After-school Dance Club – what works well

Yesterday I taught Foundation Degree Dance students how to teach primary-aged children.  It was a great session at Leicester College – the students all got stuck in and I had some fantastic feedback

I love the resource pack and also the information on ‘how to put your foot in the door’.  Inspirational and makes me realise hard work pays off! 🙂

Toni, Leicester College

We covered what topics would be appropriate for primary-aged children and how their planning needs to adapt according to the age group.   I led a number of practical workshops that the students participated in, focusing on…

• Foundation Stage: All About Me
• Key Stage 1: People Who Help Us
• Key Stage 2: The Victorians

Alongside this, we discussed after-school dance clubs, as this is what most of the students are / will be delivering soon.  I taught them a basic street dance to Men In Black, which I have done on many occasions and has always been a success!  Kids love the attitude and the style of the dance.

However, you actually need little street dance skills yourself to get the children performing as MIB.  In the video below you will see 2 sections of choreography…

1. Duets.  The students choreographed short duets based on wearing sunglasses and looking like ‘cool’ secret agents.  They improvised a range of actions, then chose their 4 favourite and put them into counts of 8.
2. Unison phrase.  This choreography is based on the MIB video and follows the instructions of the song (at 2:10 in the track)

• ‘Bounce with me’ 4 bounces with the knees, taking alternate shoulders back to create a ‘swagger’
• ‘Slide with me’ step to the R and slide the L leg to join it.  Repeat 4 times in total.
• Take a walk with me’ walk forwards R leg, cross over the L leg.  Step back R leg, step back L leg.  Swizzle knees to the R side
• ‘Make your neck work’ thrust neck forwards and back (like a chicken!) 4 times
• ‘Now freeze’ create a still image – hands on hips, open out to the sides, fold arms for example.

Watch the video below to see it in action…

Try it out yourself – either in a dance club or during curriculum time.  It’s a definite winner, especially with the boys!  Let me know how you get on.

We offer a range of dance clubs for Primary Schools – they are delivered by professional dance artists and are well planned and high quality.  Kids have an AMAZING time and love performing in the end of term showcase!  To make enquires or to book in a club, contact me at [email protected] or call 07738042089

Or are you a dance student / recent dance graduate and would like to book on JumpStart’s training programme for Primary Schools?  Get in touch via email [email protected] or call 07738042089.  This could be the most important step you have made in developing your career as a dance artist!