Dance ED

What an opportunity! Our grades 1 - 8 were able to experience a week-long creation and performance opportunity under the leadership of two very talented instructors, Andrea Gregorio and Krista Deady (http://www.danced-mp.com). Each class covered a different genre. My class did a piece based on traditional West African music, performed to the music of Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Something”. Every day, Monday to Thursday, each class was provided with a 40 minute lesson/rehearsal. Those 4 x 40 minute lessons for each of our 7 classes culminated into a fantastic 30 minute show (complete with an audience of parents) that demonstrated the students’ skills as dancers. Our own dance project was extended into learning about Nigeria, a West African country I had travelled to. There was exploration of food, which turned into a big connection: My students whose background was South American recognized the African staple of cassava as a food they regularly eat in their own home. They drew pictures of people in traditional costume (and said, “Cool!”, when they saw me where my own dress), danced to traditional West African music, and recognized that Africa is not ONE place, but a continent consisting of many countries with similar and/or very different languages and cultures. One of my students, born in Egypt, and her classmates, saw that she was very different from some of the West African people we saw in my pictures, and on found videos. They were able to recognize not to judge by appearance, but by learning about their whole being.