The Narrative of an Object

Okay I guess that title isn't entirely true... but we did dance objects and we did dance narratives and here's how it went down.

Up until this point my students have been able to explore dance as a tool to teach and reinforce curriculum. This week we learned how to use dance to describe and represent objects.

So I brought a magic bag.

A bag filled with random objects.

After splitting up the kids into groups, one person put their hand in the bag and pulled out an object (which their group saw but it was a secret from the other groups). Each group created a dance that included shape (to represent what the object looked like) and movement (to communicate how the object is used), which they would perform for the class and the rest of us would have to guess what their object was. Fun right? :)

Whisk

Umbrella

Toy Turtle

     










Each group performed for the class, then we all tried out their dance with them, and finally we guessed what the object was. There were so many good guesses!  And opening up the exploration to the rest of the class after each small group performance kept them active and moving.

Bubble Wand

After dancing about objects, we transitioned into dancing narratives; telling stories and experiences through dance. I had strips of paper with different settings and events on them, we pulled out several strips and lined them up as the elements for our narratives. Today's narrative was: Setting: on a hike,  Events: run into a bear, make an igloo. The dance followed the sequence of the strips but we had a lot of fun creating the elements of the dance as we went. Next time i teach, the class will work together to plan a narrative dance that they can perform for their parents. I'm super excited!!!

Our Igloo Shape - EVERYONE INVOLVED! :)