Dance -

Classroom Ideas

I make sure that all my kids get a basic grounding in dance because there is no better way of their learning the expressive qualities of movement. I teach it myself, because we haven't got a dance teacher, so if I (over-weight and over fifty!) can do it, so can anyone. I deal purely with Contemporary Dance, for it is through CD that they can best come to appreciate the full range of expressive movement possibilities. I find, too, that if you start early enough, both boys and girls join in with great enjoyment. I start first in Year 7, in the summer term, towards the end of the first year of their Drama course.

You may ask why I mention this on a page which is dedicated to shows, when I have just said that CD is a form of dance which is used only rarely in shows. The answer is simple: CD lessons introduce non-dancers (especially boys!) to dance and gives them the confidence to attempt the more show-based sort of dance which they will be faced with when taking part in a show. I firmly believe that dance should form a part of all drama work.

For my kids it is a half-term per year in years 7 and 8. Generally they enjoy it enormously (some don't, obviously, but then I didn't enjoy Maths or Science at school!), and they learn a lot from it. Every would-be actor should have some contemporary dance training, if only to open their eyes to what can be communicated through movement.

'S' Words - a Classroom Idea for Contemporary Dance

When you first get kids working in dance in the classroom, they're lost, even those who have done dance classes, because you're trying to wean them away from the idea that dance is moving to the beat of a piece of music. You can talk all you like about maiking use of all kinds of movement but it will have little effect because their conscious movement vocabulary is so small. Here's an idea which I have found very helpful. I hasten to add that it is not original by any manner of means, but, to whoever first devised it, my grateful thanks. It works!

By sheer coincidence, an incredible number of movement words begin with the letter 'S'. Make a list on a blackboard or large sheet of paper. Start the list yourself and then get them to make contributions. Once you've got as many as you can, try each one out and then get them to string, say, six together to make a "movement sentence". Look at what each person has done and introduce the idea of momentum, one movement carrying its energy forward into the next. Let them see the different effect of sentences which (a) conserve momentum, with one movement flowing into the next, and (b) break momentum, where the flow comes to a dead stop and then has to start moving again. In this way you introduce the idea of dynamics quite painlessly.

Here are some 'S' words:

There are plenty more, but I won't deprive you of the pleasure of trying to find them!

Suspension

This is another 'S' word, but none of the kids will think of it (possibly you won't have!) because it's a technical term. It means that moment of unstable equilibrium between two movements: for instance, the point at which reaching up as high as you can becomes falling over. It is a creator of momentum, but, more than that, it is also a very dramatic thing to do. It's the equivalent of a dramatic pause in a play. You can introduce it in your 'S' words lesson, but right at the end, as a means of linking together a series of movements.

Cool-Down

Everyone knows that it is important for dancers to warm up before a dance session - giving the muscles a gentle introductory workout helps prevent strained or pulled muscles - but not everyone thinks about having a cool-down period at the end of the session. I would recommend that the last five or ten minutes of a dance lesson should be spent sitting (or even lying) comfortably on the floor. This serves two purposes: to allow the kids to recover from their physical exertions, and to give a time for reflection on the work that has been done, to see what has been learned and to encourage thinking about the work.

Christopher Bruce

Christopher Bruce is, to my mind, probably the best British choreographer (although Richard Alston, whose style is very different, runs him a close second) and I would strongly recommend that, if you want to teach kids what Contemporary Dance is all about, you show them some of his work. I have found that the very best intro to CD for kids is defiitely Bruce's Rooster, which is set to music by the Rolling Stones. It's a super piece of work: funny and clever. As a contrast, get them to look at his Ghost Dances and Swan Song, both of which are very different from Rooster (and from each other), but all three are accessible and appeal to kids, both boys and girls, of all secondary ages. Strongly recommended!