PS 49: We make dances

27 Mar 2009, 7:01 PM by sarah, Elementary School

I've been working with the 5th graders in the East Side House after school program at PS 49 to learn the foundations of creative movement and dance making. We've been focusing on the idea of "community" as a basis to draw ideas for movement, and last semester many of the students expressed a large concern about the amount of pollution in their South Bronx community. Over the past few weeks we've been utilizing our Dancer's Toolbox (a term I coined that encompasses the elements of dance we regularly use, including level changes, locomotor movements, rhythm, speed, focus and more). I asked the class, "How would you feel if your community were free of pollution?" and they responded with ideas of happiness and pride. We used those ideas to create a dance as a class, then divided up into groups to get a little more space really make the movements travel. Each group had their own take on the dance.

First, Jadell, Tatyana, Machiami and Nakita:

PS 49 After School - Urban Arts Partnership from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.

And now, Daniella, Folashade and Fatoumata:

PS 49 After School - Urban Arts Partnership from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.

They're really into the whole "Take 1, ACTION!" thing. It's a ritual when we do group sharing in class.

We've now taken this dance and created several different duets that utilize these movements but are unique for each pair. They will appear in the end of our full-length dance that is currently in progress. The students will perform in May. Stay tuned ...