Michelle Hillier, B.A., B.Ed., OCT Founder & Creative Director, Experience Groove @michgroove (twitter) @experiencegroove (instagram) www.experiencegroove.com Using The Groove to Create Dance Experiences! FIRST STEP: Move It In this first step you want the students to be introduced to dance in a way that ensures success, builds their confidence and allows them to move their bodies in a variety of ways to see the possibilities they have and explore range of movements from dance styles from around the world, genres and decades. This is where you as the teacher know your students as well as your interests/experience and therefore have a lot of choice to expose them to any kind of dance. You can expose your students to ANY form of dance including but not limited to line dances, social dances, cultural dances, traditional folk dances - as long as the students are moving confidently without inhibition and building their movement vocabulary. Choose dances that you may be confident in as a teacher, and don't get caught up in the technical or choreography of the dancers. For this chapter I am going to expose you to an innovative approach to teaching dance and movement in a creative way called The Groove. The method was created by Misty Tripoli of The World Groove Movement, and the application in education is affiliated and inspired by their work. Both the definition of Groove as well as words that teachers use to describe it, usually involve music, movement, rhythm, enjoyable, zone, flow or "getting into the groove". It has a positive connotation for most. United and Unique The Groove allows a simple combination of being united as a group but then allowing the students to show their unique style and personality. To do this, the teacher unites the students on a simple movement (hop, skip, run, roll, shimmy, wave, walk, point etc) to create a sense of togetherness amongst the class, and then add a creative exploration of that movement (using directions, pathways, levels, rhythms, speeds, range of motion etc.). We all move our bodies differently and The Groove allows students to express that. For example, Created by: Michelle Hillier, Experience Groove, 2018. when students are in the Groove, they are all united on a simple movement (as simple as a walk) and then coached and encouraged to make their walk look unique and different in their own way from anyone else. Something to keep in mind and have your students remember when they Groove, is that they cannot get their creative choices wrong! Remind your students of this before you start The Groove - have them say "you can't get it wrong" to each other and to themselves!. This also becomes the way in which you facilitate The Groove to your students. “The Groove addresses both body and mind for equipping children for their physical literacy journey! Groove has done it right by tackling not just movement form but addressing a child’s confidence and motivation to perform. For generalist and specialist teachers alike, it requires minimal preparation and does not require extensive knowledge to implement in the classroom or recreation setting.” (Dean Kriellaars, Ph.D. Department of Physical Therapy, University of Manitoba. Your next question as a teacher is most likely, “what songs and moves should I use”? In the table below you will see ten successful sample songs and moves to get you started. Remember "you also can't get it wrong" when interpreting the movements and when in the song to do them. Once you have explored a variety of songs, you can begin to create a “word wall” of all the moves in which you did with the students. Post up a piece of chart paper and let the students recall all the moves they can remember. If they call a move something different from what you did, not a big deal! We want to reinforce the idea that “they can’t get it wrong” so if you called something “light bulb arms” and they call it “twist the lightbulbs”, it doesn’t matter. Remember, in this move it step, you are building their movement vocabulary and confidence in a creative way and interacting with others. Created by: Michelle Hillier, Experience Groove, 2018. Sample Groove Songs Teaching and Coaching Notes (appropriate for K-6 students): SONG ARTIST DANCE GROOVE MOVES NAME STYLE/ GENRE Tribal Funk Benjamin Bidlack African Heavy Stomp Drumming Jump & Move We Will Rock You Queen Rock 'n' Roll Stomp Stomp Clap Air Guitar Pump Pump ThroW Wipe Out Surfaris 1960’s Pop Swimming Surfboard Tricks Deep Sea Dive Beware of the Boys Punjabi MC Bhangra Lightbulbs Drive the Car Windshield Wipers Hernando’s Alfred Hause’s Tango Dramatic Walks Hideaway Tango Orchestra Pick the Roses Dramatic Poses Everybody Gonfi Two Cowboys Country Gallop Gon Swing your Partner Heel Digs We Speak No Yolanda be Cool Italian “Pizza Party” Skipping Americano Making the Pizza (roll the dough, cut the toppings, toss & catch) Eat Pizza/Food Fight Water Cycle Rhythm, Rhyme, Hip Hop & Science Side to Side Science Funky Walk Hip Hop Poses Water Waves Created by: Michelle Hillier, Experience Groove, 2018. SONG ARTIST DANCE GROOVE MOVES NAME STYLE/ GENRE The Blue Danube 101 New Strings Waltz Sway Orchestra 3 Walks & Bow Spins & Jumps The Sun B-Tribe Stillness & Still Position Mindfulness Eyes Closed Soft Breath Clear Mind SECOND STEP: Learn It In the second step students learn the five elements of dance, which are the foundational elements and vocabulary students need in order to develop movement skills and begin creating their own dances. To teach the elements to your students, analyze and discuss with them the following topics for each element: Define: What is the element? Gather around a piece of chart paper and make notes with the students to define and describe the element. Try to pull answers out of the students by prompting suggestions and questions. Your students will refer to these as they create and explore. Individual exploration: Have your students kinesthetically explore the element in a creative manner spread throughout your space; use teacher prompts Group activity: opportunity to work with others and show knowledge of element through a small creation and share Reflect: Debrief, review and do either a personal reflection or share thoughts after watching other groups share In addition to posting a piece of chart paper for each element (to be used in the process of defining the element), put up a poster with the DR BEST (Dance is..Relationship ~ Body ~ Energy ~ Space ~ Time) acronym showing all of the five elements to help students remember. Let’s explore some prompts and discussion topics for each of the five elements: Created by: Michelle Hillier, Experience Groove, 2018. BODY DEFINE: Shapes (curved, angular, symmetrical, asymmetrical) – Static and Dynamic Body Parts (head, shoulders, hands, hips, legs, feet) Body Zones (right side, left side, upper body, lower body) Body Bases (feet as base – on the floor, back as base, knees as base) INDIVIDUAL EXPLORATION: Student will spread out in the space. Ask them to create static (frozen like statues) shapes with their body: twisted, prickly, wavy, angular, curvy. Now ask them to create dynamic (moving on the spot) shapes with their body: shaking, swinging, explode, melt, ooze, collapse, freeze, sway, suspend, crunchy, spongy. Ask them to explore symmetrical (mirror image on both sides) vs. asymmetrical (different on both sides) shapes alone and then with a partner. GROUP ACTIVITY: You’ll need 8-10 images , as well as a sound system (song suggestion: Levels by Avicii). Lay the images down on ground and ask the students to move around the space and play the song suggestion. When the music stops they create the shape in which they are closest to. Repeat as many times as necessary to give students a chance to create up to 5 shapes. Get the students in groups of 4-5 and give each group an image. As a group they will generate a list of words to describe the image (prompt them by asking them to pretend they have a remote control and they could make the image come to life). As a group they will produce a movement creation with the following criteria: - Group beginning shape - Four different moves (each group member creates a move for the word from the list for accountability and acceptance). - Group ending shape Have each group share with the rest of the class to the song suggestion. REFLECT: When you watched the other groups, did the group members use their bodies in the way you thought they should? Created by: Michelle Hillier, Experience Groove, 2018. SPACE DEFINE: Directions (forward, backwards, sideways, diagonal) Levels (high, middle low) Pathways (straight, curved, zig zag, spiral) INDIVIDUAL EXPLORATION: Gather the students at one end of the space and have them get into 4-5 equal lines/squads all facing the same direction. All the students who are first will move together. All the students who are in your line will be referred to as your “family”. Prompt each family to move down the room with a walk. Now call out directions to travel in, then levels, then pathways. Then try a different locomotor movement instead of the walk (skip, jump, gallop, run etc.). Now ask them to leave the line “families” and move everywhere through the space. Call out combinations of spatial elements (ie. skip backwards in a zigzag, gallop sideways in a spiral etc.) GROUP ACTIVITY: You’ll need six pieces of blank paper and coloured markers for this activity. Students will work in groups of 4-5. Each group is creating a visual treasure map, which must have a starting point, middle point and ending point anywhere on the page.