The Dress-Up Dance
Jade Geneve Kepner(Some of the things I do as a part of the "artist in the classroom" program.)
At the request of different teachers, going from school to school, class to class, generally seeing each class only one time. It's a challenge finding the right tools to use that will leave a loving imprint on their minds.
I usually start by dancing with my silks, then ask if they know how dancers use their bodies, and if they have noticed that dancers never talk, that their magic is in the silence of their movement, and if they are very still and listen to the music, the music will tell them story dances that they too can tell with their bodies.
They are very still and remember that the magic is in the silence - we listen to the music, so they can hear and see the same story dance the music told me - then, very softly I put on my tape of 'dance of the hours' and tell my story to them so they can see.
It's a Story DanceYour mother was a very famous dancer and up in the attic was an old trunk filled with all sorts of beautiful costumes, wigs and such - - but - - she would never let you go near the trunk. Then, one day, your mother was away, and your baby sitter was asleep - - so very carefully you and your sisters tip-toed and began to creep up the stairs to the attic. You found the trunk and danced round and round it, then when you opened it and discovered the beautiful things - like magic the dark attic turned into a beautiful stage. You all dressed up in the costumes and danced and danced, and became the world's most famous dancers - - then suddenly you heard the garage doors open - your mother was coming home !!! Quickly you had to take the costumes off, put them back in the trunk, get down the steps, and crawl back into bed - just as you put your head on the pillow, your mother opened the door, said, “My, what good little children have I.”
And so now you know the story - the magic trunk - filled with scarfs for you to move with, dance with, to fly - and when you feel the pulse beat of the earth, the throb of life, the joy of being, you will know what life is, dance is. We heave a fun-filled sigh, then let the helium balloons I had brought fly free and rise to the sky.
One of the many purposes of the dress-up dance is teaching them to be still and to listen and see the wonderful world of beauty that comes forth from them, when they are still and look within.