Animal Inspiration: Group Dances

In recent years not only 1 – but actually 3 – picture books have come out with the theme of collective nouns to describe groups of animals. What are these words and phrases? Examples include:

• A leap of leopards
• A parcel of penguins
• A knot of frogs

For students in grades 2-5, these books can be curious springboards for a group project. Divide the students into small groups of 3-6 students. Have them each select an animal and read up in that book about that animal. 

Then, each group can create a section of the dance for their animal. For example,

1. Have the students choreograph a way to enter into the space
2. Students then freeze in a group shape/tableaux
3. Then, based on their reading, have the students create a dance with 4-8 actions of their animal (example – reaching, swinging, grabbing, rolling, etc). Based on the age of your students, you can further explore level changes, tempo, direction, and pathway.
4. Have the students choreograph a way to exit as well

The three books of collective nouns are:

A Tower of Giraffes: Animals in Groups by Anna Wright

Have You Ever Seen a Smack of Jellyfish? An Alphabet Book by Sarah Asper-Smith

A Zeal of Zebras by Woop Studios

Image from A Zeal of Zebras

Music ideas include:

"Cirrus" by Bonobo

"Thum Nyatiti" by Ayub Ogada

"Rumble in the Jungle" by Max Roach

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