Scotland Students to Learn Modern Dance

Cultural education is an important part of the instructional program at Scotland Elementary School. One of the components of this cultural education is an annual dance program sponsored by the PTA. In 2008, all of the students in the school participated in a special program on African Dance and Drumming. This was followed in 2009 by a special program in Jazz Dance.

This year, the focus of the program is Modern Dance. All of the students at Scotland will learn about the history of American Modern Dance through two assemblies and through dance workshops in physical education.

The American Modern Dance program will be a physical, musical and historical educational experience custom designed for Scotland School by James Robey, artistic director of the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance. Melissa Gerth, RCD assistant director and director of the Young Dancers Program, will also be teaching here. Performers in the program will include professional members of James Robey Dance as well as Ridgefield high school and middle school students who are members in a pre-professional troupe called the Ridgefield Contemporary Dance Ensemble.

The program kick-off will be on March 24 with an entertaining and informative performance by the instructors and performers from the Ridgefield Conservatory.

Following that performance, every student in the school will attend two workshops on modern dance that will take place during the weeks of March 29 and April 5 as part of their physical education program. These dance-filled workshops will teach the students the steps of modern dance. Over the two-week period, every student will have fun in a “learning by doing” experience as they try out specific modern dance style and language, getting to know the historical figures associated with the art form. These workshops will be led by Robey and Gerth.

Each grade level will focus on learning a predominant dance style in a specific movement period. For example, Kindergarten students will start with Isadora Duncan who, in the early 1900s, rebelled against the structure of classical ballet to free-dance barefoot, developing her own vocabulary of skips, runs and poses. First graders will be introduced to Martha Graham and explore the dynamics of energy. Second graders will explore the chance procedures of Merce Cunningham. Third graders will explore the use of space through the style of Paul Taylor. Fourth graders will explore the dynamic athleticism of Alvin Ailey and the Horton Technique, and fifth graders will explore the use of time and text through the approaches of contemporary choreographer Bill T. Jones.

The final day of the modern dance program will be a second assembly on April 14 for all the students in the school. Besides performances by the instructors and the performers from the first assembly, a group of students from each grade level will perform a brief combination of steps they have learned. The goal of that second performance is to showcase what the students have learned and show, grade by grade, the variety of approaches and the development of American modern dance through the decades. The showcase is a vital part of Scotland School’s cultural education program.

Mark Solomon is the principal of Scotland Elementary School.