Summer Camp II - Get Up and Dance

This week I have been working with four children, all girls, but all different ages and experience levels.  One girl is nine, two are seven and one is five.  Their bodies are all very different too, and each has a different concept of what the time here should look like.  These girls were very self-conscious at first, and I was troubled about how to go about opening up their creative movement "flow" as it were.  I asked each one what they wanted to get out of the camp:  "My mother signed me up" was the regular answer.  I had my work cut out for me.

We spent the first half of the first dance day doing spontaneous interpretive dancing with songs they mostly picked out.  Then, they had a snack.  The spontaneous interpretive dancing even wasn't that great, because they were so self-conscious.  When snack was finally over, I asked if I could help them make up some movements for "Somebody I Used To Know"..as soon as I put chairs in a row, and began with some movements on the chairs, all four of them began to get ideas!  It was a miracle.  By 3pm we had one dance almost completely choreographed.  I was relieved and inspired for the next day.

I realized that if they had props for each song, it would go much smoother.  So- Scarves for "I Hope You Dance", sunglasses for "Best Day of My Life", chairs for "Somebody I Used to Know", flowers for "I Have a Dream" from "Tangled" and then all our strength moves for "Titanium".  Today is Thursday, and we have been practicing each dance every day and making each one more graceful and beautiful each day.  They have learned about space, and timing, and rhythm, as well as shapes with your body, and how to create a dance using the music and the lyrics as a guide to the movements.
I look forward to the performance tomorrow, because I know these four girls have come a really long way since Monday.  I know they have learned an appreciation for movement and space, and have expressed themselves in a new way.  I hope they will continue to dance, just like the song, for the very rest of their lives! All of you should dance too as much as you can, I must go, I am off to dance class myself!