In June I was contacted by my old pre-school/kindergarten and was asked if I would like to come and teach for their arts camp in August. I was very apprehensive at first, I had never taught anyone that young before, and I find trying to keep the attention of middle-schoolers to be a challenge, I could only imagine what it’s like with kids of that age!
After some thinking, I decided to agree, both because it’s something new and challenging, and because that school is where I took my very first dance class. It was taught by Kasandra Gruener (OBT’s current director of Education and Outreach, and a fantastic teacher) and was a part of the various programs we could choose to do through the school. It was the class that began me on my long road to where I am today and I felt that, even if no one from that class would ever want to become a professional dancer, at least I would open their eyes to a new possibility.
After agreeing, I talked with Kasandra about various exercises to do, what music to use, and how to keep the kids attention. I wanted to give the class more of a “ballet” focus as opposed to simply “creative movement”, so that figured into my planning as well. In the end I created two half-hour long classes that seemed like fun and would have some continuity from the first class to the second.
I was SO nervous the first day. Like I said, I’ve never taught pre-schoolers, and it’s been years since I’ve even babysat anyone around that age. In the end, I think it was probably the highlight of my summer! The kids were all so wonderful and attentive. I even had a few of them (both boys and girls) tell me that when they grew up they wanted to be a ballet teacher just like me and they wanted to give the exact same class that I had given them. I know they are young, but still, it kind of melts your heart to hear that. :-).
I had one of the class aids take some pictures on the second day for me to post here. The last picture is of a banner that the kids made me as a thank you. I put it up in my apartment firs thing when I got home, and it still makes me smile whenever I look at it.
~Steven
Getting everyone lined up to go across the floor.
Telling the story we are going to dance, "The Pixies in the Garden." It sounds silly, but it's pre-school gold.
Flowers growing out of the ground.
The banner. :-).
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