When you walked into the lobby of the dance school I went to growing up there were two studios: one on the left and one on the right. They were almost mirror images of each other. Most of the time I took class in the studio to the right. But as I got older and our dances included smaller groups of dancers doing different choreography, we would split up during class to practice our parts, some of us staying in our regular dance room and the rest of us going across to the other.
Every single time I had to go to the other studio I was completely turned around. All the tools I’d used to orient myself to the other room were suddenly upended. The windows were usually on the left and now they were on the right. But not all the spatial signifiers were different. The stereo system was on the left in both studios. One studio had a bathroom and water fountain, the other had a trophy case. I was always confused about which side of the stage I should be on at any given moment in the dance. Our teacher would turn on the music and I’d suddenly realize I needed to be on the opposite side of the room. The only thing that helped was closing my eyes and visualizing myself in the other room to figure out if I was on the right or left when facing the mirror, and then open my eyes and go there.
Now, I’ll admit this is not the only time I’ve struggled with directions of some sort. But I do wonder, if my dance education had been more concept-based when I was younger, if I would’ve strengthened that directional muscle in a way that would’ve served me inside and outside of the dance studio for the rest of my life.
The concept of DIRECTION is important in dance - and life - for orienting your body and your movement to the space you’re in. When I talk about DIRECTION, I’m referring to the ways your body can travel through space. We work with 6 directions: FORWARD, BACKWARD, UP, DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT. (When working with young dancers, I often say sideways/to the side in addition to saying right/left and don’t make corrections.)
In dance - and life - we get used to doing certain movements in certain ways. The activity I’m sharing today leaves a little bit to chance, and encourages dancers to find new ways to do moves they may have gotten used to doing the same way all the time.
Bonus: When you do something the same way over and over again, you create a strong neuro-pathway in your brain related to that activity. When you do something you’ve done many times before in a new way, you create a new neuro-pathway, which strengthens your brain!
Enjoy!
Direction Dice Surprise!
For this activity you’ll need 2 large six-sided dice.
I recommend saving up empty tissue boxes and covering them with construction paper (each side a different color to help those tiny pre-reader dancers). No tissue boxes lying around?
This tutorial shows you how to make them with cardboard (you only need to make the cube - not the dots for the cube). Or you can use this pdf and assemble.
On one box write one direction on each side: FORWARD, BACKWARD, RIGHT, LEFT, UP, DOWN. On the other box write a movement word on each side, such as: SLIDE, CRAWL, WIGGLE, FLOAT, FALL, JUMP.
Now you’re ready to play!
Have dancers take turns rolling the dice. Call out what the dice say and then give a few moments for improvisation before rolling again.
Don’t worry if the combination feels like it doesn’t make sense. If the dice say “Crawl up” or “Jump down” or anything else that doesn’t quite seem like it works call it out and then let the dancers do the rest. If someone asks “how do you crawl up?” simply say “what do you think?” or “Hmmmm I wonder what new move you’ll create by trying” and give them time and space to explore.
When you’re ready to finish up the activity, announce to your group it’s the last roll. After the last move, as a kinesthetic reflection, ask everyone to perform their favorite dice roll. You can have everyone do them at the same time, ask for volunteers to show theirs one by one, or split into 2+ groups and have the rest of the class act as audience while each group performs.
Once you’ve played, here are a few ways to extend the activity or mix things up the next time you play:
Hidden Dice Surprise: This helps to change things up once the dancers are already familiar with what is on the dice. Have the group sit in a circle. Dancers can take turns stepping outside the circle to roll the dice in secret (with the teacher’s help if dancers are too young to read) while the other dancers close their eyes. When they step back into the circle they perform the movement they rolled. Then the audience guesses what the combination was. If they can’t figure it out, the dancer can tell them what it is OR show again for another round of guessing.
Direction Dice Choreography: For more older OR advanced dancers (age 7+) the whole class can work together or split into groups and make a dance based on dice rolls. You can assign a certain number of dice rolls/movements (based on how much time you have for creating or how many dancers are in the group, or simply a random number of moves) and give the dancers a certain amount of time (about 5-15 minutes) to turn them into a short dance. You might have all groups use the same dice rolls OR each group have their own unique dice rolls. You can let the dancers create the structure of the dance on their own or offer suggestions/additional guidelines. Some suggestions/possibilities could include: all dancers doing the moves in unison/canon/randomly, dancers using movements to enter and exit the performing space, dancers doing the movements in combination with another concept like size or speed.
Need a music suggestion for this? I love the soundtrack to Molly’s Game, especially the song Set it Up!
What dance moves will you put on your Direction Dice? Let me know in the comments below!
Happy Moving & Grooving!