Spring in the Dance Room – Week of 5/4/18
This week, fourth and fifth graders continue their investigation of choreographic tools through the lens of dance fundamentals. Some classes are building canons, others are creating dances using the mirror/ shadow techniques and one class has been working in large groups to display the call and response device. All of these students continue to show me such incredible creativity and collaborative effort in their work. Bravo!
Third grade is deep in a math connection unit. This week, students explored numbers, geometric shapes and body sculptures. Next week, they start to look at time and notice how many of our daily activities are done at the same time each day. Dancers will be asked to create movement reflecting these activities side by side with another dancer that will be using their body to show the time on a clock. Students will have to understand the idea of opposition in the mirror technique so that the audience will be able to tell what time they are trying to convey.
In second grade, the students have been building props in and out of the classroom to use with their World Celebration movement. Next up for these dancers is to work in small groups and build a dance using all of the World Celebrations explored while adding musical phrases to keep time. Looking forward to this dance share when everyone is ready for a final performance.
Our first graders continue to explore movement and feelings. This week, they embodied a “busy bee” feeling after brainstorming a typical day for a first grader. How do we move when we are busy? What does it look and feel like to move in a busy way? Of course, I had to use some very fun music – “The Flight of a Bumblebee” to help support our exploration of this feeling.
And lastly, the kindergarten classes are busy practicing dances with scarfs, marching in a parade and working with their partners to show the mirror and shadow techniques. These little dancers have so much energy to share! What a great week in the dance room!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Diane