This is a short plan, methodology and rationales for my choices for a community dance project that i am interested in starting up at some point. The information here is detailed however is only a plan and not everything has been finalised.
Client group: young children
Who?
Young children aged 7-11: find out about their health issues and/or disabilities (if there is any) from their parents or guardians. Find their limits; strengths and weaknesses. This is to ensure that it’s a safe practise for them and can plan a safe session. Any medical conditions?
Are the parents allowed in the room? Can they join in? Parents can be in the room with their child because this will make the children feel more comfortable and will be a more informal and less scary surrounding. However I think it becomes difficult when parents join in with the dancing as some children may feel that they want their parents to join in and this makes the environment a very different one.
Engage with the children first is important, get to know them because it may take longer for children to warm to someone and trust them then it may do for an adult. It takes children especially long to get to know someone and will be hard to be comfortable with you straight away, so could have a couple sessions before actually dancing that is a ‘get to know’ class which is very informal and parents come too for a group chat.
Where?
A venue that children are comfortable in and are familiar with, such as; school hall, they’re big enough to fit a lot of people in and are clean and child friendly, youth clubs etc. places that this client group may have already used as a social area or other community clubs. However may need a local studio with sprung floor because some children are not aware of all the safety regulations for example when jumping to land on bent knees, if they was to not land safely without sprung flooring this could lead to an injury. That’s something to think about when considering the venue, but also when considering teaching the children because this is something they will have to learn.
Is anyone else using the venue? If so then a booking schedule must occur and the venue must be left clean because it isn’t the next lot of people to use the venues’ job to do it. Whoever is in charge of renting the venue out would be in charge of the actual cleaner but they can keep an eye on the condition of it after being used.
When?
Think about all the suitable times for children – after school perhaps because they may still be active and late in the evenings wouldn’t be suitable; for example 4 o’clock. Also if the venue is in a school some of the children could go to that school and would be easier for them because the project would be bringing community dance to them. Not late evenings because the younger ones may need to be in bed for school the next morning and/or finish homework and readings that they are given, therefore I think 4 would be the most suitable time and the children still have time left for extra curricula and readings/spellings etc.
How long will the session be? An hour is a suitable time, once or twice a week. Perhaps a weekday and a Saturday (most parents and guardians won’t work on weekends so are available to take them to the session). Having it twice a week will give the children something to look forward to after school and when their week is over at school they also have it on a Saturday morning and won’t have to bug their parents to go out. However this could be too much to ask for a parental commitment so I think once a week for 2 hours would mean more attendees.
What?
What are the aims and objectives of the session? > keeping the children active and fit, teach them work about safe practise and warm ups. I will also cover technique and the correct way to perform some moves as they can be vital in keeping bodies/muscles safe and healthy, for example how to jump correctly and use of plies in landings. Do activities that enable a challenge and sequences however thinking of all abilities when doing so.
What will it include? > Big warm up and exercises that kids may have already been introduced to for example star jumps, skips, jumps, leaps and travel sequences. Fun exercises that everyone can enjoy with the odd partner work. Jazz dance, to bring an element of fun with other styles such as folk dance, hip hop and Bollywood.
It’s a newly formed group and need to break the ice, so will have a meet and greet beforehand with chocolate biscuits for the little ones and parents can join and have tea or coffee with us too. This will be a session to get to know the kids and more importantly for them to get to know myself and the staff that will be running the sessions so they can feel comfortable with them.
Educate them on R.I.C.E
Use of props to engage the kids> ribbons, boxes, musical instruments etc
Children playing live music sometimes
Lastly floor work could be introduced in some sessions so they can sit down and not walk about as children can get easily distracted at times.
Why?
Explained in each section.
How?
How will I know if I’ve achieved my aims? Talk to the children about how they feel the sessions went, how the parents felt about it and myself and my team. See if they all match. Evaluation of the session, have a check list before hand of the things I want to do, at the end see if these targets/ aims and objectives have been met.
Here is a set of practises that i consider important to have planned out ready for my community planning. these are clearly outlines instructions and/or procedures that will take place in this project i would like to undertake.
Methodology
v We work at high standards however has a fun element and cannot be taken too seriously
v There is no set dance technique or style; different styles or themes may be introduced weekly
v A must is a meet and greet beforehand so both the children and the parents feel safe with who they are supervised with or who they are trusting their children with
v CRB checks
v The venue must be safe and secure for the children
v There is no audition process, it is a community dance project and hobby based (extra curricula)
v The content in the sessions must be simple/easy enough for all participants to achieve it, however challenges or tasks can be pushed more depending on the child’s ability
v Must know important information about the clients so the session is safe for everyone to enjoy (e.g health and wellbeing of a child)
v The use of different genres of music in each session, however may be repeated music as a specific exercise is remembered through the piece of music which would make it easier for the children to remember content.
v Educated but informal chats at the end of sessions to see what has been learnt and to teach children about safe practise
v Will always be time for the children to feel empowered by making choices such as instruments they want to use
v Children want to be valued and make their own choices so building team work or individuality they will make their choreography
v Performances will be held for everyone
The reasons for these choices
The dance sector should always be ay a high standard however with children as young as 7 this may not been seen as important and may be over ruled by the fun they may be having with their friends, and we don’t want to ruin that for them. This links into the no set style, perhaps weekly a new style could be introduced which will teach the children to be versatile and not be a specific dancer. The children must always be safe and in safe hands as their parents/guardians are putting their trust in you as an organisation so therefore legally all staff will have CRB checks for the children’s protection. Also a meet and greet will be needed so parents and guardians and the children know who will be leading the sessions, this will also help the children feel a bit more at ease when it comes to the first session together. All participants (especially the younger ones) are going to want to be good at what they are doing and will also want to know when they are doing well; therefore praising them and giving them choices gives them confidence and empowerment. Some of these choices can be using their own choreography in each sessions when we do creative tasks. A lot of this methodology is on ensuring the children are safe, hence warm up being essential and the value of sprung flooring and a safe/clear environment with very little distractions; these could be a hazard.
– Specific exercise with my client group
When working with a mixture of disabled and non-disabled children it will be necessary to use very specific language and terminology, for example as there may be children who require a wheelchair to move it would be inappropriate to request the class to walk around the space, rather it would be more suitable to ask them to travel around the space in as many ways as they can. This will set the class a task that they can all engage with in their own way. Carrying on from this I will use a variety of words for the children to interpret in any way they like, not only is this a creative task which gets their brains ticking but also a way for them to be empowered which is a key pointer of my methodology for this client group.
Some example of instructions could be
- Travel
- Rolling
- Make noise (this could be from any body part or something in contact with the floor, or speech etc.)
- Make a connection with someone (this could be anything from making eye contact with them or going over and touching them)
The instructions given are going to be very vague as my client group, because some sessions I may have disabled children in it as the session is available to disabled and non-disabled dancers in the community. If so all children have a right to equality and therefore is any physically disabled children join they need to feel like they can join in on everything so giving them choice in the matter will make it easier for them as they know what they are capable of, and also easier for the leader of the session as they will not need to worry about upsetting anymore or unknowingly excluding them.
Laura Goodman Dance 