ART in Action Residency Plan
December 5, 6, 11, 12, 19
First District Elementary School, Meadville, PA
Ryan Schoenberger’s Fourth Grade Emotional Support Class
Shari Mastalski Teaching Artist (Creative Movement and Story Dancing)
Jan Hyatt ArtsErie Art in Action Dance Advisor
Subject areas: Math and Reading
December 2012
The PA Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities states that “Dance Education is a
kinesthetic art form that satisfies the human need to respond to life experiences through
movement of the physical being.”
Day One
Brief Meditation on Personal Uniqueness and Value: Close your eyes and tune into your
breathing and feel your own heartbeat. You have a rhythm. Sometimes you go with your own
personal rhythm and sometimes share a rhythm with a partner or a group. But you are unique
and important. There is no one just like you, and you have something to do that no one else can
do exactly like you can. When you find it, you feel like you are dancing on water or walking on
air. Remember, you are important. You are unique. You matter. You have everything you need
to do your dream and to be all you are created and called to be. You are rich, beautiful, loved
and you belong! This is your time. This is your place. You are the Wow factor! Say, “Wow!”
Today’s question: What is dance and why do you dance? How many senses do we have? (what
about sense of balance and kinesthetic sense?)
Practice=tools for dance making
Core strength exercise count to fifty.
Finding our bending places, our joints. Move every joint. John Hyatt’s “Bending Places”
Finding our balance: Balance on 1,2,3,4, and 5 bases of support. Chinese balance music, Feng
Shui “Chi in Balance”
Improvisation=spontaneity within a framework
Four movement textures: vibrate, sustained, percussive, swing. Also stillness. Ray McNamara
“Shaker Farm”, Shostakovich “Scherzo,” Hasenpflug “Mourning Dove” Do a combination of these
Create a hand jive dance together using John Hyatt’s “Hand Jive”
Problem Solving=Choreography or composition
Make three shapes, make a transition between each shape. Begin and end with stillness.
This can be repeated with a partner. The partner can be an aid or teacher.
Presentation/Performance=Being a presenter and a witness.
Do the Shape dances.
Take a photo or video if the student wants to. They can take the pictures of each other.
What did you notice about doing these and about performing them?
Video interviews with Mr. Schoenberger in the TV studio (back room)
(If there is more time introduce story telling with a telling and listening activity.)
Reflect together.
Journal:
What did we do?
Dance with your pencil: draw a piece of music. Mozart Molto allegro from the Jupiter Symphony
Day Two
Brief Meditation on Being a Space Shaper: Close your eyes and tune into your breathing and feel
your own heartbeat. You are the Wow factor. You are rich, beautiful, loved and you belong! This
is your time. This is your place. You shape the quality of the space you are in by what you bring
to it. You are the Space Shaper. What kind of space do you want to be in? Name some ideas.
Think of one and whisper it into your hands and send it into the space. Say “Wow!” Say, “I am
the space shaper!”
Introduction: We are focusing on the three class rules today. They are be safe; cooperate; use
appropriate voice levels.
Today’s questions: What is stillness? How long is thirty seconds? What does it mean to make a
shape? Close your eyes and say when you believe 30 seconds are up.
Practice=tools for dance making
Core strength exercise to 75 counts.
Practice Bending places.
Practice balance: Balance on 1,2,3,4, and 5 bases of support. Hold the “shapes” for ten seconds.
Practice four movement textures: vibrate, sustained, percussive, swing. Also stillness. Ray to Go
“Shaker Farm,” “Dance of the Wooden Soldiers”
Improvisation=spontaneity within a framework
Do a combination of movement qualities with our own music taking turns using the drum and
rhythm sticks.
Gather Action Verbs on slips of paper and put them into the bin. Draw one out and demonstrate
the action. Continue to collect words throughout the next few days.
Problem Solving=Choreography or composition
Make three shapes with a partner. Find a transition between shapes. Make a beginning, middle
and end to this three-shape dance. Begin and end with stillness.
Presentation/Performance=Being a presenter and a witness.
Do the three-shape dances. Be good witnesses/audience.
Take a photo or video if the student wants to. They can take the pictures of each other.
What did you notice about doing these and about performing them? What did you notice about
watching them?
Reflect together.
Journal:
What did we do?
Dance with your pencil: draw yourself dancing. Shostakovich “Quintet for Piano and Strings”
Write with the prompt “When I am still…..” But write with “fake” cursive….
Day Three
Brief Meditation on healthy relationship building. One of the most important things you do in life is
build relationships. This is your time. This is your place. You are unique. You are important.
You are the wow factor! No one else can live your life or bring to the world the special gifts you
have to offer. Like a big pot of soup or stew, you add a flavor that we just can’t do without. With
nothing but your presence and the breath of life, you have everything you need to do your dream.
You are rich, beautiful, loved and you belong. You are the shaper of your space. You make the
world a better place by your presence in it. And you are not alone. You share this classroom,
community, world with other people. It is what you can accomplish together that is most amazing.
Because together we are brilliant!
Be Safe! Cooperate! Use appropriate voice levels!
Today’s question: What are action verbs? How many syllables in your name? How many beats
in your name? How is math and dance connected? How are words and dance connected?
Practice=tools for dance making
Core strength balance to 80
Balance on 1,2,3,4 or 5 bases of support. Hold the shapes with stillness.
Make a shape. Move with sustained movement to a new shape. Move with percussive
movement to a new shape.
Bending places with percussive movements
Sitting in circle, clap, slap, snap rhythms in two, three, four, and five. Overlap rhythms. Clap our
own name rhythm. How many syllables in your name? Make a name rhythm? How many beats
in your rhythm?
Improvisation=spontaneity within a framework
Talk-listen with a partner. One talks for 30 seconds on a given word like shoe or shirt. The other
listens with undivided attention. Add loud, soft, fast, slow, pause. Tell a story about a word with a
made up language or with “blah, blah, blah.”
Have a movement conversation with a partner.
Draw an action verb from the bin and do a one breath dance with your word.
Problem Solving=Choreography or composition
Choose three words from the action verb list. Make a movement conversation dance with your
partner using your three words.
Presentation/Performance=Being a presenter and a witness.
Do the three-verb dance conversations.
Take a photo or video if the student wants to. They can take the pictures of each other.
Reflect together. What did you notice about doing these and about performing them?
Journal:
What did we do?
Dance with your pencil: draw the music.
What words describe the music? What is the feel or quality of the music? How does the music
make you feel? These a adjectives=describing words.
Add photographs to the journal
Day Four
Brief Meditation on voicing (or owning) your vision. You have a dream. Maybe you don’t know
what it is yet. It is the thing that when you find it and do it, it is like dancing on water or like flying.
It is the special thing that you feel born to do. When you find your dream, do it with all your might.
You can make the world a better place. How you shape the world is a choice. How you move
in the world is a choice. You can make the world the wonderful place you dream it can be.
Maybe there is something you feel strongly in your heart, something you care about deeply. That
is a clue for you to find your dream. Whatever it is, say I can do my dream. I will do what I was
born to do on this earth. Remember, you are important. You are the space shaper. And you are
not alone. Together we are brilliant. And you can make the world a better place.
Be Safe! Cooperate! Use appropriate voice levels! You choose the kind of
space you will be in. Turn off the judger but use discretion. Balance self
control with freedom.
Today’s questions: What are prepositions? What are adjectives? What do feelings have to do
with dance? What are some adjectives that describe feelings or qualities of music? What is the
meaning of the word “shape?”
Vocabulary:
Swing, percussive, sustained, vibrate, action verb, adjective, feeling word
Practice=tools for dance making
Core strength balance to 80
Balance on 1,2,3,4 or 5 bases of support. Hold the shapes with stillness. Balance in a tilted
position. Make a shape that is symmetrical (even) or asymmetrical (lopsided). Make a shape
with someone else that is symmetrical or asymmetrical.
Make a shape. Move with sustained movement to a new shape. Move with percussive
movement to a new shape. Vibrate in your shape. Swing through general space to a new spot.
This is your personal space.
On your spot! Preposition game. Talk about the difference between personal and general space.
This game calls for finding a personal spot from which the activities take place. For example,
jump on your spot; walk away from your spot; skip to your spot.
Improvisation=spontaneity within a framework
Talk-listen with a partner. One talks for 30 seconds on a given noun like pencil, book, breakfast,
lunch or a feeling word like worried, scared, happy, sad. The other listens with undivided
attention. Add loud, soft, fast, slow, pause. Tell a story about a word with a made up language or
with “blah, blah, blah.”
Day Five
Be Safe! Cooperate! Use appropriate voice levels!
You can make the world a better place.
Today’s questions: How can we assess our progress? What would be a good measurement of
what you have learned?
Working backwards, Journal first so those who leave early will not miss this process. At the same
time, take video interviews in the “television studio” aka the back room.
What did we do?
Dance with your pencil to your own inner music. You can sing this music softly or just imagine it.
Write with the prompt “I feel…..” Or just write one feeling word. Find words that describe how
you feel or how the music makes you feel or what the music feels like to you.
Practice=tools for dance making
Movement conversation
Make a body jive together. Everyone gets to decide eight counts of movement. Put it all together
and repeat. (Music: John Hyatt’s Hand Jive)
Clap name rhythms
Improvisation=spontaneity within a framework
Draw an action verb from the bin and do a one breath dance with your word.
Problem Solving=Choreography or composition
Do a demonstration of the Movement Map dance.
By yourself, draw a movement map with three shapes and two connectors. The shapes are
movements in personal space and the connectors are movements in general space. We will use
action verbs. Dance your movement map. Make sure you have a beginning, middle and end.
You can say your words with your movements or add sounds.
Presentation/Performance=Being a presenter and a witness.
Dance the movement map dances.
Take a photo or video if the student wants to.
Reflect together. What did you notice about doing the movement maps and about performing
them?
Put the movement maps into the journals.