After School Dance
Program Overview
In this program, Mrs. McGregor and the NHSDA LI dance students will help local educators and kids in our local schools develop more skills and knowledge with dance in their after school education program curriculum. Through providing resources and videos in this site, we will help students learn to move to different tempos/rhythms, take risks safely through creative leadership and various reflective and problem solving strategies, and be more conscious movers through use of the elements (time, space and energy, dynamics and structures of dance). Students in this program will follow along jazz warm ups and stretches, create and perform individual, group, and ensemble choreographies that focus around hip hop and creative dance, and have the chance to learn about reflection and critique (talking about dance).
About NHSDA (National Honor Society for Dance Arts)
Members who are part of the dance majors group at school are students who plan to engage in dance throughout high school and possibly use dance in college or as a career or have a sincere and vesting interest and passion for the art of dance. Students in NHSDA will also have the opportunity to work towards obtaining their LI Fine/Performing Arts Diploma in Dance as part of the school’s differentiated diploma track.
Roles, expectations and activities of the dance majors at LI:
Year round - Meet requirements and fulfill NHSDA duties
Year round – participate in at least 2 dance labs, the development of the after school dance programming guide
Sept/Oct - Participate in and create work for the fall Dance Walk & Big Game Half Time Show
Oct - Attend/perform in the Dance Walk, virtual dance college night organized by McG, Big Game performance
Nov - Develop and help run activities and events for Love Your Body Week (paint for expression, etc.)
Nov – Participate in and assist with the annual VT State Dance Festival
Dec/Jan - Create a (virtual) dance-a-thon or community engaging dance event
Feb/Mar – Participate in and help run after school dance programming
Mar/Apr - Participate in and create work for the spring Student Dance Showcase
April - Develop and help run activities and events for National Dance Week (10 min photo challenge, etc.)
May - Develop an athlete training day toolkit and provide 2-3 workshops for athletes to work with dancers on learning how to become a more versatile mover on the court, field, track, etc.
About Rebecca McGregor
Rebecca McGregor has a Secondary License in Dance, a BS in Exercise Science, and a Masters in Education. In 2003, she developed the dance program at Lyndon Institute and founded the annual Vermont State Dance Festival. She also helps the VT Agency of Education develop and rewrite VT dance standards and licensing requirements, assessment tools in dance education, and advocate for arts education.
Rebecca is a member of SHAPE and the NDEO. She was a mentor through the NDEO's pilot mentoring program and now is a member of the NDEO Mentoring Committee. She also has given presentations for Northeastern University’s NExT Professional Learning Conversations and been chosen as an adjudicator for the NDEO’s National Honor Society for Dance Arts Award.
Rebecca has received awards like Johnson State College Rising Star/Young Alumni Award, Youth Impact Award, VAHPERD's Dance Educator of the Year Award, and David Dwyer Lyndon Institute Teacher of the Year Award. In 2020, Rebecca also was awarded a Presidential Award from the National Dance Education Organization for her service to the Mentorship Committee and work creating and pursuing a vision for dance education in our country. Also in 2021, she was accepted and participated in the Vermont Leadership Institute for the 2021-2022 year. Then, in 2022 she was awarded the National Dance Education Organization's Leadership in k-12 Education Award.
After School Programming Dance Curriculum
Essential questions:
What does it take to become a physically literate person?
How can you become a more physically literate person?
What is dance? What is movement?
In what ways is dance part of your life in school? In what ways is dance part of life beyond school? How is dance present around you today (school, society, life/family events, tv/media, culture, etc.)?What impact does a more physically fit individual or community have on society?
National Core Dance Standards used in this program:
DA:Cr1.1.I-III – Create: explore sources for movement ideas and develop movement phrases
DA:Cr2.1.I-III – Create: plan lessons with dance structures as well as create meaning in lessons by asking critical/essential questions of the students and themselves
DA:Cr3.1.I-III – Create: revise lessons based on feedback (physical and verbal, whole being responses from students), what worked, what didn’t, goals for next time
DA:Pr4.1.I-III – Perform: express movement phrases with time, space and energy/dynamics
DA:Pr5.1.I-III – Perform: embody technical skills, anatomical alignment and safety, awareness of self and others in space, and teach rehearsal strategies/performance techniques for presenting work and taking risks
DA:Pr6.1.I-III – Perform: present work with demonstration of progress with elements of dance and performance etiquette
DA:Re7.1.I-III – Respond: analyze movement choices and lessons and make plans to improve work next time