Negative Space is Postively Fun!

I was practicing some yoga in my living room and my daughter started to dance around me and tried to fit her body into the empty spaces in the yoga poses. (With much success and imagination!)  Empty spaces are so much fun.  We usually explore big spaces we can see but what about the little spaces that are not as obvious?

Activity to Explore:

1. Have a few of your students make shapes with their bodies.  (Remind them they can make angles, curves and straight lines with their arms, legs, knees, hips, back, etc.)
2. Next, have a few more students try to "fit" into the empty spaces (in dance we call this negative space.)  Encourage them to complement the shape.  It is not about sticking an arm through a space but finding a way to highlight and draw attention to the space.  For example, when I was practicing Downward Facing Dog ( a yoga movement that creates a large upside down "V" with the body) my daughter rolled underneath me in a tucked in ball shape.  She created a curve under my angle.
3. If you have permission from parents, take pictures of your exploration.

This exercise reinforces the concept of space and let's the children experiment with  how shapes can fit together.

Have fun exploring with the the children in your life!
Sincerely,
Stacey

Communicating Without Saying A Word

My family recently got a dog.  I was dreading housebreaking.  I came to realize as I hovered over our little puppy that she was training me instead of the other way round.  She was communicating her needs by sniffing the floor, walking in a circle and walking away from her toys and food bowl.   How wonderful that movement was her way of telling me she needed to go out.

Of course this got me thinking about all the non spoken ways we as humans communicate with each other.  And I am not talking about facial gestures either.  Do you have a student that always sits as far away from you as possible?  Or one that is practically sitting in your lap?    Do you have a student that slowly inches his way into the classroom and one that bounds in the moment you open the door?
They are telling you something.

I like to mix things up when I teach.  I sometimes stand in front of a class and get them all settled.  Then I walk to the back of the room and have all the students turn to face me.  A student that likes to sit in the back is now in the first row and vice-versa.   Try this out and see how your students respond.  Challenge them to take risks, not by the steps they take, but the space they take.

If you have a student that always bounds into the room and then one day walks in slowly you know there is a change in mood or behavior.  Sometimes the cues kids give us are more subtle than this.  If you observe your students and what they tell you with their movements then these subtle cues can become more obvious.

When I studied dance I always liked to stand in the front right corner.  I could see the teacher but was not standing right in front of her.  If I did not get to class early enough I would have to find an open spot.  When this happened I was never as comfortable.  I now see how that challenged me.

Change where you stand to teach class.  Notice if you always like to stand in the same place.  Are you giving subtle information to the class by the spaces you choose as well?

Have fun observing how the students in your life communicate through movement!

Sincerely,
Stacey

Dancing in Tight Spaces

When I was student teaching in the Bronx, I had almost 30 children in a small classroom.  I remember standing on a chair in front of the class to teach dance and I had the children copy my movements.  I did not know what else to do.  I did not want anyone getting hurt by moving in a such a crowded room and since I am a little over 5 feet, I wanted everyone to see me as well. 

I know that crowded classrooms/studios/spaces can be quite a challenge.  Here are some ideas to help manage space issues.

Dancing in tight spaces:

1. Go outside.  Make your own boundaries with cones so the dance space is clear.  You can make the space as big or as small as you want!
2. Dance in groups.  Switch off doing the activity.  One group watches and one group moves.  Make sure the group that is watching has an assignment.  (Watch for 3 traveling steps, look for level changes, etc. so the kids are still active participants.)
3. Create one big circle.  Have the kids sit in a circle and call various children to come in and out of the circle. 
4. Line the children in rows of 4 or 5 and have the children practice their gross motor skills traveling through the space a few at a time.  Have the kids "tag" the next group to go.
5. Practice, practice, practice moving together.  First walk through the space.  Move close to each other without touching.  Move as far away from each other without touching.  Try it in different levels and ways of locomoting.  The more you practice the easier it will get.
6. Use painter's tape to make lines, curves and angles on the floor.  Have the children dance on the shapes.  Have the groups shift from one shape to the next.
7. Create a dance where the kids don't leave their spots.  This can be a great exploration of the space directly around them.  Then have some kids dance through the space while others continue to dance in their spots.  Take turns.
8. Make a chair dance.  How many ways can you move while seated in a chair? Can you use your legs, elbows, heads, knees, feet, backs, arms, etc.? 
9. Use all of the above to vary the use of space in the room.

As a new teacher, I was so nervous about the kids getting wild and bumping into each other but we never practiced how to move safely together.  You will be amazed how the kids will become very aware of their boundaries.  Exploring your space and movement possibilities will lead to new dance experiences for you and your students/kids.  Moms - I know it is really hard to move around in a tight living room as well.  These ideas are for you too!

Have fun exploring tight spaces with the children in your life!

Sincerely,
Stacey

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

I love the wind.  I love feeling the air on my skin.  It makes my body feel alive.  I love teaching movement with the wind as a tool for body awareness.  It is the perfect tool.  We are normally not aware of our skin like we are aware of our knees bending or our arms swinging.  It is hard to be conscious of the back of your neck or the front of your shins.  But when a strong brisk breeze blows by you can feel every ounce of your body come alive.  The hair on your skin stands up as if to shout "We are here!" like the Whos did in the book Horton Hears a Who!

In feeling all sides of the body, in essence your three dimensionality, you become aware of all the directions your body can move.  The wind can blow forward, back, side, and side and so can you.  The wind can twist and turn, so can you.  A kite can take flight and so can you.

Movement Activity

1. Talk about the wind with your child/class.  It travels in all directions.  How do we know?  We can feel it.  We can feel it whooshing by our legs, it sometimes can push us forward or back with its force.  We can see it when our hair gets whipped about or when it picks up a piece of litter and lifts it off the ground.  Let's see if we can travel in all directions like the wind.
2. Give each child a scarf.  (If you don't have a scarf, use a tissue.)  Can they move their scarves forward and back?  Can they make their movements bigger and smaller?  Can they move through the space with big sweeping forward and back movements?  Next try side (right and left) and back.  Can they twirl and spin with the scarf?  Can they move from low to high and high to low?
3. Make a circle and have one child go into the circle at a time.  Watch as they do their wind dance.  Have the children pretend to blow softly, moving their scarves gently, directing the dancer to move gently and slowly like a calm breeze.  Then have the children move their scarves fast and furious like a blustery wind.  The dancer in the middle then should react with gusto!

Have fun moving up down and all around and off the ground with the children in your life!

Sincerely,
Stacey