Dancing Words Blog

Category: PreK-5 Dance Books

  • I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina

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    I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina is not a new book, but many readers might be unfamiliar with this book. It is out of print but easily found used and affordable on the internet.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art created this book. Using details from memoirs, the story is the personal tale of one of the most famous ballerinas of all time, Anna Pavlova. The picture book tells of her first time going to the theater, falling in love with dance, and dreaming of becoming a ballerina. For many young girls, this is their dream as well. The book pairs Degas artwork with the story – a lovely match. You can explore this book along with the new ballet book Invitation to Ballet, which also uses Degas images.

    I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina is a great addition to any library collection, as well as a great book to explore with children in grades K-3. 

     

  • Underground Dances

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    Many of Denise Fleming's picture books are fun to use in dance classes – full of action words and animal inspiration. Her latest book, Underground, is a wonderful new addition. 

    I have a small collection of books about plants and animals underground. This theme is fun to explore in preschool and kindergarten dance classes. 

    Use Fleming's new book to inspire improvisation activities or a group dance. This picture includes numerous animals and creatures that go underground – digging, tunneling, and burrowing.

    For teachers and teaching artists who have iPads, you could get the ebook version of the story to have on hand. The ebook is available on iTunes for $12.99.

     

  • Using Picture Books with Middle School Students

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    The possibilities with picture books are endless! 

    This fall, I taught a Dance Elective course for students in grades 7 and 8. We explored the concept of "story" in many ways, and one project involved children's picture books. Our goal was to have the students choreograph 3 different dances, and then perform the dances for younger students. I teach at a K-8 school.

    The middle school students loved this project. We started with a stack of about 20 books. We looked at all of them – looking for "movement inspiration and possibilities." I brought in most of the stack, and a few students brought in some book options from home. Allowing the students to select their "top choices" helped to support the initial "buying into the project."

    In the end, the students selected:

    1. Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, with illustrations by Marla Frazee
    2. Fortunately by Remy Charlip
    3. Like a Windy Day by Frank Asch and Devin Asch

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    As the teacher, I had pre-selected a stack of books that "lend themselves to movement." Use this blog to help create a stack of 12-20 books.

    Over the course of several weeks, the students worked hard on the choreography. We played with imagery, choosing whether to recite the text within the dances or not, music, and costumes.

    When teaching middle school students, and working towards culminating performances, it is always important to consider the set up for the students. How can they do their best work? How can you support them to perform, feel comfortable, and take a chance? Performing for younger students still gave them the opportunity to perform in front of an audience, and it was a safe venue to perform.

    The project culminated in several mini performances for kindergarten and first grade students in our dance studio on campus. Prior to the performance, the classroom teachers read the three books to their students. 

    It was fun, joyful, and engaging for both the teenage dancers and our young audience members.

    During our Fall Dance Concert, which included all dances from the course, the students performed these dances for their parents as well. In the end, the dances "stood on their own," and the families enjoyed seeing this project.

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  • Magic and Whimsy Series: Tuesday

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    David Wiesner's 1991 Caldecott Medal Book Tuesday is pure magic and whimsy. The (almost) wordless picture book tells the story of a day when a group of frogs fly through the town. 

    The book is a great springboard with students in grades 1, 2, and 3 to explore a variety of ideas through movement: flying, stealthfulness, moving en masse, and traveling pathways around town. The book can lead to improvisation activities with a group, or even a magical group dance. 

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  • De la cabeza a los pies

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    Today, while browsing the dance resource library at the Luna Dance Institute in Berkeley, I stumbled upon a version of Eric Carle's picture book From Head to Toe, and in Spanish! This simple, delightful book gets young ones ages 1-6 moving and exploring. It is an accessible book to read at home with your child, use during a storytime at a library, or use as a warm up in parent/child dance classes and preschool dance classes.

    Looking at amazon.com, De la cabeza a los pies is reasonably priced in paperback. Used copies are also available. 

     

  • Dancing Feet

    There are numerous picture books with the theme of feet. Whether you use the book as a springboard for a new warm up, an introduction to a lesson, or inspiration to create a foot dance or foot dance film, here are some fun selections.

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    Barefoot: Poems for Naked Feet by Stefi Weisburd with illustrations by Lori McElrath-Eslick

    Fun poems exploring the many activities we enjoy with bare feet

    The Soles of Your Feet by Genichiro Yagyu

    A playful picture book with foot facts and details

    Hooray for Feet! by Susan Pearson with illustrations by Roxanna Baer-Block

    Poetic text exploring the many ways feet move; use the text as a starting point for improvisation

    The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

    Classic Seuss text and illustrations – "left foot left foot left foot right….feet in the morning…feet at night…"


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  • “To Be an Artist”

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    I was just re-reading a wonderful book from 2004, To Be an Artist by Maya Ajmera and John D. Ivanko. This picture book will be a great conversation starter in 1st-4th grade classrooms. 

    The book includes photographs of young artists from all over the globe. The book includes dance, but really covers all art forms. Dancer Jacques d'Ambroise wrote a wonderful, one page foreward for the book. 

    "To be an artist means expressing yourself in many different ways….To be an artist means sharing your artistic flair for others to appreciate…"

    The text is simple but lovely. How can you not get inspired by a children's book that uses the language of "to be an artist?" 

    I suggest reading it to a class and then discussing how each student expresses himself/herself artistically – in your classroom, arts classes, family and community activities, and more.

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    George Ancona's book Let's Dance! is a nice companion book to To Be an Artist. It also uses photographs and shares a global perspective on dance and the many ways dance is a part of our lives, cultures, and traditions. Let's Dance is great to share with students in kindergarten and 1st grades.

     

  • Top Picks for 2012: Books on Dance

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    As the year wraps up, I have looked back at all of my posts for 2012. Looking specifically at books published in this year, here are three of note:

    Jazz Age Josephine

    Invitation to Ballet

    Bea at Ballet

    The links are back to the original blog posts. Jazz Age Josephine uses rhyming text to tell the story of Josephine Baker. Bea at Ballet is a joyful book for preschool and kindergarten students beginning ballet, and Invitation to Ballet is for students in K-3 interested in ballet.

    Keep adding to your book collections, as many books go out of print quickly. 

     

  • Winter Themes for Dance Classes

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    In this time of the holidays, and also a time to wrap up our school year, I frequently turn to the themes of: winter, night time, light, wishes, and dreams.

    How to Make a Night by Linda Ashman, with illustrations by Tricia Tusa, is a playful book to explore with K-3 students. A family is having a rough day, and they are ready for the night to come. A little girl magically makes this happen. "Catch the sun. Pull it down. Find a safe, dark place. Peel the blue from the sky…" 

    The story is whimsical and imaginative, and full of actions words to inspire movement (shake, splatter, lift, throw, fling). 

  • Magic and Whimsy Series: Butterfly Tree

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    A friend and colleague at work recommended this book to me. Butterfly Tree, by Sandra Markle with illustrations by Leslie Wu, is a magical and true story about monarch butterfly migration.

    The story begins with a little girl seeing "orange" in the sky. Eventually the girl, her mother, and her dog journey through the woods in search of an answer to the mystery. Along the way, they find other orange objects around them but not quite what they are looking for. In the end, they find a magical swarm of monarch butterflies, stopping briefly beforing heading out for the wintertime.

    The whole concept and whole story could become a beautiful class dance. Or, you could simply explore the idea of your group of students being butterflies and moving together.

    Based on the size of the project and depth of exploration, this book could be used within a wide range of grades – kindergarten through fifth grade.

    The author's note at the end of the book provides some more details about monarchs for interested readers.