Dancing Words Blog

What IS Modern Dance?

  

For many students in K-8 school based dance programs, the main style of dance they will be exploring is modern dance, or creative-based dance. In my teaching position, I teach 200 students a year in grades 5th-8th grade. My classes are primarily modern dance, with some exploration of hip hop and culturally based dance forms.

Despite being a professional modern dancer myself, it remains tricky to explain clearly to students "what is modern dance." Two books for children attempt just that, and I must say, did a fine job at it.

Modern Dance by Wendy Garofoli (copyright 2008) is a book for your school library. For students in grades 3rd-5th, this book explains in basic terms the origins of modern dance, some history, the format of a dance class, and more. The photos in the book are of teens dancing as well as several photos of professional artists.

Modern Dance by Andrew Solway (copyright 2009) is also a must for your school library. While similar to Garofoli's book, this book goes more in depth about the timeline of modern dance from the early 1900s until the present. There is content about dance outside of the United States, post-modern dance, and more. The visual structure of this book includes a wide variety of photos of professional level dance and text boxes with facts and short biographies. How can you not love a book that includes Trisha Brown, Pina Bausch, and Akram Khan? I would recommend this book for students in grades 3-6 (possibly as high as 7th grade).

 

For 3-5 Year Old Dancing Girls - Mabel Dancing

Mabel Dancing, by author Amy Hest and illustrator Christine Davenier, came out in 2000 but only recently came to my attention.

This is a great book to share in a preschool setting or at home with parents and child. It is a “classic story” in some ways of a little girl who dreams of dancing and naturally wants to move and dance at home. I was this little girl.

Mabel’s parents dress up to have a dance party downstairs in their large house. Mabel is tucked into bed for the night while the party takes place. She cannot resist, and ends up sneaking downstairs to have her short moment dancing too.

The watercolor images are the strongest element of this book. I also love that the story is about dancing in a general way (avoiding the stereotype of girls only dreaming of ballet).

I would recommend this book for children, especially girls, ages 3 to 5 years old.

You can purchase used copies of this book on amazon.com:

Mabel Dancing

Where the Wild Things Are, With Teaching Artist Gigi Arrington

I first met Gigi Arrington in 1997 when I was teaching at her daughters' elementary school in Salt Lake City. Gigi has been the Educator Director for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company for many years. That year, she created a dance with her daughter's third grade class based on the story of Sadako and the thousand paper cranes. I believe it was based on the book Sadako by Eleanor Coerr and Ed Young. Fourteen years later, this dance sticks with me - its story and the beauty and elegance of seeing young people dance this tale.

I invited Gigi to write a post here on books in her dance classes over the years:

I've used many books in my 34 years of teaching dance to children. My teaching mentor was Dee Winterton who was a master of inspiring children to move.  I watched him teach two books --- Giant John and Where the Wild Things Are and those experiences helped set my own teaching philosophy. Where the Wild Things Are is my favorite children's book to use in teaching. I learned something quickly when using books to teach dance; just because it says "dance" in the title doesn't mean it is a good book to use to teach dance. Dee taught me to look for a book with movement potential ---words that generate and inspire children to explore with their bodies. I love challenging children to show me what "mischief" looks like in their eyes, their fingers, their elbows, their knees. How does mischief move? Max goes through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost a year--great space words for children to experience through movement. And who wouldn't want to roar and gnash and roll? And finally--THE WILD RUMPUS!! The pictures for the rumpus are the inspiration; not a word is needed. I love this book. I think it is important for children to know that being "wild" is part of growing up; and that you are still loved after you make mistakes . . . "he found his supper waiting for him  and it was still hot!"

Fun Board Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

 

The books in the Kid Moves three-part series are not dance books per se, but are about kids moving and being active. There is one each for "baby," "toddler," and "preschooler."

The books are not stories but rather a series of simple poses or actions, such as "tree move" and "ball move." 

What I like best about these books are the fun images of children of the actual age of the target audience. This is a harder detail to find in many books about dance and movement - are the photos for children really of children, or rather adults? 

These books could be used in a variety of ways:

• They make a great baby gift. I would love to see these books in little ones' hands. Reading the book and exploring the actions is a beautiful parent/child activity.
• The books would be a nice addition to a parent/child dance class. Adding simple books as springboard activities in a class is a nice way to add visual learning and word development.
• Kid Moves books would be great to have on the bookshelf or in a book bin at a daycare or preschool. I am a big proponent of dance and movement books as a regular component of preschool classrooms. 

These three books can be purchased on the Kid Moves website:

www.kmoves.com

As I finish this posting, my three year old son just said, "Can we please read this book and do some moves to music?" Need I write more?

"Why We're Still in Love with Picture Books (Even Though They're Supposed to Be Dead)"

This title is of a recent article in the May/June 2011 Horn Book Magazine. The article is written by publisher Allyn Johnston and author/illustrator Marla Frazee. (Marla is one of my favorites, including her magical illustrations for All the World). I encourage parents, classroom teachers, and dance teaching artists to take 5 minutes to read this article. In the age of digital, animation, and tons of "screen time," there is still so much value and richness in reading aloud beautiful picture books. 

Why We're Still in Love with Picture Books

First Dance Books for the Very Young

A friend with a 1.5 year old daughter recently asked me for book recommendations. Here is a short list of books for children 0-5. I am a big proponent of reading books to children from a very early age. My boys heard books in my lap as babies and after lunch while still sitting in their highchairs. Board books helped them experience books in their own way from a very early age.

I have selected nine books that specifically include the word "dance" in the title or in the story. Another posting will list books that are about moving, but do not necessarily call it "dancing" --- books about walking, jumping, and bouncing. I have selected a group of books with both male and female characters, culturally diverse dancers, and various dance forms (not simply ballet). I am not a huge fan of dance books with animals dancing, so you will see this selection is about boys, girls, men, and women dancing.

Let me start with three fun board books:

      

These three books are:

Watch Me Dance  by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Matisse Dance for Joy  by Susan Goldman Rubin

Dance with Me  by Charles R. Smith Jr.

 

Six other great dance books for children 0-5 include:

Dance  by Bill T. Jones and Susan Kuklin

Dragon Dancing  by Carole Lexa Schaefer and Pierr Morgan

I am a Dancer  by Pat Lowery Collins

Let's Dance  by George Ancona

On Your Toes: A Ballet ABC  by Rachel Isadora

Rap a Tap Tap  by Leo and Diane Dillon

Please let me know if your child gets excited about some of these titles.

Dancing Towards Mother's Day

As we head towards Sunday, May 8th, there are two great books to share about a child and mother dancing:

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gray

Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls-Hector

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart is a sweet tale through the seasons of a girl dancing with her mother. The book is ideal to read in a preschool, kindergarten, or first grade classroom.

Jonathan and His Mommy is a picture book with a young boy dancing with his mother. They explore different ways of moving around town - big steps, zig zag walks, and more. After reading this book, you can easily translate this story into a dance. It is ideal for preschool and kindergarten age students.

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart is out of print but available online used:

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=My+Mama+Had+a+Dancing+Heart&mtype=B&hs.x=0&hs.y=0&hs=Submit

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart is available through the Berkeley Public Library, Oakland Public Library, and SF Public Library:

http://encore.berkeley-public.org/iii/encore/record/C%7CRb1348496%7CSMy+Mama+Had+a+Dancing+Heart%7CP0%2C1%7COrightresult%7CX5?lang=eng&suite=pearl

http://catalog.oaklandlibrary.org/search/X?t%3A%28My%20Mama%20Had%20a%20Dancing%20Heart%29&searchscope=1&Da=&Db=&l=&m=a&m=l&m=e&m=i&m=k&m=q&m=n&SORT=DX

http://sflib1.sfpl.org/search~S1?/XMy+Mama+Had+a+Dancing+Heart&searchscope=1&SORT=D/XMy+Mama+Had+a+Dancing+Heart&searchscope=1&SORT=D&SUBKEY=My%20Mama%20Had%20a%20Dancing%20Heart/1%2C3%2C3%2CB/frameset&FF=XMy+Mama+Had+a+Dancing+Heart&searchscope=1&SORT=D&2%2C2%2C

 

Jonathan and His Mommy can be purchased online through the independent bookstore The King's English:

http://www.kingsenglish.com/book/9780316798808

Jonathan and His Mommy can be found at the Berkeley, Oakland, and SF Public Libraries:

http://encore.berkeley-public.org/iii/encore/record/C%7CRb1293044%7CSJonathan+and+His+Mommy%7COrightresult%7CX5?lang=eng&suite=pearl

http://catalog.oaklandlibrary.org/search/X?t%3A%28jonathan%20and%20his%20mommy%29&searchscope=1&Da=&Db=&l=&m=a&m=l&m=e&m=i&m=k&m=q&m=n&SORT=DX 

http://sflib1.sfpl.org/search~/a?SORT=D&searchscope=1&searchtype=X&searcharg=Jonathan+and+His+Mommy&SORT=D&x=0&y=0