Creative Movement

by A. Myers

This year I had the opportunity to teach creative movement as part of my Pre-Granite afternoon option class. As someone who has trained in various forms of dance since childhood, I am always excited to get to teach dance technique. But creative movement is a particular joy for me to teach precisely because it is non-codified. Creative movement does not have a set form or technique. Instead, it is an improvisational kind of dancing in which the student uses his or her body as the primary means of communication. Non-codified, however, does not mean unstructured or without purpose. Creative movement sessions teach students to understand the basic elements of dance—shape, space, time, and energy—without limiting them to a particular dance technique. In this way, creative movement appeals to children of all personalities and skill sets because it allows them to explore their own natural movement preferences.

In my creative movement lessons I usually focus on one or two of the elements of dance. The element of shape deals with the quality of still poses—angular, round, long, twisted, symmetrical, asymmetrical, etc. The element of space has to do with where the dancer travels—at different levels, covering large or small amounts of space, creating angular or curved floor patterns, and so on. The time element deals with rhythms and the speed of movement. And finally, energy has to do with the dynamic of the movement—sharp, smooth, floppy, controlled, light, heavy, strained, relaxed, etc. These elements of dance are common to all forms of dance, so learning how to manipulate them can lay the foundation for students to absorb a codified technique later and can even transfer to other kinesthetic activities like sports or martial arts.

A typical lesson involves three parts: a warm-up, an exploration, and a culmination. The warm-up is simply a time to get students’ bodies moving and to prepare their brains to receive information. I usually follow a “freeze-dance” format in which students can move/dance during the music, but must freeze when the music stops. I typically give students complete freedom for one part, but instructions for the other. For example, in a lesson focused on angular shapes vs. round shapes, I might first tell students that they can move in any way they like, but must freeze in a shape that creates sharp angles. After a few rounds, they will have to freeze in a shape that creates curves. I would wrap-up the exercise by telling students that for the last few rounds they may choose to freeze in either an angular or a round shape, but they must make it very clear which quality they have chosen. This kind of exercise not only gets students moving but also gets them comfortable with making the spontaneous decisions which are the foundation of improvisational movement.

The next phase of the lesson is the exploration. This is when I verbally guide students through an improvisational creative movement exercise that reinforces the ideas already introduced in a more structured way. For example, to continue the lesson on angular vs. round shapes, I might tell students to make a shape with one clear angle. Then I would tell them to find a way to add another angle to their shape without losing the first one, and then add a third one. I might then have them start again, but this time do the whole exercise at a lower level. Eventually I would have them manipulate all the angles in their shapes into curves. Then we could work with shapes that combine angles and curves. Of course, every child’s starting shape will be different, and their individual choices as they progress through the exercise will be unique. This means that children have to think creatively to follow the instructions from the individual staring points that they have chosen. I cannot count how many times I have been blown away by the resourceful and clever movement choices I have seen these students make in order to explore movement within the given guidelines!

The last part of the lesson is the culmination. This is usually the time when I give students a dance-making task during which they have to apply the concepts learned in the lesson. I will usually pair them up or put them into small groups and give them guidelines for creating a movement sequence. I might say, “With your partner, create a sequence of five shapes: two must be angular, two must be round, and one must be both. These shapes can be in any order, but your audience must be able to tell the quality of each individual shape.” This collaborative time not only helps children learn to work with others towards an end goal, but it also broadens their horizons for interpreting the instructions when they see how another child instinctively moves. After giving students some time to work out their sequences, I will give each group the chance to perform. I try to emphasize active observation in the rest of the students by asking questions after each performance—Did you see clear angles? What about curves? Which shape in that sequence combined both angles and curves?

Creative movement naturally develops areas like motor skills, spatial awareness, reasoning and problem-solving skills, right and left brain connections, and an understanding of parts-to-whole relationships. But more than all of these areas, I think creative movement is beneficial to children because unlike most academic areas which require children to learn and communicate their understanding through visual, aural, or verbal means, creative movement capitalizes on children’s natural propensity for kinesthetic learning. Author and creative movement expert Mary Joyce writes that “Children find a fulfillment through dance that can be realized through no other discipline, because dance simultaneously involves the inner being and the physical body.” Young children are at an age when they have a natural connection to movement and physical activity.

Creative movement taps into this and gives children an opportunity to express their intelligence and imagination in a non-verbal way. All children have been made uniquely by their Creator and have
the capacity to emulate His creativity and ingenuity if given the proper channels. I think that creative movement is one of these channels, and I have been inspired by the remarkable ingenuity
that it brings out of these students.

Benefits of Studying Latin

by S. Link

Latin is the basis for all Romance Languages (English, French, Spanish, etc.). Half of all English words are derived from Latin and so, when you study Latin you learn more about English. 

Learning Latin grammar is an invaluable experience.   Often, you don’t really understand the grammar of your own language.  It’s all intuitive.  You will use the subject noun and direct object in a sentence correctly just because it “sounds” right, but you may not understand the grammar of it.  Unfortunately, what “sounds” right, isn’t always right.  I am always trying to break my children of saying, “Me and so and so are doing this today.”  I know that “me” is the incorrect word to use in this context (“I” is the correct one) due to my study of Latin.  Because I’ve learned the Latin cases and how they are used, I can explain why.  “I” is used as the “subject” and “me” is used as the object (direct object, object of the preposition, and indirect object).  Even my highly-educated adult friends will sometimes say, “Her and so and so... when beginning a sentence.  Again, “she” is the 3rd person pronoun used as the subject, and “her” is used as the object    This is just one example of how Latin grammar can help a person better understand English grammar.  There are many more.

I recently asked my son, Luke, who is in college, if he felt that studying Latin at Granite had been beneficial.  This is what he wrote:

“Thanks to my time spent studying Latin, my subsequent study of the Spanish language was a breeze, the language that many of my singing peers struggle to master (Italian, German, Spanish, Latin) come easily to me, and I can confidently define scores of words because I understand their roots.

I am a singer.  Much of the classical music that I sing is in Latin.  I was singing a Latin piece the other day with the choir.  Unlike most of the other folks in the choir, I knew exactly what I was singing.  I love that!  

There are lots of mottos and sayings used in our culture, such as mottos for the individual 50 states and mottos for the armed forces.  Those who know Latin can understand all of these.  We Latin students know that Semper Fidelis (which is the motto for the Marines—often shortened to semper fi) means 'always faithful'.”

Okay, so there are lots of benefits to studying Latin, and I’m not even listing them all here.  But, here’s another one.  Latin is fun!  Do you like doing puzzles?  I love Sudoku and Mathdoku.  It’s so much fun to solve those puzzles.  That’s what Latin is like.  It’s like a fun puzzle that you can solve with logic.

People are always impressed when they find out you've studied Latin--not a reason to study Latin, but it's a fun benefit! Finally, did I mention that students who have studied Latin have higher SAT scores?