Of the four strands of EDMT5530, dance is the one that stirs up the most negative feelings for me in terms of performance, mental conceptions and general enthusiasm. I have never considered myself that competent in dancing and rhythmic movements in general, other than physical sport, so this has contributed to my attitudes towards the art. To teach on a creative arts strand as foreign to me as obscure Greek mythology is going be a tremendous challenge to me. Nonetheless, it is important that we as pre-service teachers get at least an exposure to the content and activities we can use if necessary in our classrooms!
We warmed up in class for about 15 minutes through various activities that not only engaged our bodies but also got our minds ready for the dance-related activities coming up. We traveled around the floorspace according to several sets of constraints - in straight lines, curved pathways, sharp corners and backwards.
In the body of the activity, we formed groups of 4 or so and were told to come up with our own 16 count routine that incorporated dance elements. We decided on the following 4 movements of 4 counts each, which each had constraints given by the teacher (in parentheses): a dosey-doe start (two feet no hands), hip and arm swivel (two hands 1 foot), low position to up (no hands no feet) and finally letter formation for letter "n" (form a letter of the alphabet). We only had two minutes to come up with the routine and an additional two minutes to time it correctly with the song, which was very challenging.
Throughout the activities this week, and the next workshops as well, the importance of the elements of dance like levels, space and timing were and will be stressed. I thought this workshop was an eye-opening experience which encouraged everyone to participate and freely learn elements of dance.
We warmed up in class for about 15 minutes through various activities that not only engaged our bodies but also got our minds ready for the dance-related activities coming up. We traveled around the floorspace according to several sets of constraints - in straight lines, curved pathways, sharp corners and backwards.
In the body of the activity, we formed groups of 4 or so and were told to come up with our own 16 count routine that incorporated dance elements. We decided on the following 4 movements of 4 counts each, which each had constraints given by the teacher (in parentheses): a dosey-doe start (two feet no hands), hip and arm swivel (two hands 1 foot), low position to up (no hands no feet) and finally letter formation for letter "n" (form a letter of the alphabet). We only had two minutes to come up with the routine and an additional two minutes to time it correctly with the song, which was very challenging.
Throughout the activities this week, and the next workshops as well, the importance of the elements of dance like levels, space and timing were and will be stressed. I thought this workshop was an eye-opening experience which encouraged everyone to participate and freely learn elements of dance.
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