Snowmen

Once again, a joyful time spent with Mrs. Shank's first grade class!

I would like to share some of my favorite moments from the class.

1. We used the lines on the basketball court floor to help us with our pathways.  We learned a short combination and followed the lines around the space.  The kids enjoyed the visual pathway and challenge of jumping from line to line.  They also did a really good job at staying on the line and completing the task for each section.

2. We have explored many energy qualities in our dancing experiences together.  I brought objects each time to demonstrate these qualities.  To check for the kids understanding I asked them which qualities we had learned, and they remembered all of them! I was so excited! We then spent some time exploring these qualities once again as I played the drum.  It was beautiful to see them explore these ideas deeper and they made some very creative choices.

3. To conclude our time together we will be performing a dance for the student's parents in December as part of their Christmas program!  For this performance the student's will dance out the details of a storybook as I read it aloud.  The book is "Snowmen at Night."  This has been one of the funnest parts we have shared together as we have worked together to create this dance and reflect on all we have learned.

I am so proud of these sweet students and so grateful for their commitment and exploration. What an enriching experience it has been! :)

Short Sequences

During my fourth and fifth visits we have been adding to our list of energy qualities that we know!  These first graders are so smart and have remembered this vocabulary we have been learning. 

One activity we did was a short phrase across the floor.  Since we have learned so many different principles, I wanted to see how the kids did if we danced a short sequence.  The imagery for this one was fall leaves.  Across the floor we did 3 hops and then we imagined we jumped into a big piles of leaves and we through them in the air.  Then we skipped and slid.  To take it to the next level we even added counts to the phrase and the kids picked up well what movement you were supposed to do on which count.  I was really impressed and excited as they learned this phrase.

So we have added to our tree dance the energy qualities of stretch and swing.  So in this tree dance we do movement of sustain, sway, collapse, stretch and swing.

After we danced our tree dance a few times we performed for each other.  Before we did so we briefly went over a little performance ediquette.  We also talked about their peers performance a little bit.

I am excited to explore more imagery and ideas together as a class again soon!  These little movers are so creative and really good at following!

picture description: moment of us throwing the leaves in the air!

Exploring Autumn Life

With this festive season, I felt it appropriate to explore different ways of moving with some seasonal twists!

Before participating in our activities we reviewed all the concepts we have learned so far such as: shapes, levels, big space, little space, jump, hop, sustain and collapse.  I guided them through these by using my drum and calling them out.

Spiders and Webs
With this holiday activity our learning objective was discovering positive and negative space.  I drew an addition sign and a subtraction sign on a white board to help them visualize this concept.  They knew them as "plus" and "minus" which is perfect!  They are such smart first graders.

Positive space is the space your body takes up, and everything around it is negative space.  For this activity we got in partners.  One partner would be the spider (the positive space) by making a shape and the second partner would draw webs around them (creating and visualizing the negative space).  Before we got up and did the activity I demonstrated this exercise with their teacher.  She was the spider and I slowly drew webs around her.  To give more tactile information I gave each web maker a kleenex to wave around and draw the space with.  I put on some music from the Charlotte's web soundtrack to inspire spidery movement.  The kids did a beautiful job and were so focused!

Pumpkin Patch and Bats
To learn some new pathways we danced like pumpkins and bats.  First we all danced like pumpkins in a straight pathway.  For this we all had to follow a leader in a single file line in straight pathways while making a pumpkin shape with our upper body.  The kids followed well.  We also listened to "Bibbidi Bobbity Boo" while we danced to get into the pumpkin spirit.

We then discussed some characteristics of bats.  Each student raised their hand and gave great answers!  Some answers that were said were, "they sleep upside down" "they make this shape with their bodies" and "they fly."  With this information we moved like bats through the space to learn the concept of a zig zag pathway.  We then took turns being pumpkins and bats.  It was an energetic activity!

Trees and Leaves
Our last dance game of the day was a dance phrase using all of the energy qualities we had learned to this point.  Those are sustain, sway, and collapse.  We started our dance in a tree shape of their choice to then improvising sustaining movements.  Then we began to sway.  Afterwhich we collapsed three times. 1, 2, 3! To bring us to the floor then to complete the phrase we did a big inhale and exhale.

This was a really lovely dance and the children did so beautifully.  I am always so impressed with their focus, artistic choices and ability to follow directions.  I can't wait to learn more together!

Dear Zoo

On October 4, 2016 was our first class together and it was such a joyful experience!

My learning objective for this first day was to teach the students 2 dance terms: shapes and levels.

First we discussed different kinds of shapes.  And these first graders are so smart and know their shapes! One student even said "cylinder" which was awesome.  I then explained how in dance class when I say "shape" the students must create a shape with their bodies.  This shape can be anything they choose.  I instructed that when I hit my drum they should all hit a shape.  When I hit my drum and said "shape!" I saw the coolest most creative shapes! I was so impressed with how they made these decisions and how well they followed directions.

Then I demonstrated the three different levels: high, medium and low. We then played a game where I would say a level and they were to make a shape at that level.  We spent the next few moments of class exploring with me hitting my drum and saying "high shape!" or "low shape!" or "medium shape!"  I would sometimes go slow and sometimes go fast and the students giggled at the challenge.

To improvise new ways to move I brought a book with me called "Dear Zoo."  I took a few minutes to read this to the students.  We then drew animals out of a hat, for example: snake, monkey, elephant, etc.  When one student would draw an animal out of the hat we would all move around the space dancing like that animal.  Sometimes an animal would reflect a specific level, for example a snake is on a low level.  I played some music from the Jungle Book soundtrack to inspire our animal characters.

We split into two groups and performed for each other.  I let the students pick any animal they wanted to dance like but also to keep it a secret.  Then for the group observing I had them guess which animal they thought their friends were demonstrating.  We switched places so we all had a chance to perform and respond.  We had some good responses and many of them guessed correctly!

We had a great first class together and I am excited to dance with them again soon!

Intro

I have been assigned to Mrs. Shanks 1st grade classroom at Cedar Valley Elementary School and could not be more excited! These students are energetic, respectful and smart.  I am grateful for the opportunity I have to learn from them and from their teacher Mrs. Shanks.

I  love the opportunity I have of being a part of BYU Arts Bridge and giving students an opportunity to learn in a new way.  Dance is a beautiful medium of art that can inspire the body, mind and soul all in one.  I am excited to see what discoveries unfold in students individually and in the class as a whole.