Active ArmchairsDance ClubsDance for AdultsDance in SchoolsMonster Mash
In October we bring all things spooky into our dance lessons and enjoy doing some strange, but exciting things. Below, some of the TRS Teachers talk about their Halloween themed dance lessons in schools and Active Armchairs sessions in care homes.
At Byron Lodge by Erica, Level Two TRS Teacher and Active Armchairs Facilitator
When I arrived at Byron Lodge, a spooky living room greeted me. Pumpkin and witches hat bunting along with a giant spider and web were all on display. My Halloween themed Active Armchairs session was definitely going to be a hit.
After warming up, we monster mashed our way to the Addams family with ribbons. A lovely display of vampire red ribbons filled the room before using scarves as ghostly ghouls flying around. We were the ‘ghostbusters’, and the participants really loved this song, getting in the spirit and shouting ‘GHOSTBUSTERS’ at me.
Next we had to keep the ghost (balloon) up in the air and we even tried our hand at the witches hat hoopla. It was such a great atmosphere today and lots of smiley, happy participants.
At Byron Primary School by Rebecca, Company Director
Today everything we did revolved around the scary and spooky! We started with a Spooky Scary Skeletons circle warm up and they were all so creative with their ideas, coming up with their own warm up moves inspired by skeletons and copying each other’s. They enjoyed it so much that almost everyone ended up sharing a second idea. Then we played in the pumpkin field, more amazing imaginative ideas!
After this we had to recap, but it was still as though we were continuing our spooky theme because last term’s dance was about the Disney Zombies films. The dancers impressed me so much with how well they remembered their dance. We’ll be showing it to their adults at the end of term. I’m sure they’ll love it.
After this is was back to games. We made ghosts from hankies and did some mirroring. This involved great concentration and soon became quite elaborate. Our amazing spider web was made of tights. We used vague and simple movement or direction descriptions to inspire our movements and watched as the web stretched and contorted in unexpected ways.
For cool down I led a spell school and we did a version of one of my Active Armchairs cool down, ‘Put a Spell on You’. Some of the Harry Potter fans in the room already knew a few of the spells and we all chose to use our magic for lots of exciting things. The group knew I went to care homes to teach dance, but they’ve never done one of the dances before so they enjoyed copying the spooky dance and casting spells. It was a lovely way to end our monster mash.
By Jenny, Level Three TRS Teacher and Active Armchairs Facilitator
I visited Woodstock Care Home and Hazelwood Care Home to deliver some Halloween themed sessions.
We danced to lots of spooky songs, danced with spider paper plates, played a game of hit the spider and pumpkins with the balloons, used the tights spider web and had lots of fun with the paper napkin ghosts to ‘Ghost Busters’. We danced to ‘Devil on disguise’, ‘I put a spell on you’, ‘Mobster Mash’ and many more.
The residents loved telling me what activities they had been up to and how much they’ve enjoyed Halloween this year! It was a ‘spooktacular’ day!
At Palace Wood Primary School by Erica, Level Two TRS Teacher and Active Armchairs Facilitator
I love the start of a new theme, and today’s Zombie’s theme didn’t disappoint the Palace Wood Cheer Dance group. Being Halloween, we enjoyed some terrific warm-ups, including a fun pass the balloon race using just our legs.
We explored how Zombie’s move and there were lots of excellent expressions and positions on show.
After learning a motif, the dancers were excited to use the pom poms, and they added that extra special magic to their performance. We used their favourite rainbow cannon as well as the block formation to add cohesion to the dance and its already looking FANG-tastic. I can’t wait to see this groups final performance at the end of term.