National Museum of Dance & School of the Arts

Dance

BOCES ID

2517

For

K-2, 3-5, Middle school, High school, Students with Special Needs

Categories

Dance, Theatre, Visual Arts, Choreography

Curriculum

ELA, Health, The Arts, Mathematics

Costs

Based on program length, class size, and location. Please contact for more information.

Dates Available

Year-round

CONFIRM AVAILABILITY

REQUEST ARTIST

Program Theme

Math, Music, and Movement

Founded in 1986, the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs is the only museum in the country dedicated exclusively to the art form of dance. Five permanent installations anchor the annual exhibition schedule and five temporary exhibitions are mounted each year. The Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame honors innovators who have made an indelible contribution to American professional dance. The Museum’s tremendous roster of programming includes master classes, lecture-demonstrations, and performances led by some of the most influential dance artists of our time. The Lewis A. Swyer School of the Arts provides instruction in multiple styles of dance to a vast range of students in both age and ability, including those with professional aspirations. The National Museum of Dance continues its founding mission to celebrate, promote, and support all genres of dance while looking firmly ahead to cultivate new and diverse audiences, ensuring the future of the art form.

Program Description

Math, Music, and Movement: Grade Levels 4-6, Middle and High School Special Needs students

Two exploratory workshops that use geometric shapes, musical phrasing, tempo, basic principles of probability and fractions to design collaborative and unique choreography as their culminating activity. Differentiated learning activities will be offered to meet the needs of students. An all-inclusive environment that promotes respect, cooperation, collaboration, and enjoyment will create a positive experience for all.

Both workshops are appropriate for students with Special Needs in middle school and high school or General Education students in grades 4-6.

Workshop 1: Shape-ometry

Using their knowledge of the world around them, students will develop a list of shapes that have meaning in their lives and demonstrate for each other.
The concept of “multiples of 4 and 8” will be applied to pare down the list of shapes in order to use musical phrasing to create choreographic blocks.
Students will come to a consensus to arrange the choreographic blocks into a flowing “dance” that transitions easily from one movement to the next.
Basic principles of fractions with regard to tempo will allow students to experiment with slow or fast movements within the musical phrasing.
Students will perform their Shape-ometry creation as a culminating activity.

Workshop 2: Dance by Chance

Students will be exposed to the choreographic techniques used by Merce Cunningham which used probability methods of chance in order to determine the order in which the parts of his dances were performed.
Students will be exposed to basic principles of probability using a pair of dice.
Using the choreographic blocks developed in Workshop 1, small groups of students will apply basic principles of probability to create a new random order for their original dance.
Different styles of songs will be placed in a basket and each small group will pick one at random. That song will be the new score for their creation.
Students may apply any of the variables learned in Workshop 1 in order to create a final dance which will be performed as a culminating activity.

This workshop is presented by Mary Anne Fantauzzi, a 41-year veteran mathematics teacher with certifications in Elementary Education N-6, Mathematics 7-12 and a Masters Degree in Special Education. She is the artistic advisor and founder of MOVE Dance, a hip-hop troupe of Special Needs and at-risk teenagers. She is currently the Docent Coordinator at the National Museum of Dance and owner of Total Body Trifecta Fitness Studio.

Literacy Alive! Dance For All!: Grade Levels K-2

An inclusive, sequential dance education program that explores literature through an integration of movement, music, and other disciplines. Stories leap off the page and into the classroom as the scenes are enacted and plot/themes are developed.

This program enables children for whom dance is not accessible to develop technical skills, perform dances from a wide range of cultures and experience its life-enhancing benefits. Through artistic expression, new ideas, a broader knowledge base, and a better understanding of the human condition are promoted. The student will gain a more integrated understanding of history, self, and culture enabling them to better participate in the social, political, and aesthetic aspects of their local and global communities.

Age appropriate music and activities will be used keeping the children motivated, engaged, and challenged.
Curriculum is developed around a thematic scheme, usually a classic story that has a cultural or character development component.
Sections of the literature will be performed and learning will be enhanced through creativity and imagination.
When performing group choreography teamwork through collaboration and conversation will be developed.
Dance classes will take place during the day running from 45 minutes to an hour depending on school schedules.
A lively, energetic, and joyful warm-up will set the tone for the rest of the class.
Teachers are active in the program facilitating the curriculum connection (a list of classes can be provided for teachers to select from) and they are welcome to join!

Circus tightrope walkers when reading Dumbo.

This workshop is presented by Leslie Kettlewell, a professional dance educator for more than twenty years. She has taught dance to children in schools, in private studios, and for community organizations. Currently, she is a faculty member for the School of The Arts at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. Leslie is a graduate of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, with a major in English and a concentration in dance. In addition to teaching dance, she has worked as a vocational evaluator for the physical, mentally, and emotionally handicapped. She is also a published author.