Learning about Dance

For co-op this week, my friend Melanie helped me (long-distance) in creating a lesson plan to teach the kids more about dance and movement.  Melanie has taught grade-school kids in a program for the Lincoln Center in NYC, not to mention the fact that she is a choreographer and professor in the dance program at University of Buffalo, so I knew she'd be the perfect person to give me some ideas!  And she was.

So here's what the kids ended up doing...

First they explored all different ways a certain action word could be demonstrated with their bodies... like BEND

or SWAY.

Then, in the style of famous choreographer Merce Cunningham, the kids all put together random motions built on action words (verbs) paired with quality words (adjectives or adverbs), and repetition.  The results were fun to watch! 

In teams of boys/girls, they also acted out specific scenes for the other team to guess.  Here are the girls doing "sunrise and sunset:"

(The boys guessed this right away!)

Finally, we watched a couple of professional dance pieces, to discuss, compare and contrast the styles and messages.  First up was one called "Beach Birds" by Merce Cunningham.

When the kids were able to get past their issues with the "costumes" the dancers were wearing, they were able to see how some of the random movements did actually look like birds on a beach.

Then we watched this video online of Melanie herself performing! 

Afterwards, we were able to discuss the very clear and profound message that this dance portrays.  "Those who hear not the music, think the dancer mad."  And the kids were really able to SEE this and understand it.  I thought that was pretty cool.  (I highly recommend this video/dance.... it's really good!)

What fascinating ways God has created our bodies and our minds, and our desires and abilities to communicate with one another.  We had a fun morning exploring the creative ways we could express concepts and ideas -- in ways we normally don't.