Dance in Education
Working in an educational setting gives me the opportunity to reach into a community that may not have dance as a personal resource. Kids love to be creative through music and dance. They have an innate ability to be open to new ideas while learning valuable skills. Dance teaches awareness of body, weight, space, flow, adaptation to working in groups or with partners while fostering general movement skills. Here are a few ways I’ve incorporated dance into an educational setting.
Along with my partner Jan, we presented an Appalachian Clogging and Flatfooting Workshop to the Gallaudet Dance Students at the Delta Zeta Dance Studio at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. It was a very rewarding experience. Ben Baylor photographed the event and sent us pictures, which you can see on our web site. Thanks, Ben.
An American Folk Dance Program was presented at the Key School in Annapolis, MD to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a school. Their theme was “America as a Community”. Circle, Longways sets and Sicilian Circle dances were presented to over 400 enthusiastic students from 5th -12th grades.
Here are two comments from teachers at the Key School. “The seminars and the community dancing that involved the entire middle and upper school divisions may not be the largest events and they are not more important than the other activities of the 50th Anniversary -- but I think they are the most original and unique.”
“Of course they responded well to the dance lessons. They thought it was an energizing influence after (or before) some intense intellectual activity.”
I created a program called “Rhythm in Motion” and it was used for Morgan Arts Council's, Adopt-A-School, arts programs in Berkeley Springs, WV. The students' regular gymnastic warm up exercises were used as a base for combining rhythmic patterns with exercises. The participants, first graders to high school students, were made aware of flow, tempo, timing and space.
“Get Over it” is a program I created for high school teenage girls for the purpose of moving through emotional bumps in the road. “Get Over it” uses music that builds in intensity to accommodate switching from negative to positive emotional states. This mind/body movement program was created with the support of the American Heart Association.
Elderhostel Groups and Seniors love comparing and sharing stories based in personal history. Music and dance provide inroads to our history of the Appalachian Region during the 18th and 19th centuries. Providing programs in this educational setting reminds us of the importance of our elders while sharing lively stories, music, song, and dance.
