In today’s lecture we discussed dance in the curriculum. Our lecturer mentioned that dance should be an enjoyable subject for young people and should be a child led activity. 

In todays dance workshop we began by creating games to allow us to warm up. We then introduced these games to the rest of the class and we all participated in each others activities. I found this was a worthwhile experience because it allowed us to become more comfortable with one another before starting the dance routine.

We then had continued our dance from the last session. We had started by recapping on the dance steps we had chosen from last week and practised the whole class sections of the dance. We then moved onto incorporating our group routines into the whole class routine. In our groups we then had to think of our transitions to come in and out of the dance. We also then added a starting and ending pose to give the dance more depth. The ending pose also was an indicator for the next group to come on. 

Child Growth Foundation (CGF 2010) found that childhood obesity has become the most common nutritional disease in developed countries. Dance is a fun and engaging way to incorporate physical activity into the classroom. However, we must remember dance is not just about physical activity and not let it overshadow the fun and creative element of dance. Dance should allow young people to be imaginative and use creative ideas and movements to create a performance. 

Teaching dance is not about teaching young people to become dancers. It is about creating an enjoyable and fun foundation in the principles of dance movement and performance (Fouracre, n.d). 

In today’s music lesson we were learning to play the glockenspiel. I found today’s session quite challenging as I was struggling to read the music. As I do not have a musical background, the coloured stickers on the glockenspiel helped me to match the notes on the board. As I was struggling to play along to the music my partner had taught me to play ‘Mary had a little lamb’ which only consisted of three notes. I found this very helpful as the song is very repetitive and as the song only consisted of three notes it was easy to learn. This allowed me to become more comfortable playing the glockenspiel and by the end I was able to play along to Last Christmas.

Overall these two sessions taught be that the arts must be enjoyable and should give pupils variety and choice. Dance should their imaginative ideas to come up with creative dances, music should complement the dance and inspire creative thoughts.