Video Previews: Dance
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- Teaching Creative Dance
- Dances from Many Cultures
- The African Root
- Dance Performances
- DanceSense Enhanced
Teaching Creative Dance
This collection of four model lessons demonstrating the how and why of teaching creative dance is included in the Dance Arts Toolkit.
- Creating a Movement Sequence
- 2nd graders create movement sequences exploring the element of space in this lesson taught by Adam Kirk, dynamic fitness instructor at Fayette County’s Southern Elementary, and Dr. Rayma Beal of the University of Kentucky Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion.
Length: 00:12:28 - Dancing Stories
- Marianne McAdam, director of the Dance Minor Program at Eastern Kentucky University, demonstrates how to use a story as a basis for creating dance in a lesson for 4th graders that focuses on the element of force.
Length: 00:12:15 - Creating an ABA Dance
- Middle school students explore the element of time—rhythm and speed—by creating ABA dances in this lesson taught by Artist-in-Residence Kacey Frazier.
Length: 00:18:02 - Dancing the Water Cycle
- Physical education teacher Rick Carr and 4th-grade science teacher Shelby Ison of Woodford County’s Northside Elementary collaborate on a lesson in which students combine their knowledge of science and dance concepts.
Length: 00:15:33
Dances from Many Cultures
This collection of dances from European, African-American, Brazilian, Native American, and Appalachian cultures is included in the Dance Arts Toolkit.
- Punchinella
- Jennifer Rose Escobar and primary students play a circle game that originated in France.
Length: 00:02:51 - Seven Jumps
- Jennifer Rose Escobar teaches students a circle movement game that has been danced in Denmark and Appalachia.
Length: 00:05:24 - Ciranda
- Jennifer Rose Escobar teaches students a Brazilian circle dance.
Length: 00:02:49 - Little Johnny Brown
- Paula Larke discusses the symbolism of “Little Johnny Brown,” an African-American circle dance, and students perform the dance.
Length: 00:09:00 - Zuni Harvest Dance
- Arden Kucate discusses Zuni culture and teaches students two Native American dances.
Length: 00:06:33 - Goin’ to Boston
- Anndrena Belcher discusses “play party games” in Appalachian culture and teaches students an Appalachian dance with Colonial roots.
Length: 00:14:00 - Upon a Summer’s Day
- Jennifer Rose Escobar teaches students an example of dance popular with the British upper classes during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Length: 00:14:41
The African Root
This collection of video excerpts exploring African dance and its influences is included in the Dance Arts Toolkit.
- West African Dance: Description and Warm-Up
- Following a performance of West African dance, Harlina Churn-Diallo introduces concepts of African dance while dancers demonstrate warm-up movements.
Length: 00:06:09 - West African Dance: The Connection Between Music and Movement
- Dancers demonstrate four basic movements of African dance and how isolation of body parts is used.
Length: 00:08:14 - West African Dance: Choreography
- Dancers demonstrate a dance created using four basic movements of African dance.
Length: 00:07:28 - Afro-Cuban Dance: Understanding the Clave Rhythm Pattern
- Katherine Kramer explains clave rhythm while dancers move to it.
Length: 00:07:33 - Afro-Cuban Dance: Warming Up to the Clave Rhythm Pattern
- Katherine Kramer discusses Spanish and African influences, and dancers demonstrate warm-up movements such as isolation of body parts.
Length: 00:06:12 - Afro-Cuban Dance: Moving to the Clave Rhythm Pattern
- Dancers demonstrate using locomotor and non-locomotor movements with the clave rhythm to create a dance.
Length: 00:02:09 - Afro-Cuban Dance: Salsa Dancing
- Dancers demonstrate basic salsa steps.
Length: 00:09:27 - African Dance Performances
- Imani Dance and Drum Company performs lambah, a traditional dance from Mali, and a plantation dance/ring shout in the style of dances performed by African Americans on plantations in the American South.
Length: 00:05:44 - Hand Jives
- Girls from Paducah, KY demonstrate traditional American games learned from their mother, and two young women living in Bowling Green play some similar games from Nigeria.
Length: 00:03:47
Dance Performances
Nine performance videos demonstrate a variety of dance styles. Host David Thurmond introduces each segment with background information and ideas for what to look for in each dance.
- What Is Dance?
- David Thurmond, a dance educator and former dancer with the Louisville Ballet, defines dance, introduces the elements of dance, and offers suggestions on how students can use performance video segments.
Length: 00:05:20 - Lucky Day
- Marc Morizumi of the Secret Commonwealth Ensemble performs a modern dance that illustrates how dancers express feelings through movement as well as the connection between athleticism and dance.
Length: 00:04:45 - Iye, Iye
- The Imani Dance and Drum Company performs a traditional West African harvest dance.
Length: 00:03:55 - Heat/Ode to Sabrina
- Concepts from jazz dance are illustrated in two excerpts from dances performed by Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.
Length: 00:04:58 - The Graveyard
- Two friends’ imaginations run wild when they pass a graveyard in this modern dance from The Secret Commonwealth, Part 1: The Changeling and the Bear.
Length: 00:03:44 - Bluegrass Clogging
- Young dancers from the Kentucky Cloggers perform to music by Hog Operation.
Length: 00:04:34 - Jamaica Funk
- Dancers from the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble perform a tap piece that illustrates the energy and enthusiasm of contemporary tap dancing.
Length: 00:03:10 - Farruca
- Diana Dinicola of Dos Aguas dances the type of flamenco dance known as a farruca, with musical accompaniment by Gareth Jones and Sidney King and Mariya Tarakanova as clapper.
Length: 00:04:33 - Arabian and Chinese Dances from The Nutcracker
- Members of a Lexington ballet company perform contrasting dances from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker.
Length: 00:07:22 - Hot
- Michelle Bump leads the Secret Commonwealth Ensemble in the performance of a modern dance in which the costuming and choreography work together to convey a fiery theme.
Length: 00:04:38
DanceSense Enhanced
This special Dance Arts Toolkit DVD includes the entire 10-part KET series DanceSense, plus a video history of dance, five video segments exploring dance traditions, and four video segments illustrating dance styles.
- DanceSense Program 1: Understanding Dance
- This exploration of what dance is—and what it isn’t—includes three segments: how movement in dance compares to other forms of movement; the role the choreographer plays in the creation of a dance; and the three main categories of dance: artistic, ceremonial, and recreational.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 2: The Dance of Culture
- Four segments show a variety of ceremonial and social dances—from the Kathak of India to the American jitterbug—and explore how dance reflects culture and how cultural traditions influence the development of dance.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 3: Dance in America
- This exploration of American dance includes four segments: Native American dance, European influences, African dance, and blending cultures.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 4: The Elements of Dance
- Video segments introduce and explore the three dance elements of space, time, and force.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 5: The Moving Body
- In two segments, dancers explain how they train and demonstrate locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 6: Making Dance
- Five segments explore how dance is created, from the role of the choreographer and dance phrases to improvisation and parts of a dance.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 7: Ballet
- Four segments offer an overview of ballet, including history, training, innovators, and how to watch.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 8: Modern Dance
- Two segments explore the history and characteristics of modern dance.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 9: Jazz Dance
- Four segments offer an overview of jazz dance, including history, techniques such as isolations and syncopation, jazz styles such as swing, and how to watch.
Length: 00:15:00 - DanceSense Program 10: Tap and Percussive Dance
- Four segments offer an overview of percussive dance, including history; techniques; tap styles; and other types of percussive dance such as flamenco, Irish step dance, and body percussion.
Length: 00:15:00 - Dancing Through Time
- KET Distance Learning instructor Elizabeth Jewell provides a history of dance from ancient to contemporary times, illustrated with art, photographs, and video footage.
Length: 00:25:00 - Dance Traditions: Powwow
- Footage taped at a powwow at Trail of Tears Park in Hopkinsville, KY shows a variety of Native American dance.
Length: 00:03:53 - Dance Traditions: Kathak
- This example of a classical Indian dance was taped at a Mecca Dance Studio performance.
Length: 00:02:47 - Dance Traditions: Three Irish Dances
- Carrigdhoun Comhaltas dancers perform a polka, a jig, and a reel.
Length: 00:06:40 - Dance Traditions: Jean Ritchie on Play Party Games
- Anndrena Belcher interviews Jean Ritchie about the Appalachian tradition of community dances called “play party games.”
Length: 00:05:00 - Dance Traditions: Berea College Country Dance School
- Interviews and dance footage explain the purposes and activities of Berea College’s program to preserve country dance traditions.
Length: 00:06:40 - Dance Styles: Dance Vocabulary/Basic Positions
- Dancers demonstrate basic foot positions of ballet, modern, and jazz dance.
Length: 00:06:53 - Dance Styles: Ballet: Helen Starr
- Helen Starr discusses her career as a ballerina and her role at the Louisville Ballet.
Length: 00:10:29 - Dance Styles: Modern: Art! Art! Barking Dog Dance Company
- Anastasia McGlothlin, Alan Lommasson, and Lynn Slaughter, founders of the Louisville-based company, discuss modern dance; the segment also includes footage from performances.
Length: 00:10:12 - Dance Styles: Jazz/Tap: JazzArts at Western Kentucky University
- Footage from Western Kentucky University’s summer JazzArts workshop includes jazz and tap performance excerpts.
Length: 00:07:37