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.

What Makes Jazz, "Jazzy"?

4th and 5th grade students are in the middle of our unit on Jazz Dance. We've started by listening to Jazz music and watching Jazz dance to get some ideas on what really makes Jazz so jazzy. Next we started to make our mark on Jazz by signing our jazzy signature.

Next, we learned some Jazz skills, choreographic structures, and how to dance to the beat. We've just started to put together our very own Jazz dances. Check out the classes below and see if you can pick out our Jazz skills! Stay tuned to see what dances may make it to the PS 176 stage for our performance on March 26th!!

The beginnings of our Jazz Dances! from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.

The beginnings of our Jazz Dances! from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.

Winter Performance

The PS 176 Dance Club rocked the house with their wonderful performance at the Winter Show!

Check out their dancing below...

Snow Day! Winter Concert 2014 from Megan Schenk on Vimeo.