Danceable Ideas: What Can You Dance About in the Classroom

You Can Dance About Anything in the Classroom!

500 elementary school students sat on the floor of the "cafegymatorium" at a local elementary school, eyes glued and ears tuned to the presenter on the stage. Their hands were quiet and focused as they mirrored the brilliant performer and presenter Marilyn Berrett. They copied the quality, speed, and direction in which she brought her pointer fingers together, moving as slowly as the minute hand on a clock, until they gently touched. She said in a projected but adequately reverent whisper into the microphone, "We are the BYU Kinnect Dance Company. We like to connect dance to everything and everyone, in the world around us." The pause following her statement was pregnant with awe and inspiration as the children's curiosity grew, and they wondered what magical thing would happen next. 

Did you know that dance is better than recess? Did you know you can dance the math, not just DO the math? Have you ever seen a band of nocturnal animals dance across the stage? Did you know your boots can dance or you can wear dancing pants? Have you ever seen a Rube Goldberg Machine made of human bodies that used simple machines like levers, pullies, inclined planes, or wheels to generate and transform energy and motion? 

These are all topics and ideas that the BYU Kinnect Dance Company has shared on the stages of elementary schools in Utah, across the nation, and the globe. This is all part of the mission of the educational outreach company to inspire classroom connections to core content through movement and embodied learning design. 

The possibilities are endless for what students can dance about. If you need a fresh batch of inspiring ideas for making dances in your classroom, look at this diverse list of concepts. They may spark your (and your students'!) creativity.