A year-long holistic dance program for 1st and 2nd graders
Thursdays, 3:45 – 4:45pm
Sept 11th – June 11th
In addition to these weekly classes, students will participate monthly gatherings with all three of the classes that make up Awesome Art in Motion (AAIM).
Monthly AAIM gatherings will take place on the following dates:
Sept 27, 12 – 2pm: Guiding Star Grange
Oct 25, 1 – 3pm: Outdoors (Northfield Mountain Recreation Area. Parents are invited to participated if they are interested!)
Nov 15, 12 – 2pm: Guiding Star Grange
Dec 6th, 1 – 3pm: Performance for Parents at the Guiding Star Grange at 2pm
January 10th: Family Dance Party! 3:00 – 5:00 at the Guiding Star Grange. Family and Friends invited!
Feb 28th, 1 – 3pm: Guiding Star Grange
March 28th, 1 – 3pm: Guiding Star Grange
May 9th, 1 – 3pm: Guiding Star Grange
May 30th, 1 – 3pm: Guiding Star Grange
Tentative date for performance at the Shea Theater!
Sunday June 7th, rehearsal at 9:30am, Performance at 2:30
Technical rehearsal, Thursday June 4th 3:45 – 6:00pm
There will be no classes Nov 27th, Dec 25th, Jan 1st, Feb 19th or April 23rd
Who is this program for?
This is a great class for for 1st and 2nd graders (roughly ages 6 – 8) who love to dance and create in community and are looking for a creative home outside of the traditional studio dance context. No previous dance experience required!
Program Description
Awesome Art in Motion is a place for kids to come together to be themselves and to learn to love and care for themselves and each other; with dance and the body as central to what we do together. The program includes three different classes for students ages 6 – 12. In addition to meeting weekly in their individual classes, students in Awesome Art in Motion come together as a full group once a month, building a very sweet, mixed-age creative community.
The Awesome Art in Motion curriculum weaves together improvisational dance, concert dance techniques, social dance, somatic movement, mindfulness, and student-led art making.
The curriculum is divided into the following units:
- How do YOU dance? What is Dance and Where do we Locate Ourselves?
- Dancing from the Inside Out: Mindful Movement and Somatic Body Education
- Dancing in Community, Dancing Together: Social Dance Practices
- Concert Dance Techniques and Dance Making
Each unit includes a creative project and an opportunity to share that project with the wider community. Some highlights this year will include, a full group outdoor movement exploration (which parents are invited to participate in) at Northfield Mountain during our mindful movement unit in October, an informal performance for families in early December, our annual family dance party to conclude our social dance unit in early January, and of course, our annual student-made performance at the Shea Theater in June. As always, The Leap Frogs class will have the opportunity to create a collaboratively made story dance for this performance, designing everything from the movement to the costumes, lighting and music as a group.
Each of the Flying Kangaroos classes will include:
- An Opening and Closing Circle: in which each student is acknowledged, welcomed, oriented to the class and appreciated.
- A Warm Up: a vigorous set up movements to wake up the brain and increase range of motion in the body.
- Content sharing: a time for Anna to share new content based on the unit we are in and the focus of the day. Content will be shared through picture books, conversation, collage or video
- Dance Explorations: exercises in which students are asked to improvise or freestyle based on the content shared.
- Skills Building: learning and practicing new skills related to content.
- Dance Creation: students share dance movements generated from dance explorations and skills building.
Payment:
(please select the option that best fits your family)
$1000: Employed/financially stable ($100/month)
$750: Unemployed/financially tight ($75/month)
1 full Scholarship spot is reserved for this class. If you are interested in a scholarship, please proceed with the registration process and indicate you would like a scholarship on the registration form. Barter options may also be available. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
