129 East 7th    Ames, Iowa 50010    515 232-7374  fax 515 233-9290
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Outreach Residencies

Movement and Curriculum
Valerie Williams Co'Motion Dance Theater can use ideas from your current curriculum to make dances, not only to enhance curriculum but to illustrate the process of making dances.

During your Co'Motion Dance Theater residency three dancer/teachers will excite your student's minds and imaginations using curriculum ideas to create dances. This is a fun and imaginative way to reinforce your classroom topics. Teachers will need to provide us with a list of preferred curriculum topics approximately 2 weeks prior to the residency to give the dancer/teachers enough research time.

Some ideas from past residencies:

SCIENCE
Solar system - near/far, orbits
Outer Space
Planets
Science Fiction
Rockets
Physics - force, friction, gravity, centrifugal/centripetal forces, weight, momentum, angular momentum
Dinosaurs
Biology - Viruses,
   Brownian motion
   Temperature
Kinesiology--study of movement
   Skeleton, muscles, nervous system, movement analysis, coaching
Simple machines
Bubbles


LANGUAGE ARTS
Creative writing - Writing from watching a dance; creating dance from writings
    Dance to tell a story
    Dance to create an atmosphere
    Dance to show feeling/emotion/attitude
    Movement for its own sake
    Poetry and dance
    Personification
Taking Dictation
Reporting vs. Reviewing
Interviewing Artists
    Questions to ask
    How to prepare for the interview
Abstracting
    Rhythm, substance, content, style


MATH
Fractions
Arithmetic--Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplications
Dance Equations


GEOGRAPHY
Map reading
Geographical formations
Folk dances from different countries
    Costuming and why
    Why different types of dances are from different regions


MUSIC
Rhythm
   Note values
   Moving parallel to the sound:
        with a steady beat;
        with a rhythm above a steady beat;
        with a changing beat and rhythm
Clap dances (creative movement game-like dances)
Folk dances
Music and dance
   Listen to different styles of music and creat dances from the musical ideas
   Using rhythms from specific pieces of music to create dances
Sound and movement


ART
Positive and negative space
Interdisciplinary art projects
Abstracting
Elements of design
Understanding the human body and weight placement for life drawing


HISTORY
'Feet on' introduction to dance history
Costuming and how it affects movement
How dance styles follow political and social trends


CAREER
Job opportunities in the arts--performing and non-performing
Education requirements for working in the arts

VWC'MDT has been a frequently requested Artists in Schools/Communities company since 1978. The company bases it successes on clear communication with cooperating teachers, other faculty and staff; excellent planning well before the residency; extensive knowledge of dance technique; well qualified dancers who can also teach to a specific age/experience level; excellent ability to control students in a positive manner.


More About VWC'MDT Residencies

General Introduction to Modern Dance

Setting a Kids' Co'Motion Production

Musical Theater

Early Dance

Valerie Williams Co'Motion Dance Theater is in residence at Iowa State University Department of Health and Human Performance