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Samantha brown
Mat Wenzel
ENC2135
11 July 2017
Most children grow up, unsure of what they want to do in life. This moral dilemma can follow children far into their adult lives. Being involved in a dance community allows children to express themselves without the use of words. Children at artistry are encouraged to let the music move them while following a structure placed on each class and provided for the growth of each individual student. Why is it crucial for child development for a student to be able to express him or herself in a structured environment? Becoming involved in a community where a child is felt that they are heard is vital in the stages of finding out their individual role in society. Children should learn to find an artistic outlet to fully express themselves to develop physically and mentally. In hopes of finding a strong artistic outlet with the same passion for children, I stumbled on a studio called Artistry Dance Alliance. “We provide a whole experience where a student can express themselves artistically, develop technically, learn responsibility and work ethic, maintain an athletic regiment, and feel at home while doing it” (Logan Tharpe.) This quote shows the true value that Artistry Dance Alliance provides for children to express themselves completely with the use of strong and empowered teachers and a class structure.
Allowing children to feel as they have a voice within their community is crucial. The dancers at Artistry enjoy coming to class and enjoy working with their teachers along side of their peers. Logan Tharpe stated in her interview that, “our focus is on an individual dancer opposed to the studio as a whole. The individual journey of each dancer compared to a team success is important in the child’s individual growth. We treat dance as a sport.” The sport of dance is ever changing, and in the same way artistry encourages students to reach outside of their box. Allowing the focus to be on the individual dancer allows the student to grow. If you place stress on the group as a whole, you may only be as strong as your weakest team member. Logan also mentions, “ every dances has their own artistic journey to travel, and we aim to help each dancer recognize his or her own dream.” Dancers at artistry have a studio designated to them, allowing the dancer to come and grow socially and technically as people and dancers. Instructors use a variety of methods to focus on the growth of individual dancers. One of my favorite activities is an activity called improvisation. This activity allows the individual dancer to “feel the music” and dance how they see fit to the music chosen by the instructor. The dancers love showing their passion and speaking their minds without actually speaking at all.
Creative dance is defined as the interpretation of a child's ideas, feelings and sensory impressions expressed symbolically in movement forms through unique uses of his/her body (Dimondstein, 1971). The use of improvisation allows kids to express this definition of creative dance. The lack of being told exactly what to do allows the dancers to make decisions for their selves. This type of structure is completely different from the one that would be enforced in a school type environment. In school, children are told to sit, learn this specific way, and do only this at this certain time. Which, in many cases is exactly what children need but, in dance or any type of sports, children are given a structure to allow them to be able to think independently. Although, I am a dancer and personally believe dance allows children to fully express themselves, football, Art, soccer, Baseball, and all other sports and activities allow children to think independently about their actions and how they may effect their team members.
Many people would think that allowing children to move freely throughout the room might cause chaos. Yet, this chaos has somewhat of a structure. “Social competence is intimately linked with children’s behavior problems”(Lobo and Winsler). Allowing the dancers to dance along side of their peers, they are forming bonds that many people don’t get to experience. These dancers involvement includes directs contact, counter balance and supporting someone else’s physical weight. These dancers are able to get to know their peers in a complete different way. The dancers share a similar passion for dance and show up ready to learn with their best friends by their sides. Finding a passion and sharing that passion with a diverse group of people is extremely satisfying and necessary for children in this pre adolescent stage.
Children grow up with a schedule and should be introduced to a certain standard to uphold at a young age. Within this dance community there is a unique structure in each class that plays an important role in how the studio runs. Mrs. Tharpe, the owner of Artistry dance alliance, explains that she strives for a certain type of instructor to teach for her studio to maintain the required structure. Logan states, “I look for strong work ethic, passion, responsible people so I don’t have to dictate what they do, while also looking for someone who is pleasant and wont upset any parents or dancers.” All of the instructors at Artistry come to class with a detailed plan of action and a smile on their face. Structure within the studio is extremely important as to be able to allow kids to learn in a controlled and healthy environment.
Creating friend groups within school is vital for children’s growth and development, but finding an artistic or physical outlet is even more important. “The role of fitness in physical education programs perhaps has never been more important than it is today” (Sluder, et al). The using sports education to teach autonomy also doesn’t fail to mention the amount of kids that are over weight. (the amount of kids that are obese today is more than ever)These children should be involved with some kind of sport to increase the amount of activity they do daily. With being involved in a sport allows for kids to create friend groups with similar interest of theirs.
I strived to find a studio that promoted unity, self-expression, and individualism.
Children before adolescence
Annotated bibliography/ works cited
Lobo, Yovanka B., and Adam Winsler. "The Effects of a Creative Dance and Movement Program on the Social Competence of Head Start Preschoolers." Social Development, vol. 15, no. 3, 2006, pp. 501-519, CrossRef, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2006.00353.x/abstract, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2006.00353.x.
Although this article does not relate directly to my question of ‘why is it important to have structure in a class room’ it does give me a definition of creative dance. This article also shows the relevance of dance and how it affects children in their preschool years. In my essay I will use this article to show how creative dance benefits children at the dance studio and relate it to class structure. I would first like to show that within my dance community, improv (creative dance) allows kids to experiment and find who they are and who they want to become with the assistance of an instructor and a class structure.
Sluder, Brandon J., Alice M. Buchanan, and Oleg A. Sinelnikov. "Using Sport Education to Teach an Autonomy-Supportive Fitness Curriculum." Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, vol. 80, no. 5, 2009, pp. 20-28, CrossRef, https://search.proquest.com/docview/215762019, doi:10.1080/07303084.2009.10598322.
This article allows me to show the importance of children being involved in some kind of sport or activity. This article discusses the amount of children that are obese and how much of a problem obesity is becoming. The use of sports is essentially to entertain children while adding a basic structure to the activity allows children involved to learn. This article also educates me to show the various types of structure that succeeded and the ones that have failed. While this article also support the argument that being involved in any type of sports promotes independent problem solving that relates back to the improvisation game promoted at Artistry.
Logan Tharpe. Personal interview. 5 July 2017
Logan Tharpe is the owner and director of Artistry Dance Alliance. Artistry is the community I am slowly integrating into and would like to become a part of in the fall. Logan Tharpe was able to give me personal information on her idea of how the studio should run. I was able to learn many aspects of the studio and see a whole new side. Logan told me the importance of a class structure and how the individual dancer is the focus of her studio. She strives for her studio to promote unity while also encouraging self-expression and individualism. Logan also discussed the time commitment I would have to be willing to make to the studio as well as to the dancers. Logan told me the various types of characteristics that she looks for in teachers who are wanting to become a member of the dance studio.