Dance Jams

Welcome to your class portfolio! The purpose of this site is to show CAPE the development of your arts integration partnership, as guided by your big idea and inquiry question. 

Feel free to use the format we have constructed, or you can use "content blocks" from the "Insert" tab, which will allow you to customize the space as you would like.

No matter the format you use, make sure you have the following:

1. Planning Form: you must fill out the planning form in the embedded document.

2. Class Content: brief summaries of each semester's activities and findings.

1. Media: Include your best documentation with captions. Upload any media to your designated class media folder. Once there, videos may be embedded on this page by clicking "Drive" (under "Insert") on the right-hand side menu, then selecting your video from that folder under "Shared with me." 

IMPORTANT: 

• Please do not edit any other pages other than this, your class' page!

• Please make sure that all media that you upload only displays students whose parents have given consent to their documentation through the signed Media Consent Form. Should you upload images of a student who has not given their consent to be documented, please make sure to blur their face.

During the last two weeks of class, we choreographed and practiced a final showcase performance to share with all the kids' parents and friends. The piece features two distinct sections

• The first part titled “The Marching Song” is a demonstration of how we began class each day. We started by locomoting through the space in several different ways, slowly waking up the body and getting us a bit warmer before we begin our stretching. During the past 5 weeks, our marching song looked different from day to day, as it was influenced by the children’s moods, their icebreaker question of the day, and much more. However, for this performance, we set a clear marching structure so all the different age groups could move together in sync and remember the step more easily.

• The second piece features three segments: the younger kids’ across the floor combo, the older kids’ across the floor combo, and a full group phrase. The younger kids’ combo features several traveling steps that move the dancers across the floor in sync. The goal with our younger movers was to encourage coordinated weight shifts while acknowledging the role of the of tempo in altering the way we perform movements. For the older kids’ across the floor, we gave them a bit more creative license, as they seemed hungry for a challenge. They were given the task of combining a popular tik tok dance with some of the across the floor movements we worked on during class. They were also able to focus on more advanced movement patterns that featured less repetition and more variety. 

• Once both groups perform their across the floor passes, we then move to a group phrase facing the audience where all the dancers move in unison. The goal of this phrase was to build excitement at the very end by showing off some of the trickier movements that were taught during the past 5 weeks. Furthermore, we encouraged community and compromise among all three age groups by having them work together and perform the same exact steps. The older kids found themselves acting as role models for the younger kids, allowing the younger kids to better absorb the information. The younger kids were able to look up to the older kids and began to find a bit more of their personality and confidence in the movements.