studio dance

Under the Sea

January 28, 2016 by Erika 1 Comment

I love to dance under the sea! The animal movements are so different and unique. Here’s a creative movement class based on under the sea animals!

I usually start with a warm-up and across the floor section. Usually I’ll include a movement rhyme as well. Then it’s time for our theme of the day: Under the Sea! (This could also be part of a larger unit in conjunction with The Rainbow Fish lesson plan).

Place pictures of under the sea animals throughout the room (Printable here).

Everyone loves a clown fish, thanks to Finding Nemo! Clown fish have a special adaptation to where they live. Clown fish can swim among the tentacles of a sea anemone without getting hurt. Other fish are poisoned by the sea anemone. This helps to keep clown fish safe from predators. This square on the floor is our sea anemone. All of you are clown fish and I am a much bigger fish. Only clown fish can go inside of the square. When the music starts, begin swimming (or galloping, bourre walks, turning, kick walks, skips, saute arabesque, etc.) around the square. If the music stops, run to the inside of the square where you are safe from the bigger fish!

Watch out for the scary shark! Sharks are in this song: Late Last Night. Dance the Late Last Night (details in this post) song and dance together.

OR, Play an adapted version of sharks and minnows. When I turn on the music, freeze in a balancing shape (or on one leg, in 1st position, etc.). I am the shark, I’ll dance around all the balancing shapes. When the music stops, the shark will figure out you are not statues, you’re fish! Run and touch the chair/wall/mirror/etc. before I tag you and eat you for lunch! Take turns being the shark and dancing through the frozen shapes!

For younger students: sea horses swim. How do horses on land move? They gallop! Let’s go galloping!

For older students: Sea horses can camouflage or blend in to adapt to its environment. Pick four students to be “sea horses.” The rest of the class will be the coral reef. While the sea horses close their eyes, demonstrate a frozen, balancing shape for the rest of the class. They will copy that shape and freeze. When I say go, sea horses turn around and run over to your classmates. You must copy their shape so that you blend in to your environment. If you don’t blend in before I, the predator, tag you, then you have to be a predator with me.

Turtles on land are pretty slow, but sea turtles are fast! Try walking (skipping, galloping, kicking, etc.) as slow as you can. Can you walk faster? Super speed?

OR, Do slowland and fastland. Set up a line down the middle of your classroom. On one side of the line move as slowly as you can. Kick slowly, balance slowly, roll slowly, etc. To cross the line, do a pas de chat (or leap, glissade, skip, or any other step you’re working on). On the other side of the line is fastland. Move as quickly as you can. Can you jump super speed? Roll and crawl quickly? Change sides whenever you’d like, as many times as you’d like! (This idea is from Anne Greene Gilbert’s Creative Dance for All Ages).

A sail fish loves to jump up out of the water and “fly” before diving back down. Let’s go “flying” over these cones/mats/spots. Practice leaping, star jumps, tuck jumps, etc. as you fly all around the room.

A puffer fish can blow up like a balloon when it tries to scare away other fish. Let’s play The Balloon Game!

An octopus has eight legs! How many legs do you have? Everyone grab a ribbon to give you an extra leg to dance with. Try drawing a circle with your ribbon. Can your ribbon fly behind you when you run? Can you toss and catch? Can you spin with your ribbon?

Jelly fish will sting you if you get too close! Let’s practice our saute arabesques (or whatever step you are working on), but when the music stops, freeze, so the jelly fish (the teacher) can swim by without stinging you!

Dolphins jump up out of the water and dive back in. Let’s practice dive rolls over a mat.

OR, instead of dive rolls, you can jump up tall, then dive down to touch the floor with your hands.

I hope you have fun with this under the sea lesson!!!

Also, grab these coloring pages for a quiet time activity at home or school.

And if you missed the link earlier, visual aid printables are here!

Secret Agents

January 21, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

Some dear friends in college taught me this variation on The Dice Game. It’s a great way to involve boys and unwilling dance participants!

Play the dice game (read the details here) as usual. But, use this list:

1 – Dive and roll (over and under laser beams)

2 – Two quick looks (see what’s coming around the corner and behind you)

3 – Crawl (through air ducts)

4 – Kick (karate style)

5 – Fast feet (avoiding bullets)

6 – Spin (turn around yourself to check for the enemy)

Go through each of the numbers’ movements as if the dancers are in “spy school” and learning how to outwit the enemy. Once they have each number’s movement down, give them paper and dice, and allow them to create their own secret code. Have dancers perform for the group and see if you can guess their secret codes!

The Dice Game

January 21, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

The dice game is one of my favorite games. It is one of those tricks up my sleeve that I pull out if class is just seeming to drag along. It’s for one of those days when I’m trying so hard to drill a new technique or teach a new skill, but my students just aren’t interested. It’s also a great tool in and of itself to inspire choreography and help students put together their own dances! The dice game is just a simple variation of Merce Cunningham’s chance dance. Here are the rules:

Give each child a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Each child will roll a dice five times, and write down the sequence of numbers rolled. This number sequence is their “secret code”. Don’t share your secret code with anyone else! Then, they will reference the chance dance list (see below).
The students will create a dance sequence that includes the steps listed on the chance dance list in the order they rolled. For example, if I rolled: 2 4 5 5 3, I would create a dance where I did (using the ballet chance dance list): Grand Battements, Leap, Chasse, Chasse, Turn.
Encourage students to do multiples of a step (i.e. 3 chasses or 5 turns), to do variations on a step, and to include arm placements. Require a beginning and ending frozen shape.

Ballet Chance Dance List

1 – Balance

2 – Grand Battement (Kick)

3 – Turn

4 – Leap

5 – Chasse

6 – Pas de Chat (Step of the Cat)

Jazz Chance Dance List

1 – Leap

2 – Chaine Turn

3 – Roll

4 – Jump Full Turn

5 – Upside Down

6 – Shape or Balance

Modern Chance Dance List

1 – Roll

2 – Swing

3 – Breath Movement

4 – Balance or Suspend

5 – Contraction

6 – Explode

Extending the Activity: Have groups of 2-5 students perform their dances for everyone to view. See if you or the students can guess what their secret code was!

Check out the Secret Agent variation on the dice game!

The Body Parts Shape Game

January 18, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

The Body Parts Shape Game is one of my students most well beloved games. I use it for students of all ages. It’s easy to make harder or easier for different age groups. Clearly, my preschoolers won’t be doing this…

But hey, a couple of my high schoolers might be able to pull off a one-handed balancing shape! 🙂 So, without further ado, the Body Parts Shape Game:

Pick a body part paper out of the bag (printable here) and make a frozen shape with only the listed body parts touching the ground. For example, if the paper says 1 head and 2 feet, make a shape with two feet and your head touching the ground, nothing else. If the paper says, 1 foot and 2 hands, make a frozen shape with only 1 foot and 2 hands touching the ground. You may not use your bottom, back, or other foot for balance.

Try to make a shape that is different from everyone else in the room. Hold your shape until I say relax! Give compliments to students whose shapes are truly unique and interesting.

It’s an easy and fun game! Print out my list here: Body Part Shapes

Dancing a Book About Lines: The Straight Line Wonder

January 18, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

This is one of those books I just discovered while perusing the children’s section of the library (a frequent activity of mine, much to my husband’s dismay). It is so cute and fun. Great for the preschool/kindergarten crowd! It’s all about a straight line who just gets tired of being straight all the time. He decides to go twirling and looping and zig-zagging. His friends are embarrassed, but then he becomes “The Straight Line Wonder!” Here’s my lesson plan!

The Straight Line Wonder (15 minutes)

Read The Straight Line Wonder
by Mem Fox

“best of friends” Look at their bodies. Their bodies are very straight, like sticks. Can you make your body as straight as a stick? What’s another way to be straight as a stick? (lay down, stand tall, arms held vertically, etc.)
“jump in humps” Can you make a shape with humps like the straight line did? Show me how you can jump in humps!
“twirling in whirls” Show me your chaine turns. Now show me your favorite kind of turns.
“point his joints” MIRRORING – practice isolations with each joint. Facing the students, have students copy movements you do that are “pointy”. Move just your head, then just your elbows, knees, hips, ankles, etc.
“creep in heaps” Practice monkey jumps around a hula hoop by placing two hands inside a hula hoop that is laying on the floor. Jump your feet around the outside of the hoop, practicing shifting weight from feet to hands.
“spring in rings” Practice jumping and turning in the air. Set up an obstacle course of things for students to jump over. Require different jumps over different items (tuck jump over a block, jump turn around in the circle of cones, one foot hops over the spots, etc.)

Finish the book!

More Activities:

Sculptor and Clay – Divide into partnerships. Partner 1 from each partnership is the sculptor. Partner 2 is the clay. Partner 1 create a shape out of your clay by moving him or her into a shape. Walk around your sculpture and make one change. Do you like it? Do you need to change your sculpture? Then partners 1 and 2 switch roles. (This idea came from the exceptional book: Creative Dance for All Ages by Anne Green Gilbert).

Body parts shape game – Pick a body part paper out of the bag and make a shape with those body parts on the ground. (i.e. if the paper says 1 head and 2 feet, make a shape with two feet and your head touching the ground). For more details, read about it here.

Choreograph and Share (5 minutes)

Make a pointy shape.

Make a round shape.

Make a straight shape.

Don’t forget your shapes! Quiz students to remember each of their three shapes.

Let’s connect your shapes. Everyone show me your pointy shape. Skip to a new place in the room. Freeze in your round shape. Turn to a new place. End in your straight shape. Practice your dance!

Closure (2 minutes)

Share your shape dance with a partner or the class, as time allows.