One of my goals as a dance teacher is for my students to create, to be inspired, to collaborate, to work together without conflict and to understand how dance...as a universal language...can be used to communicate and express feelings, ideas and thoughts.  Watching students work together and create is one of my favorite things about this job.  When you give kids an opportunity to own something, they will run with it and they will amaze you. Therefore, integrating choreography and group projects is an important and large part of my teaching.
My 5th graders have always loved to dance and create.  They have so much energy and I have always loved to see how they come alive through dance. 

So this spring, I focused on choreography as we ended out the school year.  Over the course of the year, I have shared with them about my trip to Lebanon and how I am returning this summer.  Last year, we wrote letters to the students in Lebanon and conducted a "letter-exchange" to share about life in DC.  This year, I wanted to do something a little different. 

I had my students create dances this year instead of write letters.  Their goal was to create a dance that represented who they are as a student,  a child and their life in DC. 

Most of my students created a mixture of hip-hop, break-dancing and even some stepping. I let them be as creative and independent as they wanted to be. Below are two videos of my favorites--especially the boys as they were SO excited to perform.

Wobble time!

Also, my students wanted to show their favorite dance, "the Wobble." So yes, the Wobble is now going international.

Excited to see what the students in Lebanon will think...and what they will come up with in exchange to bring back to DC!

Enjoy!







"Dance-Gram" 1:




"Dance-Gram" 2 :






And of course, "The Wobble":