I am always on the lookout for books for dance classes - to explore colors, emotions, and also poetic text to narrate a group dance. What Color Makes Your Heart Sing? (Margot Vance-Borland and Ari Vance-Borland) is reminiscent of an older book, Caretakers of Wonder. Check out this 2016 book if you work with K-3 students.
The text lends itself to small group work, students selecting their favorite sections, props, and more.
Some people come on the blue wave. They love oceans and sky and blueberries in the summer. They like to lie on their backs and look up at the blue, blue sky.
Some people come on the green wave....nourished and fed by the green hillsides and trees. Standing in the forest with bright green sprouts poking out of the ground.
Some people come on the pink ray...they love roses and little pink flowers that line the path where they dance. When they see pink, they feel happy inside...
Very quickly - you get a sense of the text and its tone and movement potential.
I also envision a beginning section of a group dance and a similar ending section. Students can have long pieces of fabric or scarves, and they travel across the space color by color. We see a wash and wave of red....blue....green...etc. Shape their traveling phrases to include locomotor and axial movements.
Music ideas include:
- "Toufoula" by Ballaké Sissoko, Driss El Maloumi, and Rajery (3MA album)
- "So Long Lonesome" by Explosions in the Sky
- "Walk in the Sky (Instrumental)" by Bonobo
- "Clocks" by Vitamin String Quartet (cover of the Coldplay song)
Other books with a similar tone and movement potential include:
- Earthdance by Joanne Ryder and Norman Gorbaty
- My Mama Earth by Susan B. Katz
- Caretakers of Wonder by Cooper Edens
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