Where do choreographers get their inspiration?

Ever wonder how a dance is created? Students at PS 176 have been working hard on creating their own dances with inspiration coming from...

Music-

Kindergarten and first grade are exploring movement invention based on the excitement of music. From the tempo to the rhythm and mood, students are finding ways to create their own movement to match the music!

Stories-

Second graders are creating movement sentences with a partner to tell the story of Gerald from the book Giraffes Can't Dance. We found lots of action words and emotions throughout the story to use as inspiration!


Other Choreographers-

Third graders are studying the elements of dance like pathways, directions and formations. Their inspiration is from the choreographer Paul Taylor. They are busy making plans for a group dance based on his famous piece Esplanade.


The Elements-

Fourth graders are taking their inspiration from nature and the four elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. We took some time to study each element to see how they move, how they feel and what they do to come up with action words. Next, we added some efforts/qualities to really communicate the element through movement. 

Famous Dances-

Fifth graders are looking at the famous dance created by Alvin Ailey, Revelations. Through observation and exploration, students create movement related to themes seen throughout Revelations. From wanting to fly away to wading in the water, students will analyze how choreographers communicate emotional and abstract themes through use of space, shape, movement qualities, color, and sound.

Asian Lunar New Year 2016!

Third grade students helped PS 176 welcome in the New Year with a performance for students and parents. Students spent most of January and February analyzing three dances that are used to help celebrate in China: The Lion Dance, The Dragon Dance and The Ribbon Dance. We then created our own!

Unique & Interesting

We've started the new year off in very unique and interesting ways! Students throughout the grade have been asking the question~ "How can we make our movement more unique and interesting?"

Using the Laban Movement Analysis Chart or L.M.A. chart for short, students have been exploring all the ways you can make something as simple as a walk completely different!

Check out the after school dance club who created a dance completely on their own using three different ideas from the L.M.A. chart :  Levels, Directions, and Pathways.


Untitled from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.

Back in the Swing of Things

Dance at PS 176 is up and off to a great start this year! Everyone started the year off by learning about SPACE. No, not that outer space and astronauts type of space... but the space around us!


 Students in 3rd-5th grade began trying their hand at creating Movement Maps. They used all of the vocabulary and concepts we learned about space and made a short dance. Check out one of the examples below. Can you follow our map?

Now students are working on our dance communities. How can we create a dance community and why is it important? We are working on sharing the space respectfully while being aware of our self and others, and also beginning to work with partners in lots of fun ways.

Ms. Rossi's class made some amazing sculptures inspired by the artist Henry Moore. We learned how to use negative space by going over, under, around and through all of the empty space. See any resemblance??

 

 

 

 

PS 176 Dance 2015-2016

Welcome Back!!!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to a brand new school year! As the year begins, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about the dance program at PS 176.  My name is Megan Grippo, M.A. and I am thrilled to be leading this growing dance program! The program is in its third year and going strong. Students in grades K-5 participate in dance classes once a week where we will explore dance through four different concepts- Body, Space, Effort and Shape. Our goal is to nurture the creative spirit in every child and allow this to empower their critical thinking skills and confidence. 

 To start the year off on the right foot, I ask that on days your child has dance they wear comfortable clothing they can move in. This mean for girls no skirts. We do keep our shoes on for dance so sneakers work the best. Please keep this in mind when the weather gets cold as winter boots, although great for walking through snow, can be heavy and difficult to move in safely. On those days, please pack students’ sneakers to change in to before class.

Feel free to check our PS 176 Dance Blog to find out what your student is up to in the dance classroom! I look forward to a fun and productive year!

www.lettherebedance.blogspot.com

Sincerely yours,

Megan Grippo

mgrippo4@schools.nyc.gov

Performances!!

Students have been working so hard this year on their dance making! 4th and 5th grade have just finished their Jazz unit with some exceptional group dances that include Jazz skills, choreographic structures and formations. Please join us for our upcoming dance performance where you will see Ms. Kelly's class share their work along with many other fun pieces to get you moving and shaking.

Families, you are in for a treat during our final Parent/ Teacher conference on May 13th as the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company joins us for two beautiful performances in the auditorium. Come and celebrate Chinese culture through dance and music! There will be two performances: 5pm and 6pm.

Dance! Dance! Dance! PS 176 Takes the Stage

Join us as we premier our very first dance concert featuring:

 5-311, 3-410, K-201 and the 4th & 5th grade dance clubs

Friday May 29th @9:00am

We can't wait to show you what we've been working on this year!! Hope to see you then.

Shape

Students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade have been exploring an important part of dance, body shapes. We learned that we can use body shapes to make our dancing more interesting and full. Kindergarten used body shapes in our Potato Chip Dance. 1st grade used body shapes in our Color Dance. 2-3rd grade used body shapes to create a dance inspired by Henri Matisse's artwork, "Creole Dancer". See if you can pick out all the different shapes, angular, twisted, curved and straight!

"Creole Dancer" by Henri Matisse

Art Shape Dance 2nd Grade 2015 from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.