dancepulse

Each day at 2:10, as I bid farewell to my 6th class of the day, students who are out for recess start knocking on my outside door. The knocks keep coming all the way through recess, and the questions are always the same: “Can we dance today?” “Can we come in?” “Can we show you our dance?” “How many minutes do we have left?”

Students come alone & together, to dance or to watch, carrying their own music or planning to choose from the pile of CDs I leave on the shelf. They shed their shoes & start to play.  Sometimes they take out the props — the scarves, ribbons, hula hoops, or plastic spots for jumping. Sometimes they’re working in small groups on choreography from class. Or they teach each other drill routines they’ve learned somewhere else. When the bell rings, they [mostly] put things away, turn off the music, grab their shoes, and run back to class.

Some students come because they must — their behavior in class has cost them a recess & they report to me. They watch with amazement, and their questions are always the same: “What are these kids doing here?!” “So they come every day?!”  Some of them ask, as recess ends, “Can I come back tomorrow?”

“Yes, of course.” It’s an alternative to 4-square & wall ball.

Join the discussion about Why Dance Matters here & here.

Each year my 5th graders build a dance together before graduating.  It’s a process fraught with difficulties , but the end result is a real high:  they come together to share their work.

One year, my 5th graders performed a medley of dances, which included a dance from every continent.  Most were dances I taught them, but also included were Samuel’s suggestion of a bottle dance from Mexico, a Chinese dance created from sketches drawn by Jack and his Chinese-born mother, and a penguin dance representing Antarctica that the class choreographed together.  After the performance, I asked them, “What was your favorite part about rehearsing and performing World Geography & what did you learn?”  Several themes ran through their journal responses:

• the delight they took in working together,
• the joy of sharing their dancing with an audience,
• what they learned about themselves & each other by working together.

Here are their voices (and their own spelling!):

Eddie
My favorite part was the Chinese dance because everybody was clapping. My other favorite part was Greensleeves because everybody was having fun. I like the whole dance because everybody know what to do.

I learned that I can have fun with other people. I also learned to not be shy when people are watching you. I also learned that when people are watching you, it is fun. Finally I learned that people can be impross about you.

Cynthia
My favorite part is when we do the Penguin Dance because everybody gets to be in it! I also like it because it makes us all work together and makes other laugh! Everyone gets to show their feelings!

I learned that I have to express my feelings and get with the music. The most important thing is that I get to have fun! Also, I learned that hard work really pays off. Dance is really fun and not that hard if you practice. That is what I learned!

Jack
My favorite part of the geography dance is that I got to dance with my classmates. This performance made me more confident in showing how good I perform.

Ellena
My favorite part is the whole thing. Why the whole thing is my favorite part is that we were all involved in it. Also it looked like we were having fun and we did have fun. And the reason is that we all had something to do we had parts to do.

Josue
My favorite part was the penguin dance. I say this because it was a part where you could act silly. Also because acting like penguins was amazingly fun. Finally, because when we get to push each other I think the audience was amazed.

The most important thing I learned was to have energy. I say this because all the dances use energy. It is boring if you don’t use energy. Also it makes the dance way more fun. That’s why energy is important.

Wesley
My favorite part is the penguins because I really enjoyed making the little kids happy. I liked sliding across so I could really make it seem like I am actually a real penguin. It made me feel like I was a real penguin. It made me have more fun.

The most important thing I learned in dance this year is to be confident, to not be shy, because it is what I wanted to do and it made lots of people laugh and happy and I had fun and that’s what I learned in dance this year.

Jayven
My favorite part was High Life. When we had to shake our hips and everything. Also because it was really fun rehearsing because there were laughs and it was just great to feel happy.

Kristina
My favorite part was actually seeing the improvement. In the rehearsal, it was like we were winging it but in the actual performance we were outstanding. It’s really amazing how it was so different. In the beginning, it was messy and disorganized. But in our real performance, it was very organized and you can see that we still had fun.

Samuel
I learned that even small things make a difference. That even one person missing can change a chance. I learned that if I wasn’t at the performance, others would suffer.

Rahel
The most important thing that I learned about myself this year was that dance is fun if you put your own personality into the dance. Also to let other people put their personality into the dance. Also I learned that dance is my passion. I love to dance.

Velvet
The most important thing I learned was keep trying. Also if you want to do good at something take your time. I learned that the hard way. When you dance, your soul is lifted in the air.

Jada
I think that the dances I did this year showed some of my emotions in them. That I could talk through dance. And that I could not just throw stuff in that would look tore up. I had to put feeling in it. And lots and lots of emotions.

Kristina
I’ve learned that you don’t have to be shy or anything. You can do whatever you want in dance. You can express your feelings in not just one way but a lot more! And you can tell that you’ve changed because you’re not scared or shy to show what you can do! It’s a really good feeling to know that I changed.

Angel
The most important part about dance that I found about myself is that I am more energetic. Also I’m more creative. My third reason is that dance made me more nice to people. Another reason is it made me think more about my childhood.

Jeffrey
What I like in “World Geography” was that everybody was smiling. The most important thing I learned in dance this year is that dance is all about fun.

Ifrah
I learned that there are all kinds of dances like I thought their were not any dances from Asia, Europe, and all the other contents. I learned a lot of dances. I also learned how to walk like a penguin.

Brian
When I did the penguin dance it showed that I acted silly. Also it showed that I enjoy comedy. The most important thing I leaned in dance is that I can act serious. Also that I can have fun while acting serious. Also I learned that dance isn’t just ballet it is all sorts of stuff.

Bryana
The most important thing I learned about myself was that I can express my feelings in other ways except words. I now know that I can express my feelings in body parts, moves, or dancing.

Tho
The most important thing I learned about myself in Dance this year was that I was fully able to have fun just by dancing with others in community. I was then able to blend in with everyone else in the rhythm, the dance, yet able to stand out to myself at the same time. That, I learned helped shed my meekness, and encourage fun into me while performing. Perhaps it is the happy, and fast moves with others helped me learn to enjoy myself, knowing that I am not alone, but still, I was singled by my differences. Because of that, I am presently in dance able to cherish the time(s) and promote my enjoyment to new/different dances unfamiliar to me. All in all, I learned through/in Dance this year to let go, and enjoy myself fully.

Join the discussion about Why Dance Matters here & here.

Ely arrived mid-year, straight from the bilingual orientation center, which meant he was barely beginning to understand English.  He agreed to step inside the dance classroom on two conditions: his shoes & socks would stay on his feet & he would watch from 6″ inside the door. The intervention specialist stayed with him, in case he decided to slip out the door and escape.

He watched for a day as the class learned the Virginia Reel. Halfway through his second day of observation, he agreed to be my partner & try it out. Within 10 minutes, he was partnering with a classmate — and a big smile on his face.

It wasn’t completely smooth sailing from there. He had his downs (warm-up exercises & improvisations) and ups (small-group choreography & cultural dances). But he could recognize a good time when he saw one!

Join the discussion about Why Dance Matters here & here.

When Rosedah and Rita started dancing in kindergarten, in their hijab, they were both lively & enthusiastic. But as time passed, they internalized the disapproval of their particular community, a fundamentalist faith which discourages music, dancing & the artistic representation of the human form. They always participated, but in a reserved way — gestural instead of postural, with minimal use of space & energy, occasionally with an angry affect. Dutifully, because dance class was part of school, and they were obedient.

When there’s time, I have 5th graders keep occasional dance journals, with entries about collaboration, preferences, or their process. Dance journals are for themselves, a place to write their feelings ~~ to be shared with me or not, as they choose.

Rosedah wrote:   The most important thing I learned about myself in dance this year is that I can express my feeling in dance. Also I learned that anyone can dance. I learned about myself that if you work your hardest you can dance.

And Rita wrote:   After this year’s dance, I learned one thing I never knew about myself. It’s that I love dancing. I used to think I hate dance. But it’s fun and energetic. It’s an exercise. I always come out with a smile. Even if I come with a frown.

Join the discussion about Why Dance Matters here & here.

David was another reluctant dancer.  A fifth grader, new to the school, he was pretty hostile to both teachers and students.  A loner, he swore, picked fights, and lashed out at whoever was nearby.  David blossomed late in the year as a dancer — inside a full-length stretchy bag. From the safe anonymity of the bag, his fears about moving with others fell away, as he created the ominous shapes of a forbidding tree in a Native American legend. When performance time finally came, he danced both in the bag and outside the bag. Thrilled about joining the dance, he invited both family and friends to the performance — and his mother brought me flowers the next day.

Join the discussion about Why Dance Matters here & here.

Fifth graders at my school, who have danced since kindergarten, generally accept dance — like recess or PE or math — or the air they breathe. But when transfer students make their first trip to the dance classroom, they often look like they’ve landed on Mars without oxygen. Geo was one such 5th grader, clearly mortified at the idea of dance. He tried to make himself invisible. Cooperative enough about taking his assigned place in the room for warm-up, he nonetheless sat or stood motionless while movement burst around him — no matter how simple the moves. I quieted students commenting on his immobility and offered him a safe, out-of-the-way spot when he was really in the way.  And he, surrounded by enthusiastic dancers, gradually — oh so gradually — warmed to the idea of moving. By year’s end, when his fellow 5th graders decided to choreograph and rehearse a dance for their graduation ceremony, he joined every rehearsal — during recess! — and danced his heart out with the rest of them.

Join the discussion about Why Dance Matters here & here.