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The Dance
Keep it simple, keep it fun B Y
C A L
C A M P B E L L
For the last three years, I’ve been teaching school teachers simple dances in the hopes that they would pass on some of this knowledge to the children they teach. Most of these teachers are physical education teachers in the elementary and secondary school systems. The large majority of these teachers have never had to take any courses on dancing of any kind in college. For most of them, “dancing” has been a “sport” to be strictly avoided up to now. For some of them, teaching dancing has been assigned as a new duty by their school administration.
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n talking with many of these teachers, I find that they are receptive to dancing. However, they are faced with the dilemma that they have no experience in dancing and no time to spend really learning how to dance. They are also apprehensive about trying to learn and then teach a new physical skill. Almost all of these teachers face administrative pressures that demand that everything they teach meet guidelines and goals that have been set down in great detail. This means any dances that they teach must fit within these guidelines and goals. They can’t just teach dances for fun. The dances must accomplish certain defined goals in physical movement and rhythm. I asked one of my friends, what she felt classroom teachers wanted in written documentation for dancing. She replied that they needed a “cookbook” approach where they could learn a few easy dance routines the night before and teach them the next day. This means using dances that use very few basic instructions and require no complicated footwork. That pretty much eliminates line dances and most folk dances. However, it is the perfect situation for using simple team dances such as square dancing and contra danc-
ing. This is very important for the teachers. They do not have the time to learn a lot of complex dances. They also do not have the time to teach a large list of dance movements to a class. So, instead of learning a lot of terminology, I show them how to use a short list of square dance terminology to teach many different dance routines. I lead a lot of beginner dance parties where most of the audience start the party knowing nothing about dancing. My goal is to get them off their seats and moving to music as quickly as possible. My first challenge is to convince everyone that they can dance. I usually start with everyone in a big circle with partners. The partners can be someone of the opposite gender or the same gender. I don’t care. I have them Circle Left and Circle Right and go Forward and Back. Then, I have them dance Right Arm Turns and Left Arm Turns, first with their partner and then with the person on the other side. If the mix of males and females is pretty even, I will have the ladies go Forward and Back by themselves and the men go Forward and Back by themselves. Then, I teach a Couple Promenade. With just these four basics (Circle L/R, Forward & Back, Arm Turns, Couple Promenade), I can entertain people for easily an hour. If a school teacher is willing to learn these same four
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basics and add a couple more, they can teach dancing to their students for several class periods. Careful music selection and dance formation changes play a very strong role in all of this. You can use the same dance routine to two different pieces of music and the dancers will enjoy both. You can take the same dance routine you just used in a big circle and put it into a square and the dancers will not become bored. Now, if you also use the same basic movements in facing lines, (Contra lines), in lines of three, or lines of four, and use different music, then each dance becomes new and different and entertaining. Using different dance formations also enables the dance leader to use a very wide variety of music. Music that would not be suitable for use in a square dance can be easily used for a contra dance or a trio. Simple dances that only require walking can be choreographed to some of the more modern musical arrangements the younger folks enjoy. It just takes a little imagination. For the past three years I’ve been working with the National Dance Association. This organization is a part of the American Alliance for Heath, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). AAHPERD is a large organization with over 25,000 members. Most of the members are physical education teachers. Between 7,000 and 10,000 of these teachers attend the AAH-
PERD national convention each year. So far, I have done dance workshops at three national AAHPERD conventions and two AAHPERD district conventions. The attendance, at these workshops, varies from about 30 people at the district conventions to over 175 people at the national conventions. I believe that dance workshops, showing simple easy dances, could be welcome at all six AAHPERD district conventions. Each state also has its’ own AAHPERD organization which holds an annual convention. Each convention features workshops both at the convention and often preceding the start of the convention. I believe it would be possible to eventually have dance workshops at each of these 50 events. I believe all these workshops would be a good investment of time and energy in the dancing future of our young people. I also believe that many of the physical education teachers would eventually become modern western square dance dancers and callers. If we can work with organizations such as AAHPERD, public school systems, churches, recreation departments, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, we can ensure that dancing is a part of the recreational future for a long time. All we need to remember, is “Keep it Simple, Keep it Fun.”
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