Happy New Year from Next Gen Dance
Happy New Year!
As the year comes to a close, I look back at all that 2016 brought to my life, my classroom, and my students and I feel so very very blessed!
Enjoying my last post for 2016 and looking forward to all that 2017 brings!
Ballet: As described in the last post, Ballet studied the concept and vocabulary of pantomime. In groups, they chose a ballet to study and create their own choreography and pantomime scenes. The iPads came in handy for both music, watching repertoire, and viewing project guidelines. They then filmed their various sequences and edit in iMovie to present to the class. Here are some class examples:
Dance 1 & 2: Completed their Create a Country Project. Students were paired and each group given a Google folder that contained a Doc with a project brainstorm template and a Slide template. They used these to design their own country (including various items such as motto, government, national animal/plant, native dress) and prepare a slideshow for presentation day. They then used Drawing Desk and/or other various photo editing apps to create a and design a flag. Finally they used the iPads to play music while they choreograph a national dance. Here are some examples of the slide shows and they presented before their dance.
Dance Educators: My dance educators class celebrated their final class of the season in style! Check out their final video:
Dance & Media Communication 1& 2 students played with Time lapse and Stop Motion photography apps. Due to time, we did not complete finished final products. But we did enjoy the experience of working and playing with this type of technology.
And for the big finale…I present Jazz 4 and our Reader’s Theater!
Reader’s Theater
Lesson Objectives: Support literacy fluency through both theater and dance; make global connections to dance as a fine art; create choreography with various sources of inspiration including use of technology.
Students in Kristen Heusinger’s 2nd Grade classroom at the American School Foundation in Mexico City and my Cedar Ridge Jazz 4 students participated in a cross-curricular literacy-infused dance project.
Heusinger’s students began working in groups to read chosen Reader Theater stories. These students are ESL students that learned and practiced their lines for each story. The stories included fairytales, folktales, and fables. Then using Google Hangouts, my class divided into groups to hear the story from their assigned group of 2nd graders. After reading the story, the 2 sets of students engaged in conversations regarding the story, the morals, and ideas on what the story might look like if represented by a dance. On a separate iPad they took notes on both the story and the 2nd graders ideas.
Students on both sides of the iPad/world had such a fun time engaging with each other. After saying their goodbyes, my students began the task of exploring their ideas and looking for songs. They then had 3 days to figure out how to choreograph and tell their story through contemporary dance.
When our projects were complete we met through Google Hangout again. This time we met as a large group and each of my groups would introduce themselves, perform their dance, and then hold a Q&A with the 2nd graders. It was so great to see their excitement and fun to hear what questions they asked.
We are so thankful for these students and teacher working with us. It was a memorable experience for all involved and look forward to many more enriching collaborative experiences in the future! To see more of this project watch the video below. Thank you again 2016! 🙌
