Great Moves! Contemporary issues for maintenance, curriculum, organization, and success for dance educators.
Dancing is a great way to beat winter's chill and cure the doldrums created by being cooped up indoors. Here are some tips for warming up your classes for several age groups. Everybody likes a game!
TEEN TIME- "Everybody's got the fever, that is something you all know," croons Peggy Lee in her sultry 1958 jazz hit "Fever" (music by Johnny Davenport and Ed Cooley, lyrics by Lee.) The punctuating percussion and smooth, easy rhythm helped that song and Ms. Lee epitomize the meaning of "cool." The steady, penetrating beat of this classic jazz piece is just the remedy for teen dancers suffering from "cabin fever" and the winter studio blues. While popular tunes are fine for technique and choreography, consider it good medicine to dose your teen dancers with a hit of Peggy Lee's unique voice and a bit of musical history.
Expand your dancers' knowledge of jazz dance history by introducing them to the movement styles of Bob Fosse, Alvin Ailey, Gus Giordano, and Luigi. Video examples for these icons include "Chicago" and "Damn Yankees" (original 1958 version) for Fosse; "Luigi: The Master Style and Technique Class;" and "Tribute to Alvin Ailey" (see resources below.) Check with your library or video rental store to borrow these items. Give the library about a week's notice as they may have to interlibrary loan the videos.
Your dancers will be amazed as they watch the movements of dance innovators who represent the origins for today's jazz and hip-hop dancing. It doesn't hurt to point out that February is black history month and to mention the massive contributions black dancers have made to the growth and development of American jazz dance.
AGES 7-12: Younger dancers will enjoy a game of "Winter Coat Relay" to burn off their excess energies. Divide class members into equal teams. Have a winter wraps set for each team that includes an adult size winter coat, hat, mittens, scarf, and large galoshes or boots. If you really want to make it interesting, add a pair of ski pants to the pile! It's fun to raid the studio costume shop or visit the local second hand clothing store for these items.
Make a set of activity cards for each team. You'll need at least six different actions such as kick, jump up and down, turn around in a circle 3 times, clap your hands together while hopping on one foot, do 3 jumping jacks, or whatever age appropriate activities you deem acceptable.
Pile the winter clothing on the other side of the studio along with the activity cards in a basket. Team members race to the clothes, get dressed, choose a card, and perform the action. Then they must take everything off, leave it in a pile for the next team member and place the action card in a discard basket or box. When team members have completed this dressing game they will surely have burned off some energy from the game and the laughing!
PRE-SCHOOL: "It's cold outside, it's cold outside, it's cold outside today. So, get your coat, get your coat and we'll
go out to play!" Sing or chant these words for this fun pre-school activity that teaches listening, following directions, and patience!
Ask parents to provide a coat, mittens, hat, and scarf for each child to bring to class. Spread a clean sheet or table cloth on the floor and have the children throw their winter garb on the sheet. Reach in and stir things up then place the children in a circle around the clothes. As you slowly sing/chant the first line, the class walks in a slow circle around the pile. When you shout "play!" the children dive into the pile to get
what ever clothing piece you've called (each round substitute a different piece of outerwear, i.e., "get your mittens or get your hat, etc.)
Once the children have the right piece of clothing on they make the circle again. Sing the rhyme over and over until everyone is dressed in their winter clothes! This is a perfect game for the end of class. They are dressed and ready to go outside!
Not only will these activities teach skills necessary to dance success, they produce lots of smiles, and that helps bring students back to class even in the bleakest of weather conditions!
Resource for videos: Dance Horizons Books,www.dancehorizons.com, Princeton Book Company, 614 Route 130, Hightstown, NJ 08520, 800-220-7149, 609-426-0602.
BIO: Joy Held is the author of Writer Wellness, A Writer's Path to Health and Creativity (2003) from New Leaf Books. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher-500 and teaches for several universities and in her family owned studio. She can be contacted at www.writerwellness.com or greatmoves@hotmail.com.