Oh, I love this new book, Taking Time by Jo Loring-Fisher. "Taking time to listen to a bird's song on the breeze. Taking time to gather up the blossom dancing free." Those are the first two lines in the book.
This expansive book can be explored with a wide range of ages - preschool through fifth grade. Read the book and explore time and all the ways we talk about it in dance, and how we feel time. "Take your time." "All of the time in the world." "Take the time you need."
Explore duration, felt time, an internal sense of time. Play with feeling rushed, hurried. Move very slowly, slow, medium, fast, very fast.
Then, instead of using the exact words of Taking Time, what if each student wrote their own line, riffing off of the book? What if your group dance came from these words and personal connections? (Ex. Taking time to stretch my arms as long as they can be...Taking time to give and receive....)
As for music, may I suggest Michael Wall's composition "Clouded Street Sign?" It is #2 on the album Mix 2. You can listen to it in its entirety here.
I dedicate this post to Joni Urry Wilson at Tanner Dancer in Salt Lake City, who taught me nearly 23 years ago how to take a book and make a magical project with it. Thank you Joni. Her lesson during my Dance for Children course has inspired so many lessons over the years since she first showed us how to use Caretakers of Wonder.
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