they roll the ball back to me after they answer. For initial groups this exercise also helps me learn everyone's name. In later groups, I may ask questions like what is your favorite color?food? After the check-in, I bring out magic bell. I ask the students to help me check if magic bell is working today. If magic bell is working, then we can have class. If magic bell is not working, we cannot have class. I ask everyone to wiggle and shake (they love this). When I hit magic bell, they freeze.

With one group, students were getting a bit over excited with the movement activity, this is what magic bell is for - behavior management. I ring the bell so that everyone will freeze; but on this day, they keep going. I rang it again, but the children still did not freeze. Then, I turned off the music and said, "Oh no! Magic bell is broken! We have to end class." The children look stunned and disappointed. I ask them, "should we try magic bell one more time?" They say yes. Then, like I check at the beginning of class, I ask them to wiggle and shake, I ring the bell, and they freeze. We have not had any issues with magic bell not working in this class since.


I also used magic wands in my preschool creative movement class for our Nutcracker inspired classes. We galloped pretending we were reindeer pulling a sleigh to the Sugar Plum Fairy's palace follow-the-leader style. I led the students all around the space eventually ending the exercise with everyone sitting on the mats facing the dance space. For this performance score, some children pretend to be the "honored guests" while students take turns being the various dancers from the Land of the Sweets. I pass out magic wands (straws with sparkly ribbon coming out held together with a staple covered by big sparkly snowflake foam stickers). The dancers were given a palate of twirling, sliding, and pointing for the Sugar Plum Fairy dance. I demonstrated the dance moves they could play with and turned on the music; then one of students (four years) said, "It's light and airy." Yes it is! What I also love about the magic wands is that there is no gender preference; boys and girls in all three classes were equally excited and expressive with them as well as with scarves as the Arabian dancers.

The next class after this one was their final class of the eight week creative movement program. When I rolled the ball to each student at the start of class, I asked them to tell me a dance, game, or exercise, anything we have done in class, that they would like to do. They would be designing the final class.

All three classes asked for the wands and the Red Carpet game. What great feedback.

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.

Strut Your Stuff

With my fabulous new teaching prop - the 8 feet or so long rectangle stretch of curtain fabric - I created a game (although it may exist in another form under a different name) that I will now refer to as The Red Carpet. In this game, I lay out the long stretch of fabric. Each student has a turn to strut down the "red carpet" while their teachers (or whoever) pretend to be the paparazzi taking their photos. When they get to the end of the fabric, they turn back and strike a pose. This game was enhanced by the Bee Gees Staying Alive. Each student got a turn to strut down the red carpet however they wanted to. Some skipped, some ran, some went on all fours, and when they got to the end, they all struck a pose, even if it took a few trys. This game allows each student the opportunity to have a solo, to be creative in their own way, to have all the attention. I also got the teachers to take a walk down the red carpet, which of course the kids LOVED!

Note: In the space where I am teaching this preschool creative movement class, the floor is covered by a large square rug which is great for defining space and setting boundaries. It also holds the fabric in place. I would not do this game with this fabric on a smooth slippery floor.

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.

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.

What Makes Me Want to Blog

I come home from teaching one of my classes at the local youth center and I am energized and excited. I want to talk about it. I want to tell other teachers about it. I want to call all the kids' parents and tell them how amazing and awesome their children are. I want to share my experiences teaching dance, movement, drama, and theatre, and share the creative process of creating these classes. I want my friends and family not to be confused anymore about what it is I do.

I started teaching performing arts as a theatre education student at Emerson College. The summer after I graduated in 2001, I spent two weeks in Blue Lake, California at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre intensively studying commedia dell'arte. This was a life changing experience. I moved to Blue Lake two months later and was hired by Dell'Arte as an assistant teacher in their Education Through Art program. There, I worked along side master teachers of physical theatre and continued in my training as a physical performer.

This is where my teaching style comes from. I love physical theatre. As a performer, everything for me begins in the body. This is where I begin with my students. I have taken the things I love about being a performer and what I value as a teacher to create a class structure.

Many of my classes end with a performance score. At the youth center, I am typically the only person who sees the performances of these young students. I am so often amazed and typically floored by what my students produce. I feel honored to witness their creations. I want to share those experiences here.