December 2010. At Christine Donnell School of the Arts I teach Visual Arts and Dance to kindergarten (3 classes), First Grade (1 class), Fourth Grade (2 classes) and Fith grade (2 classes). I teach there each week as a certified teacher for a day and a half.
Since I am pregnant and due in January, I crammed a creative dance unit/performances for 4th and 5th grade classes to the first semester of the school year. My kindergarten and first grade classes we dance and do art each week.
Space is always a challenge at our school, so the performance ended up being close to Winter Break. I was very impressed by my 4th and 5th grade classes. They were creative, hard workers, great with ensemble work, willing to risk and try new things, good attitudes, and true performers. One of my 5th grade classes finished their second dance (a tap/hip-hop dance inspired by syncopated rhythms and Charlie Chaplin silent films) the day before we performed it. All classes didn't get to have a dress rehearsal till the just before we performed.
Our school year theme is "Rhythm." So the 5th grade performance was inspired by rhythm in dance (breath rhythms, even and odd rhythms, flowing rhythm/triplet rhythm, accenting beats in rhythm, and syncopated rhythm). There were 5 dance performed. The students always rise to the occasion. I was the narrator and drummer and musical technician for the performance, which was tricky, but the dance gods smiled down on us and it turned out great.
For 4th grade we performed a creative dance performance inspired by the history of Idaho, with a square dance (our state dance) and the Idaho state song at the end of the performance. I was very impressed by these students too. They all had great memories of the dances, great creativity, risk taking skills, respect towards peers and me, and were mature performers. I was pleased with the success of the performance.
Both dance performances were professionally video taped, which I feel so lucky to have and have for the students. I now need to find a professional photographer. I always just hand a teacher or parent my still camera just before the performance and beg them to take a few snap shots. I know, I need to plan ahead a little better. Goal for 2011.
After our dance performances we go back to the art room, which the students are excited for too. I will miss my classes while I am on maternity leave.
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