Dance Lesson Ideas

Ask the kids to find a good self space in the activity area. Instruct them that when they hear this song ("Seven Jumps") there is going to be a stanza of upbeat music first and during that time they are to skip throughout the room avoiding each other. Tell them to use all the space. After the upbeat stanza of music they are going to hear a tone played and when they hear that they are to freeze in a balanced position of their choice. They need to hold that balance until the end of that tone. Then they are to continue skipping when they hear the upbeat stanza of music.

They continue this throughout the song. The tones will increase in number by one tone (i.e., 2,3,4, etc.) after each upbeat stanza. The song ends with 8 tones. The students are to change their way of balance after each break in the tone. In other words, on the last tone section of the song there are 8 breaks in the tone, so you would expect the kids to do 8 static balances in their self space.

Please insist on good balances and praise the students who are doing interesting and good static balances during the tone phase of the song.