In every Dance class at Â鶹´«Ã½, our students are building skills well beyond those you see as they jump, tap, and twirl — they are deeply engaged in social-emotional learning that is essential.
While they learn to build community and an interdependence on each other, they must also take individual responsibility in performing their role as part of the larger group. Not only is their physical endurance challenged in Dance class, their intellectual and mental rigor is tested as they learn spatial relationships, complex patterns, and sequences of movement. And as they prepare for various performances, our students hone presentational skills, from narrating a show to sharing their movement and emotions fully with the audience.
Throughout the year, Â鶹´«Ã½ parents, community members, and professional guest artists are invited to share their talents with our Dragons. Past performers have included Chinese ribbon dancer Mei-Yin Ng, tap dancer Léo Sandoval and bassist Gregory Richardson, Flexn dancer and choreographer Cal Hunt, and Bharatanatyam artist and teacher Shoba Narayan.
Lower School Dancers meet throughout the year, twice per six-day cycle. Students engage in movement games, friendly competition, collaborative tasks, and learning choreographic sequences to embody them fully. In Middle School, Dance takes place once per six-day cycle for one semester for Fifth and Sixth Grade, and as an elective for Seventh and Eighth Grade; this allows for a more tailored immersion in Dance and allows older students to take ownership of their passions and learning.
In Kindergarten, students explore Storytelling and Creative Movement, allowing them to build the first elements of their Dance foundation. In First and Second Grade, they move on to study Jazz and Tap dance, respectively, which is directly tied to their Humanities curriculum. Our third graders dive into Ballet, with an annual trip to Lincoln Center to see the NYCB’s The Nutcracker, a highlight of their year. Dance in Fourth Grade focuses on an intense study of choreographic devices (or becoming Dancemakers).
Fifth Grade Dance focuses on Improvisation and is designed as a laboratory class that approaches movement with curiosity while strengthening self-expression and fostering social-emotional learning and bonding among peers. They progress from individual quandary to duets, trios, and small group work, guided by the following kinesthetic and verbal inquiries such as How can I move in one spot and move through space? and How can I find interesting ways to place myself in negative space and make spatial decisions in relation to others? Sixth Grade Dance shifts into “Coding Choreography.” This Dance and CCT collaboration includes learning about the relationship of technology in dance as well as examines choreographers as innovators (namely Merce Cunningham and his artistic legacy).
In both Lower and Middle School, families are invited to the Performing Arts Studio to experience “a day in dance” and observe a typical Dance class and see our dancers perform. Our Lower School Dance curriculum culminates in our annual Spring Dance Performance that takes place off-campus at the Five Angels Theater, just a few blocks away from Â鶹´«Ã½. Our Middle School dancers perform at their annual end-of-the-year Sixth Grade Arts Showcase, which highlights all of the sixth graders’ hard work throughout the year. And throughout the year, both Lower School and Middle School dancers perform at all-school and divisional assemblies.
In Lower School, our afterschool offerings have included hip-hop and ballet. Our Middle School Dance elective offerings vary semester to semester and have included Ballet: Essentials & Explorations, a Latin Rhythm elective (learning Salsa, Bachata, and Merengue), and an exploration of 100 Years of Dance in America from 1920s-2020s (learning the Charleston, Shimmy, Jive, Hustle, Moonwalk, etc.)
