Musical Numbers...

cue the dancing

"Annie"

In our first unit, students learned about the musical "Annie" and explored basic musical theater movements such as box step, drag step, jazz hands, and windmill arms. We focused on movements that were primarily stationary in order to understand our personal space and body awareness before learning movements through space.

Using inspiration from what we had learned, students had the chance to build a dance in groups that used focused on repetition and formations.

"Wicked"

In our second unit, we learned about the musical "Wicked" and began to explore movements across the floor. We used body awareness and rhythmic timing to move in groups with short combinations that introduced new steps like cross ballchange, pivot turns, and jazz walks.

"Hairspray"

In our third unit, we explored movements of the 1960's and built a large warmup combination that included: the hitchhiker, locomotion, pony, twist, and the madison.

We learned how musical theater dance is often choreographed in connection to the lyrics of a song. Movements can either be abstract or pedestrian interpretations of a word. Students used the lyrics of "You can't Stop the Beat," to find inspiration for choreographing a dance that focused on transitions into the space. Check out their work in the photo carousel below!

"West Side Story"

In our fourth unit we used inspiration from "West Side Story" to learn the three elements of jazz dance: improvisation, weight shifts, and call and response. We learned a fast combination to "America" by Leonard Bernstein which put all of these elements into practice.

We also learned a fast transition into the space the put together a shasse step and a passe jump. They did a wonderful job putting these advanced rhythmic movements together!

"Shrek the Musical"

As a full class ensemble, we put together all that we had learned through musicality, transitions, and jazz based steps to create a dance from "Shrek the Musical." It was a great oppertunity to work as a dance community and create something that we could all have a special role in.

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