Model Program
Dancewise
Hundreds of students at six Putnam City elementary schools capped five weeks of dance instruction with performances at their schools this past October. The students have learned about dance through an innovative Putnam City program known as “Dancewise.” To see the movie you will need Apple Quicktime.
Dance instruction has been provided to 3rd-grade and 4th-grade students
by dance artists of the Oklahoma Arts Council, Desiree LaVigne-Roanand
and Tonya Freeman-Kilburn. Instruction has taken place in physical
education classes with the help of elementary school physical education
teachers who partnered in the experience.
Funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, the pilot project will
reach into every elementary, middle school and high school over three
years until every site has a unit of dance within their physical education
programs. Unlike the paired and precise dances TV viewers see on “Dancing
with the Stars,” students in the program have focused on learning
dances emphasizing improvisational, creative movement.
Dance benefits elementary students in several ways, says District Fine Arts Coordinator Barbara Gabel. "Thanks to the Oklahoma Arts Council, we're bringing dance to more that 2,800 students in the Putnam City District elementary schools. The Dancewise Project will incorporate dance into our physical education classes. Through these experiences, we’ll implement the elements of dance essential for high quality comprehensive physical and fine arts education programs.”
Students will have the opportunity to learn, perform and create dances with the help of Dance and guest artists and the physical education teacher. These partners will reference three dance forms of Creative Dance, Social Dance, and Cultural Dance. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how theme and elements (body, time, flow, space, force and relationship) can be addressed from creative, social and cultural perspectives.