Dance

“Introducing students to the art, history, and beauty of dance, and the physical requirements of creative movement are a priority for implementing the school’s philosophy of educating the whole child.” - Lynne Warren, School Founder

Dance and movement is built into the curriculum for all grades, and for all students, from the very beginning. Every student studies dance in the lower school and again in sixth and eighth grade. In the lower school, dance is taught through applied Laban Movement Analysis based on the DEL model (Dance Education Laboratory).. Instead of only learning steps, students learn to move through exploring the different elements of movement: Body, Effort/Dynamics, Space, and Relationship.. These are taught through experimentation, and group collaboration in order to encourage higher levels of thinking and engagement.  As students grow older, they participate in more involved choreography. In eighth grade, the dance program culminates in a performance in which all students perform individual or small group pieces that they have choreographed, and a large group piece which the teacher facilitates.

“The reason it’s important to have dance in the curriculum is that, in any kind of situation, you need to learn how to develop ideas and think outside the box. You do that in dance - improvise, be creative, develop an idea - and you can transfer that to other disciplines,” - Donna Krohn, former GUS dance teacher