games

The Best Props for Dance Class

February 24, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

I LOVE a good prop! They can really make or break a dance class. A good prop will add to the dancing and help dancers to explore and create. They’re also inexpensive and fairly indestructable. These are the props that I carry around in my big dance bag, and rarely leave home without (except the hula hoops…I keep those at work)!

Non-slip mats (or Dance Spots)

Any kind of mat that will not slip when stepped on will do the trick here. I use these grippy cabinet and drawer liners because they are so cheap and easy to replace if needed. I just grab a 12″x 12 ft roll and cut into 12 squares. We use these mats for leaping over, dividing the room in half, “islands” to escape from the “evil eel”, puddles to jump over, puddles to splash in, and more!

Hula Hoops

I have a conglomeration of hula hoops that have just kind of ended up in the dance equipment closet. They are our “lily pads” when we dance the story of Thumbelina. We use them to practice jump turn arounds. We leap from one to the next with only one foot inside each hoop. We do monkey jumps around them in gymnastics. We straddle stretch beside a hoop and try to reach to the other side. And, of course, sometimes we use them to hula hoop. (If you don’t have a bunch lying around already, you can get a matching set here).

Tulle Ribbons

Grab a roll of 6 inch tulle. I usually get mine at Wal-Mart for about $3. Or you can order it here. Cut it into sections about 3 feet long. Give a ribbon to each child and go dancing! We especially like to toss and catch with these ribbons because they fall so slowly. We talk about floating in the air a lot with these. We also practice spinning, leaping, and jumping with our ribbons. We make rainbows over our heads. Sometimes, I’ll turn on windy music and these become our “wind scarves”. We’ll run around the room making a tornado with them, then get sucked up into the tornado and spin as quickly as we can. Possibilities are endless here.

Small Scarves

We use scarves almost exactly like tulle ribbons. They do look better than the tulle for a performance though. And they don’t stick to your clothes when static-y like tulle does. You can grab those here.

Big Scarves

I got my big scarves here. I actually thought they were small scarves when I ordered them, but these babies are 54″ square! That’s pretty big for any child! So, we don’t dance with these often. But, they are the very BEST for being ghosts at Halloween! And, we will use them to sit on at story time on occassion.

Fuzzy Dice

My favorite activity for fuzzy dice is The Dice Game. I got my fuzzy dice at Wal-Mart for $3 a pair and just cut off the strings. However, you can get a much better deal ordering them off

of Amazon, here. We also use fuzzy dice like balls, tossing and catching, rolling, balancing on our heads, balancing on our feet, and deciding the number of times to do an activity or step. Kids get so excited about fuzzy dice, that I believe the investment to get a dozen fuzzy dice (instead of regular small and hard dice) is worth it!

POCKET DICE!!!

I know, overuse of the exclamation point there, but, seriously. I have wanted these for so, so, so long! And I’ve finally found them at a price I can afford. Or at least, hope to afford one day. 🙂 Have you ever wanted the fun of fuzzy dice, but the flexibility of word strips? Enter the pocket die. Pocket dice have a clear pocket that you can put any word or picture you want inside. So, instead of printing out and hanging the visual aids for animal conditioning, Under the Sea, or Superheroes!, you could print them 2 sheets to a page, cut them out, and put

them in a dice to roll. I’d buy a lot less masking tape that way. You could also put word strips for class segments (warm-up, across the floor, stretching, etc.) or creativity prompts (jungle dance, underwater swimming, super secret agent, etc.). So, I’m a little excited about these, if you didn’t notice. If you are too, you can order them here. 🙂

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Secret Agents

January 21, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

Some dear friends in college taught me this variation on The Dice Game. It’s a great way to involve boys and unwilling dance participants!

Play the dice game (read the details here) as usual. But, use this list:

1 – Dive and roll (over and under laser beams)

2 – Two quick looks (see what’s coming around the corner and behind you)

3 – Crawl (through air ducts)

4 – Kick (karate style)

5 – Fast feet (avoiding bullets)

6 – Spin (turn around yourself to check for the enemy)

Go through each of the numbers’ movements as if the dancers are in “spy school” and learning how to outwit the enemy. Once they have each number’s movement down, give them paper and dice, and allow them to create their own secret code. Have dancers perform for the group and see if you can guess their secret codes!

The Dice Game

January 21, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

The dice game is one of my favorite games. It is one of those tricks up my sleeve that I pull out if class is just seeming to drag along. It’s for one of those days when I’m trying so hard to drill a new technique or teach a new skill, but my students just aren’t interested. It’s also a great tool in and of itself to inspire choreography and help students put together their own dances! The dice game is just a simple variation of Merce Cunningham’s chance dance. Here are the rules:

Give each child a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Each child will roll a dice five times, and write down the sequence of numbers rolled. This number sequence is their “secret code”. Don’t share your secret code with anyone else! Then, they will reference the chance dance list (see below).
The students will create a dance sequence that includes the steps listed on the chance dance list in the order they rolled. For example, if I rolled: 2 4 5 5 3, I would create a dance where I did (using the ballet chance dance list): Grand Battements, Leap, Chasse, Chasse, Turn.
Encourage students to do multiples of a step (i.e. 3 chasses or 5 turns), to do variations on a step, and to include arm placements. Require a beginning and ending frozen shape.

Ballet Chance Dance List

1 – Balance

2 – Grand Battement (Kick)

3 – Turn

4 – Leap

5 – Chasse

6 – Pas de Chat (Step of the Cat)

Jazz Chance Dance List

1 – Leap

2 – Chaine Turn

3 – Roll

4 – Jump Full Turn

5 – Upside Down

6 – Shape or Balance

Modern Chance Dance List

1 – Roll

2 – Swing

3 – Breath Movement

4 – Balance or Suspend

5 – Contraction

6 – Explode

Extending the Activity: Have groups of 2-5 students perform their dances for everyone to view. See if you or the students can guess what their secret code was!

Check out the Secret Agent variation on the dice game!

Chicken in a Hen House

January 12, 2016 by Erika 1 Comment

Okay, so this post has absolutely nothing to do with real chickens. And I don’t know why the game is named Chicken in a Hen House. But, these are the directions to Chicken in a Hen House, a fun and fast-paced game introduced to me by my college professor, Kori Wakamatsu. I’ve played it with great success with ages 7-30. I haven’t tried it with anyone older, but I think it’d work. 😉 Obviously, if the students are pretty young, don’t use the weight bearing shapes or modify as needed.

Divide the students in to partnerships where they are roughly the same size, then teach them the following partner, weight-bearing shapes:

Chicken in a Hen House: Partner A goes down to the ground on hands and knees. Partner B crouches on Partner A’s back, placing their knees over the hips and hands over the shoulder blades.

Bridge over Water: Partner A lays down, face up. Partner B makes a bridge over Partner A by doing downward facing dog.

Fire Fighter: Partner A picks up Partner B in a cradle carry (Best for older students). OR Partner A pretends to pick up Partner B while Partner B leaves one foot on the ground.

Piggy Back: Partner A picks up Partner B just like a piggy back ride. OR Partner A crouches down low and Partner B places hands on Partner A’s shoulders without Partner A actually lifting them

Teepee: Partners A and B face each other, lift their hands above their heads and lean in so that their palms press against each other, creating a triangle, or teepee, shape with the ground.

Tug of War: Partners A and B face each other and grasp hands, leaning away from each other and pulling.

Sailor: Partner A kneels on the ground with one knee down and one knee propped up to the side. Partner B sits on Partner A’s knee. Partner A salutes.

Chain: Both partners cross their arms and kneel with one knee down, facing each other. They then hold each other’s hands.

Airplane: Partner A stands with arms out to each side like airplane wings and back leg up in arabesque. Partner B holds Partner A’s leg up.

All the partner A’s make a circle. All the partner B’s make a circle around the partner A’s circle. Turn on the music. As the music is playing, partners A and B walk in their separate, concentric circles in opposite directions (all A’s walk clockwise, all B’s walk counter-clockwise). When the music stops, the instructor calls out one of the above listed shapes. Each partnership must find each other and make the shape as quickly as possible. The last partnership to do so is out. If a partnership falls out of their shape, they could also be called out, depending on how quickly they get back into the shape.

Sometimes we play for “outs”. Sometimes, we just play for fun!

Also, often I instruct the students to each make their own partner shape, and we’ll add some in to make the game harder!

The Pilobolus Alphabet

January 12, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

If you tried out The Name Game and liked it, here’s another fun activity using the alphabet.

The Human Alphabet is a book by Pilobolus. It is so engaging for children, especially elementary school ages! They love to guess what shapes the dances are making and try to figure out how they did that! After we read through the book together as a class. I’ll say, “By the time I count to 5, be standing elbow to elbow in groups of three (or four or five, depending on numbers)”. Once they have quickly divided themselves, they pick two letters. They must all come together to make each letter with their whole bodies, just like Pilobolus does in the book. Then, they will create a shape for each letter they picked. For example, if my group picked L and T, we would first figure out how to make L and T as a group with our bodies. Then, we’d pick an object that starts with L, perhaps ladder, and create it with our bodies in a frozen shape. Then, for T, we might make a turtle or trampoline.

If we have time, we’ll then share our favorite letter and shape with the class and see if anyone can guess what shapes we made. It’s a fun and easy way to get students to really get creative with shaping.

And…if you liked this activity, check out another partner shape activity: Chicken in a Hen House!