PERFORMING ARTS COURSES DANCE Middle School Dance Lab (trimesterlong option during Seventh Period athletics) (7-8) The Middle School Dance Lab is a series of trimester-long courses that support students in building strong bodies, exploring their artistic voice, working collaboratively as members of a creative community, gaining an appreciation for dance as an art form, and discovering the amazing diversity in the world of dance from a cultural perspective. The Dance Lab, which earns its name by creating a safe space for young dancers to experiment with movement, provides opportunities for beginning and intermediate-level students to bring their diverse backgrounds and individual movement interests into the studio in an exciting new format. This course will offer a different genre of dance each trimester—for example, conditioning and fundamentals of dance technique, hip-hop, and a series of world dance forms—to demonstrate the range and depth in dance and supply students with the ultimate in movement fundamentals. Students have the option to take one trimester of dance; those who seek to explore the full offerings can enroll in all three classes making dance a full-year commitment. Within these various styles, students will acquire increased body awareness, a stronger sense of self in space, improved gross motor skills and coordination, more balanced expressive ability, and most notably, a joy of movement.
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Middle School Repertory Dance Ensemble (year-long) (7-8)
Middle School Dance Technique (year-long) (7-8) (Eighth Period)
Performance required.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
This year-long course is for experienced dancers seeking a fun and fast-paced learning environment in which to more deeply explore and refine the fundamentals of ballet and modern technique, as well as a variety of conditioning methods. Middle School Dance Technique will best prepare students for executing future choreographic work and transitioning seamlessly into the Upper School program.
Middle School Repertory Dance Ensemble is a performance-based repertory class for our most dedicated dancers at the intermediate/advanced levels, selected by audition or invitation. Students will work closely with special guest artists in a series of short-term residencies to create work for performance, outreach, and special off-campus dance related events. They are responsible throughout for maintaining a strong technical foundation and researching the various styles of dance and artists in advance of each residency. The mission behind the ensemble is to allow serious dance students an opportunity to diversify their training and experience highly artistic, accomplished choreographers. Within this rigorous, artistic environment, this course seeks to prepare students for success in the later dance offerings. This class exists in two parts: the choreographic work (Middle School Repertory Dance Ensemble) and technique class (Middle School Dance Technique, Middle School Eighth Period). It is recommended that students attend both.
Dance 1: Introduction to the Fundamentals of Movement (year-long) (9-12) Dance 1 is an introductory studio course designed for students, both minimally experienced and inexperienced. The class will explore new perspectives and approaches to dancing through a range of structured technique, improvisation/composition, and kinesiology. Emphasis will be placed on discovering movement creativity along with acquiring the physical strength, flexibility, alignment coordination, kinesthetic awareness and movement dynamics, as well as some dance history. Modern dance, ballet, and contemporary jazz will be the foundation of this class. Students observe live dance performances and complete written critiques. Students have the choice of receiving credit for Physical Education or Performing Arts when taking this class. If a student chooses to take P.E. credit, they must choose another arts class and must still attend class when involved in an after-school sport.
