Hi I'm new to the site and looking for some input on my new position. I just opened a dance studio connected to a non-profit arts organization that has to have everything approved by a board! Which is making my life as a dance teacher very interesting. I'm also five months pregnant and newly teaching creative movement. The board thinks these classes are glorified day care and are grilling me about my curriculum. I do alot of the normal stretch, warm up by doing animal walks, emotion walks, freeze dance. I try to impliment a new activity every class. My problem is my class is only 30min. and I'm running out of ideas that the board thinks is good enough. Any suggestions?

I've been teaching dance/creative movement about five years and have plenty ideas ... First, expose the children to a huge variety of music styles; classical, African drumming, children's music, Aborigine, Spanish, etc - if you can. The most fundamental thing is to get them to understand timing in music. There are many ways to do it. For example; have them listen to random pieces and clap a beat of 8, repeated. Then have them walk the beat of 8 in a circle. Then have them walk a beat of 3 join feet on 4 and make up their own movements for four. Then have older children (8 and up - forget which age you said you teach) make up their own sequences for 8 beats. It can be really simple stuff. The point is for them to know how many beats each movement makes. They love being given five minutes to go off in pairs and make up their own sequence, then return and "present" their pieces; first with you clapping or counting, then with music.

Small children tire easily and need to do some sitting down things half way through class. We do "beat" stuff sitting in a circle. I ask "What body parts do we use in dancing" and then ask them to suggest things to do with head, shoulders or arms - to a count of four. Each one makes up something, and we all copy it.

Other rythm and beat things: Sitting in circle, clap X 2 say, "My name is ......." and so on around the circle, with 2 claps between each speaker. Builds rhythm and confidence. Also try clap, beat chest, beat thighs, click (4 beats) followed by "My name is ..."

They need to understand qualities of music. Try to get some good classical pieces or childrens songs which demonstrate different qualities; I have a CD called "My Very First CD" with appealing classical pieces. Play them and pick up what you feel is the essential quality of each. Get cretaive yourself. You cannot teach creative movement if you don't love being creative yourself! One piece; Mozart's "Whinnying Horses" suggested bells to me, so we act out a little story of "Bell man" who flies in through the window and tinkles bells next to sleeping children to give them sweet dreams; we creep around the child, "sleeping" on two chairs, and when the bells come on, shake our hands and fingers to the bells ... you have to be there and hear it ... it works because they're interpreting the music imaginatively!

Many other "stories" can be made up with pieces that have fast, slow, flowy, rhythmic, etc sections. Listen to lots of music. We do jungle adventures, falling down a hole, creeping along tunnels, meeting the "King of the Underworld" (or some such term) and being asked to vanquish the monster that attacks his people; I tell them the story first, then we act it out together, sometimes with snatches of mucis for sections of the story. Picking golden apples from a tree on top of a hill, wading across a river, flying home on a flying horse ... all made up stories which incorporate interesting movements! Maurice Ravels's "Sleeping beauty" - Mother Goose is a 1 and a half minute piece that is marevellous for acting out a sleeping princess being worken after a hundred years - very slow ... we get up slowly and gaze arpund, reach up, touch the roses that have grown on the ceiling, open a window, glide out into the garden ... well, the story goes on and on.


Random ideas for creative thinking: Act out letters of the alphabet; draw them on sheets of paper, and have them be "L", "Z", etc. Others are done in pairs, "H", "A". "W", etc. Lots of fun.

Have them so dfferent types of walking; high, low, wide, narrow. Have them walk heels first, toes first, on tip toes, backwards, sideways. Explore directionality. Eg gallops forewards are quiate different from gallops sideways. Do different kinds of jumps; from two feet to two feet, two feet to one foot, one foot to one foot - forwards and sideways. Put the jumps to music. Combine simple steps into sequences, eg three skips, stop (1-4) step to side, join, step to side, join 1-4). Walks, skips and jumps can be combined in hundreds of ays - when put to music, they make satisfying little pices for the children to show.

remember to keep the format varied; sometimes siting in a circle. Sometimes all together across the foloor; sometimes two or three showing the others something.
Oh I could go on and on ... creativity is so lacking in our schools, but so is precision of thought, accuracy and understanding. Creative moevement has the potential to teach all of these things. Love, Jane. (From South Africa)

Thank you for the input! I love doing the creative movement. Getting the kids moving, understanding the beat, music and their bodies is really rewarding. Especially after they continue there dance career.

^^wow that was extremely helpful! i will be teaching a new creative movement class in january and i am freaking out because i'm so used to teaching the older girls! thanks!

If you can i suggest investing in
"Creative Dance for All Ages" and "Brain Compatible Dance Education" both are by Anne Green Gilbert and available on Amazon. I swear these books are like the bible for creative dance!!!!

She gives you hundreds of activities for creative dance, and there are even sample lesson plans included. I just started teaching creative dance last year in an elementary school and these books have been my saving grace!