by Jan Duffy
Jan Duffy is a lifelong educator and has been a teacher at Woodward Academy since 1991. A frequent poster on our GoodWork Toolkit Facebook page, one day Jan wrote about a recent dance performance:
“My Primary School Dance students, (Grades 1-3), recently presented their annual Spring Dance Concerts and of the 10 pieces of original choreography performed, no less than 7 pieces were co-choreographed by the students and me. Although those 7 pieces took a month longer to finish than the other dances, I think the empowerment the children felt when they performed those pieces was worth every extra minute! I don’t know a way to prove how much more they understand about what they learned as compared with other young dancers, much less as compared with other students, but I believe there’s a difference. One that every teacher who appreciates Whole Child, authentic instruction can find a way to relate to, and build upon.”
(Complete posting at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/GoodWork-Toolkit/215661020497)
We asked her to tell us a bit more about it. Her response was so enthusiastic and thoughtful that it was far too long for just one blog. We’ve divided it into three installments: 1) an introduction (below); 2) a discussion about the importance of engagement and 3) some thoughts about the collaborative process of GoodWork.
On May 1, 2011, 157 very excited young boys and girls in grades 1 to 3 took turns performing on stage in our school’s theater to the delight of their family and friends. While this recital has taken place for the past 18 years, this year was different. What was remarkable about their program this year was that 6 of the 10 original children’s ballet and modern dances presented, were collaboratively choreographed! The students in the 2nd Grade Ballet classes made up 2 of their 4 dances with me , and all of my 3rd Grade Modern Dance classes made up their dances with me.
Since 2007, when I began teaching full time at this private, independent day school, I’ve collaboratively choreographed at least one 3rd grade modern or modern/jazz dances each year, but never this many dances – and never with such young students! It may not sound like such a big deal to those of you who teach authentically – who routinely present the collaborative work of your students – but I’m talking about some very young dance students.
That these 7-9 year old dance students all co-choreographed with me such lengthy pieces for their ages is somewhat of a feat when you consider that the formula I use myself as a “fast” professional choreographer is this one: 1 hour of choreography equals 1 hour of music-just to make up all the movement! These children’s dances were completely co-choreographed, memorized, cleaned, added to, rehearsed, cleaned again, and rehearsed in costume two or three times in our classroom before we ever went to the theater-and almost all of the work was accomplished in two 20-30 minutes sessions of their 40 minute bi-weekly classes, over a period of 14 weeks.
To me, looking back on it, the fact that I even attempted it is pretty amazing! After all, when you boil all that math down, and we’re talking about young children making up those dances with me, and getting them ready for performance in just 14 hours! The piece’ de resistance’ was a suite of modern dances collaboratively choreographed by one of my 3rd grade classes to four of their favorite Beatles tunes. Before, During, and Between the dances, the kids arranged and rearranged 13 small folding chairs in various formations, and through their movements-with the judicious addition or subtraction of several small props- managed to successfully create in turn a “a book-seller’s convention”, “three limos and a sportscar”, “the sun”, and a “stadium style rock concert”. They brought down the house!
Even though their levels of ability, experience and actual technical prowess were no greater than any other class, as individuals, and as a group, this group seemed to intuitively understand how to seamlessly fit their contributions into the work as a whole. Whether with a partner or a small group, or as a class, the children worked with “the big picture” in mind to create and extend our movement phrases together, and did so much more cooperatively and professionally-and with more artistic integrity-than I’d ever experienced with a group of young 8 and 9 year olds in over 20 years. Why was that? As I began typing this, that’s what I wanted to know, and that’s how this blog post grew so long! It’s not easy for me not to speak volumes about what’s been my greatest passion in life now for almost my entire career-empowering kids by helping them become leaders and learners just by helping them choreograph. More on this in the next installment…