Dancing Words Blog

Magic and Whimsy Series: Sky and Earth

Artwork: Debra Frasier

Today's two book recommendations have a similar feel to them. I love them both. They are about our world, the earth and sky, and being a part of the whole. The two picture books for use in K-5 dance classes are:

In the Space of the Sky by Richard Lewis with Illustrations by Debra Frasier

Earthdance by Joanne Ryder with Illustrations by Norman Gorbaty

Whether you use them for an improvisational activity or to create a group dance using the text, you will find elegant and touching words and ideas.

  

 

Magic and Whimsy Series: All in a Day

Story Behind the Magic and Whimsy Series:

About 16 years ago I was taking a "teaching methods for children" undergraduate course at the University of Utah. Teaching artist Joni Urry Wilson lead a class one day, sharing how to use the book Caretakers of Wonder as a springboard for a dance with elementary school students. The text of the book is poetic and magical. It touches your heart. The idea of the book is how we can care for the world - be a perch for the birds, repaint rainbows to brighten their colors, and such. Joni was the one to model for me how to use children's picture books as a theme for special dance projects with elementary students, especially students in grades 3-5. Thank you Joni!

The first post in the Magic and Whimsy Series:

All in a Day is a picture book by two stellar children's book artists, writer Cynthia Rylant and illustrator Nikki McClure. "A day is a perfect piece of time to live a life, to plant a seed, to watch the sun go by. A day starts early, work to do, beneath a brand-new sky." All in a Day can inspire a dance project for 3rd-5th grade students in elementary schools, after school programs, and dance centers.

The book alternates with pages with a blue background and a yellow background. I love this pattern, and you can work with this pattern as the students choreograph a dance. Half of the class could dance the yellow pages/text, and half could dance the blue. You could even split your "stage space" in half, with the yellow group on one side and the blue on the other. One group could freeze while the other moves. You could even use these colors for your "costumes" for the dance (ie blue/black and yellow/black).

If you have a smaller after school or studio class, with 6-8 students, this could be a duet project. You could get a few copies of the book out of the library, so that each duet would have a book to use and refer to. 

Nikki McClure's paper-cut images have clear lines and strong images. Cynthia Rylant's text indeed has "magic and whimsy" in it. It is about hope and beauty - a perfect idea for a dance with young children. 

 

 

My Other Blog

This week I launched another dance-related blog, Life as a Modern Dancer.

Please check it out!

Life as a Modern Dancer

 

Poetry Series for Dance Classes: Mirror Mirror

At the heart of elementary school dance classes is play, imagination, and creativity. Today's book recommendation is about just that.

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse is a book of poetry by Marilyn Singer, with bright, playful artwork by Josée Masse. Singer is the originator of this form of poetry. She first wrote a poem in "common form" - where you read it from top to bottom. But, the way she playfully structured it is that each poem can also be read from "down to up." Here is an example from the book:

In Reverse

Who

says

it's true -

down

is

the only view?

If you believe that,

this poem

will challenge

you.

Up 

is

something new.

-----

Something new

is 

up.

You

will challenge

this poem

if you believe that

the only view

is 

down.

It's true.

Says

who?

---

I would recommend using the book in classes with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. This book, in particular, has the theme of fairy tales. Students could be paired up, and each given a page from the book (which has two poems on it). Together, they can choreograph a short dance to go with the first poem. Students need to create shapes, gestures, or movement to accompany each line of the poem. Then, the students take the exact movement they created for each line, but now do the movement in reverse order, to go with the second poem.

I envision that each pairing creates the movement, and then each student works specifically with one poem. Then, each pairing can share their two dances with the class (maybe as the teacher recites the poems).

What I love about the reverso poetry form is that it will lead to a great choreographic project with young people - looking at form, motif, and order of ideas.

Possible extensions to this activity include.....

1. Your students could write their own reverso poems, and then repeat the above activity with these poems.

2. Wearing my teaching hat, since I work at a K-8 school, I envision a joint project with students in 4th grade and 6th grade. My 6th grade students could write the reverso poems, and the 4th graders could dance the poems.

Let me know what you discover with this project! Looking at Marilyn Singer's website, it looks like she will be publishing another book of reverso poems in the near future. Yay!

 

 

Poetry Series for Dance Classes: Night Garden

Oh, I love the Berkeley Public Libraries. I especially love it when I find unfamiliar books on display that I can use in dance classes.

Last week they had "night books" on display. I took out Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams by Janet S. Wong (with illustrations by Julie Paschkis). It is a beautiful set of poems, and I love the order of the poems in the book. 

My teaching mind already goes to using this book with students in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. I would encourage you to use all of the poems, in their order. I envision a set of beautiful solos for brave, young choreographers. This could turn into an elegant culminating performance at the end of your semester or session. 

The poems are of night, dreams, magic, and whimsy. One of the poems from the book:

Gently Down the Stream

Like one fast fish

I'm swimming free,

 

water washing

over me,

 

seeing clear

through eyes like glass,

 

following

a moonlight path,

 

one fast fish,

no breathing troubles,

 

followed by

a trail of bubbles,

 

swimming long, 

swimming lean,

 

swimming gently

down the stream.

 

The poems can be your starting point for movement. In terms of reciting the text, you could record each student reading his/her own poem. You, the teacher, could be the narrator of the poems. Or, students can switch off and read for another student.

I very much envision this project as a group of solos. 

Two Books for 3 and 4 Year Old Dancing Girls

Do you have a preschooler who is just crazy about dancing - dancing at home, dreaming of taking a dance class, in awe at a live performance? Then check out these two books.

Dance, Tanya by Patricia Lee Gauch is about 15 years old, but still a great story for young girls. The book is well-done, portraying a little girl in love with dance who is looking up to her older sister who gets to take dance classes. It is about dreaming about what's possible and ahead. 

The book is out of print, but you can check it out of your library or get a reasonably priced copy on amazon.com.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Mabel Dancing by Amy Hest is also a great story of a preschooler wanting to dance. You can find used copies here.

 

What's on the Horizon: Blog Posts and Themes for the Coming Months

I am in full planning and brainstorming mode for the fall. In the coming weeks, I will run two different series on the blog. The first series is the theme of Magic and Whimsy. I have about a dozen books to share - beautiful stories and images to use this fall for longer term projects. The second series is the theme of Poetry. I will highlight some of my favorites to use within dance classes.

I will also touch upon the classic themes of the seasons, autumn, leaves, and Halloween in the coming months.

The blog will also explore book options for middle school students, which are harder to find and less common.

Last, we will explore "embodying landscapes" - using books about geography, cities, neighborhoods, buildings, and public sculptures and landmarks.

Stay tuned, and subscribe to the blog's feed to receive all of the blog posts.

 

Opening the School Year

One of the things we choreograph a lot, as teachers, is that first class of the new school year. Today I would like to share some of my favorite books for preschool-2nd grade students.

One of these books might be a part of your "intro" with a class on the first day. Or, you might lend one of the books to the preschool teacher or classroom teacher with which you work. He/she could read the book to the students prior to coming to your dance class.

Great choices for preschool students:

Dance with Me by Charles R. Smith Jr.

I am a Dancer by Pat Lowery Collins

Let's Dance by George Ancona

 

Selections for K-2 students:

Dance by Bill T. Jones and Susan Kuklin

To Be an Artist by Maya Ajmera and John D. Ivanko

Let's Dance by George Ancona

I am a Dancer by Pat Lowery Collins

 

I hope that your fall planning is going well!

A Theme for Fall Dance Classes: Wind

As we are planning for the coming school year, let's explore the theme of wind.

There are numerous books to explore the concept, to inspire students to move "like the wind" - exploring the qualities of lightness and strong force, fast and slow,and over/under/towards/away. In your classes your students can explore being the wind or being moved by the wind.

While You Were Chasing a Hat by Lilian Moore can be an easy introduction to the concept of wind and all that it moves in our world. Students in preschool and kindergarten will identify with the text, and the text can inspire a simple improvisation of being moved "by the wind."

When the Wind Bears Go Dancing by Phoebe Stone is a playful book about the "wind bears in the sky." Again, children ages 4-7 will delight in hearing this story and creating a dance with you in class as you become the magical bears in the sky that make things move.

  

For students in K-2, there are two books with poetic text that could lead to beautiful group dances with a windy theme. I recommend both Where Does the Wind Blow? (Cindy Rink) and Like a Windy Day (Frank Asch and Devin Asch).

Wind can be a beautiful theme to explore along side, or instead of, your usual theme of the season of fall and leaves. 

Advice for PreK-8 Dance Teaching Artists: Creatively Funding Your Bookshelf

How can dance teaching artists have a robust collection of dance books to use in their classes? Let me offer a few ideas.

 

School Librarian

 If you teach in a K-8 school and haven’t already done so, get to know your librarian. Find out what dance books your school already has. Start a conversation about how you use dance books in your classes. If appropriate, offer the librarian a “wish list” of books you would love to see the library obtain. Some librarians will even let teachers “check out” a particular book for months at a time, so that you can have easy access in your classes.

 

Local Library

Teach at multiple sites around town? Your local library might become your best resource. Find out more about your closest branch, and introduce yourself to the children’s librarian. Offer a window into your work for him/her. Start a dialogue, and you most likely will gain a great ally for your work. Also find out about other library information that can support your projects. For example, my local library system has a great online catalog so I can search anytime for books. I can reserve books online and have them transferred from one branch to my closest one.

 

Ask for Funding

If you teach at a preschool, elementary school, or middle school, there might be some possible funding sources that can get you some books (funding sources outside of the typical “arts ed” realm). Talk to your principal or school director about how you are connecting to language arts/literacy in your dance classes; talk about how you are creating environments for multimodal learning and “language rich environments.” Most schools eagerly say yes to support any kind of language arts and literacy project.

You could also approach the PTA for funding as well.

Many communities also have education foundations, where district employees can apply for small grants to support specific projects. You could write a grant for $200-400 to build a dance book collection.

 

Used Books on amazon.com

Teach at various sites? Then you most likely will want to consider investing some of your own dollars into a dance book collection. Setting aside $200 can be a great start. If you file a Schedule C as an independent contractor, keep your receipts and write off the books as your teaching materials.

The best way to stretch your money is to search for used books on amazon.com.

 

Many dance books go out of print quickly, so I recommend buying books when they are on your radar and peak your interest. I know firsthand that many books have lasting value and can easily become a mainstay in your classes for many years.