Need a new way to get moving? Rosewood Arts Centre Facility Coordinator, Claire Dorothy Zook , previously performed professionally as a freelance dancer around the world, and is now a local dance instructor. She put together a fun dance activity to help you get active, and most importantly, have some fun! (Check out Claire’s helpful video below)
Materials:
- Enough space to move
- Your own body!
A wonderful thing happened this past weekend. The sun came out! I felt the need to do a little happy dance! Although, often when I want to get creative getting started can be the hardest part. That’s when I remembered a great tactic my college dance professor used: “Dance by Numbers.” The idea here is that you create a very short movement phrase for each digit 0-9, providing a set of movements to be combined in endless ways. Once you have some starting movement, it’s easy to let the creative wave take over.
Your phrases should be very short and easy to remember. To make this easier, I try to think of something that looks a bit like the number itself, or mimics the way that number makes me feel. For example with the number 1, I always think of a little victory cheer, so I try to put that feeling in the phrase. My 8 phrase looks like an 8, and I make a figure 8 with my body. Then, if I want to dance “18,” I dance my 1 phrase followed by my 8 phrase.
You can use these number dance phrases however you like. Use it to celebrate finishing that math worksheet! You can make it a game, having one person yell out or write numbers up for the rest of the group to dance out. Have a friend play random music while you dance out your birthday or telephone number. Or just use it as an easy way to get outside in the sun and get moving!