The first term of our Saturday morning Children’s Classes are
whizzing by, designed with fun and creative tasks to encourage new movement
awareness, skills and confidence. Also to provide a supportive and welcoming
environment for children (and their adults) to explore and question how we feel
when we’re moving and notice connections between our brain and body.
Initially the 5 senses were inspiration for discovery and we
used different sights, sounds, spatial props, smells and tastes to promote and
explore possibilities. ‘Light’ has now become our focus as the bright autumn
sunshine fades and days turns darker towards the mid-winter – fireworks,
colours, reflections and shadows offer thoughts and ideas for movement
adventures.
The very youngest children, who are 2-3yrs, enjoy the freedom
offered by the beautiful roof studio to dance with their parents and carers,
extending their natural movements with feathers, balls, bubbles, balloons,
ribbons, parachute. It is delightful to see them feeling so safe to move in the
space, gaining confidence and trust in their co-ordination and physicality.
For the 4-7yr olds, amongst other things, we have experimented
with onomatopoeic firework words such as – pop, whoosh, boom, crackle, whizz,
fizz, bang, zoom – to create and order movement actions with different
qualities inspired by the children’s imagination.
The 8-11yr olds are abstracting ideas to develop choreographic
skills, making choices and decisions using their own responses. The children
played with ribbons representing firework light trails and then created their
own ribbon pictures to inspire and design movement pathways.
