Dance ClubsDance in SchoolsSchoolsAcro Performance
In Term 5, Shanice and I had the pleasure of working together at Hunton Primary School. It was wonderful to see how the group learnt their skills and improved their strength over the week. Then, the newly named Acro Team, and I worked together to create a performance. I’ve written about this process below.
Find out more about Acro by clicking HERE.
Find out more about Dance and Fitness Clubs in schools by clicking HERE.
I was so impressed with the Acro Team’s hard work learning the skills and improving their strength that I knew their performance was going to be great. Although most of the group declared they couldn’t dance, I only needed to see their entrance movements to know they could! Shanice and I asked them to move as though they were making their way through a jungle. They were very imaginative, ducking under branches, climbing over logs and pushing through big leaves.
They had to stay very still in their strengthening positions, Dish, Arch, Front Support and Back Support for a long time during the performance. It’s a good job they all practiced so hard during Shanice’s lessons! I was very impressed, they even managed to smile lots.
Celebration became the focus of the performance because they like to celebrate eachother and their own achievements in acro. It’s an important element of the club. So I asked them for some movements to show celebration and, with sunshine and air punches, we repeated them a few times in the performance.
Of course, one of the highlights was the cartwheel semi circle. From those who wanted to give it a go (almost all of them!), Shanice chose some who had worked extra hard on their technique and were able to perform various stages of the cartwheel safely. They did themselves proud.
My favourite bit was their partner choreography. They were given three positions that we named plank, tree and roots and they had to add transitions between them. Some even got to make up their own shape with the word leaf as inspiration. The movements were fantastic, but the challenge was to perform it all smoothly without having a quick chat to remember what comes next. They did really well, especially as they’re and Acro Team, not a dance one!
Finally, we added the ending position. Also celebration themed, the Acro Team came together in four groups and made up their own position using different levels. They impressed me with their speedy teamwork for this. I was able to have a lovely posed photo with some of them after the show, they look fantastic!
I filmed their final rehearsal. Not all the children had permission slips so those filmed did really well filling in the gaps where partners and cart wheelers were missing. This is a challenge for any performer and they did so well. See the video below.
The most important bit, the performance, was amazing. They’d worked so hard and were incredibly committed and it showed. It was really lovely to hear comments from the audience about how proud they were. There was clapping and smiles all around. What a fantastic end to the term, I wonder what Shanice has in store for next term!!