Years ago, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post from a parent asking for recommendations for dance classes for her 3 year old. “But”, she said, “not one of those classes where they just ask them to pretend to be butterflies. I don’t want to pay for that. She can do that at home.”
Now, I’m the first to admit that not all dance classes are created equal. But this comment got me fired up. Asking 3 year olds to pretend to be butterflies… or any other animal for that matter… is one of the BEST ways to teach kids about their bodies, dance, and the world around them.
Imagine asking a preschooler to dance with more grace. They probably have no idea what that means. So you offer more information. “Move your body light and quick while floating around the room.” This might get you closer, but the second you say “quick” it’s like giving a big GIANT permission slip to start running. What you need is an image of something they understand. “Pretend you are a butterfly. Flap your wings with quick and gentle energy while floating around the room looking for the perfect flower to land on.” Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. THEN you can name the quality you are looking for. “This is called moving with grace. Butterflies dance gracefully.” Now you can move into more dynamic movement. “Butterflies can be slow or quick. The can fly high and low. They can float through the air or rest on a flower.”
I teach this way because the movement that students create when given open ended, yet structured and specific information is more complex than anything they would be able to see me do and repeat back. Then I can call out all the things I’m seeing to help them lean into it and develop their dance skills. “Oh! I see you’re stretching one leg straight out behind you while balancing on your other leg. In ballet, that’s called an arabesque!” Plus, teaching and refining technique is much easier with imagery. Even professional dancers use imagery to guide and inspire and define the qualities of their movements, so why wouldn’t we use it with young dancers?!
I consider this approach “concept based” dance education. I use a set of 15 dance concepts* as the core of my curriculum and teach skills, steps, improvisation, and choreography through that lens. In a series of 15 blog posts, I’ll be sharing each dance concept and an activity that explores it. Let’s start with Place.
Place is often my go-to for week one of a new session of classes because it helps students understand how to share the space in the classroom. In dance, there are two kinds of Place: Self Space and General Space. Self Space is the space that our own bodies take up. Our kinesphere. Sometimes we think of it as our personal “bubble”. General Space is the space that belongs to everyone. The space we travel through from one place to another. For example: If I’m at a party, my self space is the space my own body takes up and usually a little bit of space surrounding that. The general space is the whole room. If I see a friend across the room, I can travel to her, but I can’t walk through the other people so I look for empty space to find a path to her. This is really important in life and in dance. Understanding where your own body is, what space belongs to everyone, and how to move through that space by looking for the empty space.
Here’s an activity to explore the concept of Place using our butterfly dance from above… and some other favorite animals. But before you dive in, I have to tell you that can never just explore one concept. They are always working together as we create complex, dynamic, three dimensional movement. As you’ll see in the suggestions below, we can focus on place but other concepts are going to come up naturally and naming them helps dancers to deepen their understanding of their bodies and movements in a way that is useful inside and outside of the dance classroom. Now let’s dance!
Animals all Around.
You’ll need to mark a spot on the floor for each dancer. You can use a bit of masking/painters tape or a poly dot.
In this dance exploration, you’re going to become different animals and alternate roaming around the room as the animal (General Space) and coming back “home” to your spot to rest (Self Space). Below are suggestions for 4 animal explorations, the other concepts they introduce**, and the dance skills they can tie into. You can add your own ideas to the list AND ask dancers for suggestions (they are usually eager to be their favorite animal)
Teacher/Parent tip: Watch how the dancers move and emphasize what they are already doing that embodies the characteristics of the animal. (“I see you lifting your trunk high and low just like an Elephant does!”) This will build confidence. Then describe other qualities or movements that animal might do. (“Elephants move slowly and drag their feet. Even though they are big, they step softly and drag their feet a bit, shuffling when they walk.”) Just saying those ideas out loud will inspire the dancers to do it!
Butterfly (light weight): Flutter through the air until you find a flower to gently land on to rest. Skill: Tiptoe, small leaps
Frog (sudden energy, high and low levels): Spring up and down across the pond and then come back to your lily pad. Stick out your tongue and catch some tasty flies. Skill: jumping off of two feet and landing on two feet (preparation for many types of jumps).
Monkey (free flow) Swing around and then come back to your tree and have a banana snack. Skill: sideways gallop/chasse.
Flamingo (on balance, fast speed) Walk with very quick and gentle feet and then come home to sleep on one leg. Skill: passe/balancing on one foot
Now you see why I’m such a huge fan of using animals to help young dancers in class?!
What animal would you choose? Leave a comment below and let me know!
*What I’ve learned about concept-based dance education has mostly been from my mentor, Anne Green Gilbert. You can learn more about her, the studio she founded, and her books at www.creativedance.org