Editorial – Page 55

Introducing Your High School Students to Modern Dance

January 20, 2011 by 4dancers

I have been teaching at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRFHS) for fifteen years. I inherited the job from a great teacher and friend who had already built and maintained a substantial program. I am also blessed to work in a community where the arts are respected and appreciated. My job is to keep reinventing a dance experience that caters to all of our students and teaches them to be life long dance enthusiasts. I’m proud to say that when I walk into work each day, I believe that’s what we are doing.

Our dance program is part of the Physical Education Department, and students are required to take one dance class before they can graduate from the high school. That’s right. EVERYBODY dances. Once everyone has taken a nine week (quarter) class as a freshmen, entitled “Introduction to Movement,” they can either be finished with their dance experience or continue to take dance classes at a more advanced level as juniors or seniors. Although our introductory course covers seven different dance styles, the overall dance program is based in modern dance. We want our students to know how modern dance came out of and is still influenced by other dance forms… [Read more…]

Selecting Music For Ballet Class

January 16, 2011 by 4dancers

As a ballet teacher, one of the things you have to do is select music for your class. As anyone who has done this knows, this can be more of a challenge than one might think.

When you are searching for music, there are a few questions you should keep in mind… [Read more…]

Mao’s Last Dancer on Blu Ray & DVD

January 14, 2011 by 4dancers

Mao’s Last Dancer will be available on Blu Ray & DVD on March 29th.

Here are some details:

Mao’s Last Dancer Blu Ray: (Catalog # 2274202)
Street Date: March 29, 2011
Screen Format: Widescreen
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD (English)
Subtitles: English, Spanish
U.S. Rating: PG
Total Run Time: 1:57:00 minutes
Mao’s Last Dancer DVD: (Catalog #2273821)
Street Date: March 29, 2011
Screen Format: Widescreen
Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital (English)
Subtitles: English, Spanish
U.S. Rating: PG
Total Run Time: 1:57:00 minutes

Closed Captioned: Yes

Props For Dance Class

January 5, 2011 by 4dancers

Incorporating props into a dance class can be a fun way of introducing new dance concepts, changing up the routine and getting students to think outside the box. It can be challenging to add a new element, but also very rewarding.

Let the children explore the prop on their own first. Ask them to show you what they have discovered about how the prop moves and how they like to move with it. How does the weight, size, material affect how it moves, what movement qualities would they give the object (direct, indirect, strong, light, bound, free, etc.)?

Can you move very big with the prop, can you move in different levels with the prop? Do you enjoy moving with it? Why or why not?

Here are some of my favorite props to explore with children… [Read more…]

About The Music…

January 3, 2011 by 4dancers

A while back I had a comment on this blog by a musician who talked about what it was like to watch the dancers on the stage as they played in the orchestra. The comment stayed with me and I thought I would do a post today on what a big difference it makes to dance to live music.

There is something magical about hearing the instruments warm up as you walk through your steps backstage. It adds to the excitement. There’s a synergy that dancers and musicians have that is unlike anything else. One feeds off the other–creating what amounts to live art. It’s astounding.

This isn’t the only place that dancers and musicians cross paths however. Many times a ballet classroom will have a live pianist, which is a treat, as anyone who has experienced it knows. In my day I had several, and I remember them all quite well. First there was Edith. She drove a yellow Volkswagen and was quite a character. I also had a reserved, thin gentleman who was amazing at the keys, and a dark-haired woman from Russia who had the most fantastic, dramatic music I’ve ever heard. Hats off to them all–they made my classes wonderful.

Is there a particular musician or pianist who stands out in your mind? It would be fun to hear your thoughts on this too…I’m sure that I am not the only one who has been impacted by the gift of live music in class or on stage…

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