Help! Need simple folkdances for age K-3rd graders
zil...@snowcrest.net
Will be teaching K-3rd graders some folk dances. I thought a simple version
of the Virginia Reel would
work out well, but I need at least two other dances to teach them. Any
suggesitons or how about
a circle dance for kids this age? Tunes to go with the dance would be great
too but I'll take what I
can get at this point! Thanks in advance for any help. Nancy
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Neal Rhodes
Peter Amidon makes two books of dances for children which are
excellent, and you can get a tape/CD of matching music.
Look for New England Dance Masters, i think.
Peter has done dance in the classroom for years, and whether you or
I find his dances entertaining as adults, they do WORK for kids.
I'm somewhat concerned that you think you will teach K-3 anything
though. Just stand still, hold hands, walk in a circle can be
tough for the K-1 set.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neal Rhodes MNOP Ltd (770)-
972-5430
President Lilburn (atlanta) GA 30247 Fax:
978-4741
ne...@mnopltd.com
http://www.mnopltd.com/
Charlotte Oliver
I don't know how old 3rd graders are, but used to teach
folk dancing to 6-8 year olds if that's any help. We used to just start off
with 'find a partner' and then one partner would be (say) green and the
other red (or hippos and elephants!).
Circassian circle (any 32 bar jig will do)
Everybody makes one big circle, holding hands.
A1)All dance in towards the centre for four steps
All dance backwards for four steps.
Repeat
A2) All the reds in for a count of three, on four jump and clap your hands
or cheer, or some other pice of nonsense)
All the reds dance back to your place.
All the greens in for a count of three etc
All the greens dance back to your place, ready to swing your partner.
B1 Swing your partner (I always tell them to swing 'with both hands' to
avoid collisions/ broken bones etc).
B2) Promenade around. ( I show a few different holds and point the kids in
the direction they have to go. With adults I usually just say "prop your
partner up somehow and dance forwards").
Another variation is to get every one to go into the middle on A2 also, but
to call out the names of animals for them to impersonate or 'make the sound
of' ( e.g. monkey, bear etc).
I hope this is helpful. I've got loads more, but I don't want to swamp you!
Cheers,
Charlotte
<zil...@snowcrest.net> wrote in message
news:DnmT3.2385$_u6.1069070@WReNphoon4...
KMsSavage
I recently did an all-school program with two grades per session. The 1st &
2nd graders really loved this dance:
12-person longways (avoids partner issues)
A1 Forward, bow to buddy, back
Repeat
A2 -B1 "Peel the banana": top couple leads a cast to the foot, makes an arch,
everyone comes through.
Would work great with 48 counts of music, but we just fudged it. (It just
occurs to me I could have them do a grand circle L&R, or two-hand turn with the
buddy.) They had trouble learning that just ONE pair makes the arch. And the
group in front of me kept getting closer and closer...
Also had good success with Pat-a-cake Polka. You know it:
concentric circles facing in & out
A1 Promenade direction foot: heel, toe, heel toe, slide 4 steps
Reverse
B1 Clap 3x: right, left, both hands, own knees
Right elbow turn partner, disengage in original circle facing next person
(progressing left)
Again, this works best with 32 beats.
It really helped that the principal danced every session, and whichever
teachers also did with their classes. I used big people for my demos.
Good luck, and have fun!
--Karen M.
Meyer Billmers
> Hi,
>
> Will be teaching K-3rd graders some folk dances. I thought a simple version
> of the Virginia Reel would
>
> work out well, but I need at least two other dances to teach them. Any
> suggesitons or how about
>
> a circle dance for kids this age? Tunes to go with the dance would be great
> too but I'll take what I
>
> can get at this point! Thanks in advance for any help. Nancy
Hi Nancy. Off the top of my head, I think there are some neat folk dances from various countries that would be fun to teach kids. A few that come to mind that are easy line dances which kids seem to enjoy are Carnavalito (Brazil), Savila Se Bela Losa (Serb), Kuma Echa (Israel).
There are various books that have dance instructions for simple dances such as these. A good source of both books and music is the Folk Arts Center of New England record shop:
Becky Nankivell
http://www.cdss.org/sales/index.html (or Andy's Front Hall) for "Jump
Jim Joe" by Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, published by New England
Dancing Masters (and listed at CDSS under New England Dancing Masters).
Of their series (now up to three books), this one emphasizes singing
games and thus has the simplest dances that will work with the K-1. Any
of the books are great for grades 2-3, when they're really ripe for it.
In all their books they have good advice about working with kids and
issues at different ages. All the books come with accompanying tapes for
learning the music.
Bob Dalsemer also has a nice book with a tape. Those are the ones I'm
familiar with -- there are plenty more available. Without seeing it, I'd
say Dudley Laufman's book is probably great, too.
~ Becky Nankivell
Tucson, Arizona
RemarQ User
great group of folks to
help me out, I really appreciate it. Also, it confirmed a reality check of
teaching the very young
dances....keep it simple and work-up to the tougher stuff. The teacher I'm
doing this for wants
me to teach the K-3rd. graders the GRAND CHAIN! That may be down the road:)
Thanks again, Nancy
Fred Lloyd
> Will be teaching K-3rd graders some folk dances. I thought a simple
version
> of the Virginia Reel would
> work out well, but I need at least two other dances to teach them. Any
> suggesitons or how about
> a circle dance for kids this age? Tunes to go with the dance would be
great
> too but I'll take what I
>
>
>
> -**** Posted from RemarQ, http://www.remarq.com/?a ****-
> Search and Read Usenet Discussions in your Browser - FREE -
Hi, Nancy,
Why don't you try the Cumberland Reel with your youngsters?
If you don't know it here's how it goes:
It is a long set for 4 couples.
Bars 1 - 8 Couples 1 & 2 dance right hand star, left hand star.
Bars 9 -16 Couple 1 galop the set (holding both hands dance 8 side steps
down the middle of the set and 8 back.
Bars 17 - 24 The lines cast off down the outside. When they meet couple 1
make a 2 handed arch and the others pass through and up the set.
Bars 25 - 32 Taking crossed hands the new top couple lead a promenade down
the boy's side and up the middle to places.Repeat with new top couples
leading.
Any jaunty 4x32 bar jigs or reels will do as music.
A good simple circle dance is the Circassian Circle:
Form a circle facing inwards with the girls on the boys right hand side.
Bars 1 - 8 With hands joined round the circle all advance towards the centre
and then retire. Repeat this.
Bars9 - 12 The girls advance towards the centre, clap, then reitre.
Bars13-16 The boys advance towards the centre, jump in the air and clap,
then retire.
Bars 17 - 24 All swing partners
Bars 25 - 32 All promenade partners anticlockwise (girls on boy's right hand
side. Turn to remake the circle and repeat.
32 bar jigs or reels are OK for this as many sequences as you like, but 6 is
about right.
Books with excellent dances in them are available from ; English Folk Dance
& Song Society, 2 Regent's Park Road, London, NW1 7AY.
Hope all this is useful.
Fred
April Grunspan
Fred Lloyd wrote:
> <zil...@snowcrest.net> wrote in message
> news:DnmT3.2385$_u6.1069070@WReNphoon4...
> > Hi,
> > Will be teaching K-3rd graders some folk dances. I thought a simple
> version
> > of the Virginia Reel would
> > work out well, but I need at least two other dances to teach them. Any
> > suggesitons or how about
> > a circle dance for kids this age? Tunes to go with the dance would be
> great
> > too but I'll take what I
> > can get at this point! Thanks in advance for any help. Nancy
Seven Jumps (Scandanavian)
Nigun Atik (Israeli)
Laura Billmers
Also, Zemer Atik, Carnavalito, La Raspa, Savila Se Bela Losa, Carrousel,
Hora, Patch Tanz.
--
Laura Billmers
david
Laura Billmers <bill...@tiac.net> wrote:
The first English dance I ever learned was Brighton Camp (tune Brighton
Camp or The Girl I Left Behind Me)
Cumberland Reel
David Mills