By Donna Burgess
“ Donna’s dances are such a gift to children. I have not seen a quicker and more effective way to bring children into harmony together and give them a fun experience of community than through Donna’s approach to folk dancing.”
Mark Rice, Director
SunRidge School
Sebastopol, Calif.
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About This Book
Dancing Through School! is a unique resource for bringing folk dance into elementary school classrooms and home schools in way that is simple and fun for both teachers and students.
Donna Burgess has developed an easy-to-follow method of introducing folk dance that is based on over twenty years of experience teaching dance to children.
All the tools that a teacher needs are included in the book:
* clear dance notations with a comprehensive glossary
* instructions that include a pattern in brief for the dance, cues for students, and detailed descriptions of each step
* complete musical scores for each dance
* pedagogical and cultural notes
* helpful tips for teachers on playing music, introducing new dances, partnering etiquette and more
* a beautiful companion CD with music for every dance in the book
The book presents fifteen dances, some with alternate versions, suitable for children in grades three through seven. These dances have been carefully chosen for both their developmental appropriateness and their proven popularity with children. Donna's goal in writing Dancing Through School! is to encourage and empower teachers and parents, who may not have dance experience, to bring the many benefits of folk dance into their classroom, into their homes, and into their community life.
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View ExcerptsDonna has been a longtime faculty member at Live Oak Waldorf School and a guest instructor at Rudolf Steiner College and at many Waldorf Schools and Waldorf-inspired charter schools.
Dancing Through School! is the fruit of over twenty years of experience teaching folk dance to children.
A Note from Donna
It all began with an initial request to teach folk dance as a volunteer in 1988. My joyful experience of dancing and learning with that first class sparked a deep interest in folk dancing with children that has evolved into two decades of teaching hundreds of classes of children in elementary schools throughout the Western U.S.
My goal in teaching a new dance is to make the experience of learning the dance as easy and fun as possible for the students. My hope is that the dance descriptions, the recorded music and the musical scores provide helpful tools that inspire and enable you to bring folk dance into your classrooms, into your homes, into your community life.
To request a workshop, teaching engagement or community dance event, and to inquire about scheduled workshops in your area, email Donna.
May the dancing go on!
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