Activity Overview: Irish Step Dancing

By Stacy DeBroff

Some call this unusual, graceful style of dance “ice of the body and fire of the feet” because of the rigid upper body position and the fast moving feet. Irish Step is the only form of ethnic dance that relies solely on natural balance without the help of outstretched arms. In class, students learn to master the “sevens and threes,” which is a side step followed by a 1, 2, 3 step. Hands held stiffly at one’s side is one of Irish step dancing’s most distinctive characteristics.

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Activity Overview: Hip-hop

By Stacy DeBroff

Hip-Hop is a non-partner dance that accentuates athletic body movements. We now see Hip-Hop on rap and R&B music videos, but the energetic dance started centuries ago in the Caribbean when rhythmic speech and dance were used to tell stories. Eventually, this form of expression became rap and break dancing, a movement that offered young urbanites an inexpensive form of self-expression. The break dancing of the 80’s and 90’s is based on the “break beat,” or the part of a dance song where all sounds but the drums fade away.

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Activity Overview: Dance

You may find yourself marveling with delight when your 2 year-old joyfully dances away to music. At this stage, you join the ranks of parents searching for classes for their budding “stars.” When is the best time for your child to begin dance, and what should you look for in a dance school?

Dance can be treated as an art form, sport, or something in between. As an art form, it is disciplined and expressive with an emphasis on individual and class achievement. As a sport, it is disciplined and rule-bound with an emphasis on pleasing judges and teachers and acquiring trophies and medals. Most dance forms emphasize artistry and performance rather than competition. However, a few forms of dance are competitive, such as Irish step dancing and the latest form of ballroom dancing, called DanceSport, that has just been officially recognized by the Olympic Committee.

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Types of Performing Arts

By Stacy DeBroff

Creative Drama and Improvisation (Improv) 

“Process rather than product” is the mantra for creative drama. Unlike traditional script-based drama, creative drama can include dramatic play, story enactment, theater games, music, and dance. The improvisational aspect of creative drama teaches children to react without deliberation, express first impulses, and not worry about failure. Students are taught to accept whatever circumstances they are presented with and then to move the moment forward.

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Music Overview: Drums & Percussion

By Stacy DeBroff

Most percussion instruments make sounds when hit, such as a drum or a xylophone, while others make sounds when shaken, such as maracas, or rubbed. Percussion instruments include chimes, bells, cymbals, drums, timpani, and triangle.

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Music Overview: Violin

By Stacy DeBroff

The violin, the foundation of all orchestral string sections, has changed very little over the last three hundred years. It consists of a thin wood box and an elegant neck and scroll with tuning pegs at one end. Four steel strings are stretched across the body. The instrument is held under the chin with the left hand, and the right hand is used to pass the bow across the strings to make sound. The bow is a stick with horsehair stretched across it. A player rubs the horsehair with rosin (from pine-trees) to make it sticky.

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