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Dance the Night Away…with a Little Twist!
by Rachel Stepp
If your school has a school-wide danced planned in the spring, then you might want to suggest a way to add a ‘twist’ to the dance! It’s hard to please everyone’s groove style with one theme, such as a “Sock-Hop,” but you can easily dance through ALL of the decades with the help of teachers throughout your school.
Here’s How to Get Your Groove On:
Plan a night for the school dance where the main dancing action will take place in a large area like a gym or cafeteria. In this area, have a DJ, cool decorations, and lots of room to move around! This room can be a place for participant games and group dances, too. In a nearby room, have refreshments so that people can revive themselves after hours of fun.
But, Here’s the Twist:
Get all of the grade levels and classes involved leading up to the dance by allowing different grades/classrooms to represent different decades throughout history. For example, one grade level can represent the 80’s. In these classrooms during the weeks or month before the dance, teachers might dress in their neon and acid-washed jeans with wavy-teased hair every Friday.
Then, on the night of the dance, these classrooms can become smaller dance areas with music from their selected decade. Push the desks against the wall, bring in lights and lamps, and pump up the jam! The more that the teachers get involved in their decade, the more authentic the experience will be. And, to add to the festivities, each classroom can host decade-related contests, like “best twist,” “coolest tie-dye” and “biggest hair.”
Another twist? Classrooms/grade levels could be themed by musical genre: country western, hip-hop, Motown, Big Band, Glee…the possibilities for music and accompanying decor are endless!
Here’s How to Get Parents Involved:
Since this is a family function at school, be sure to include something around the school that parents might enjoy. You can host a silent auction in one classroom. Ask for donations of prizes from your school partners and local vendors. Set up a silent auction room where parents can visit and bid throughout the night. Announce winners at the end of the night, and allow the parents that leave early to pick up prizes from the front office the following days. Since the prizes will be donations, this activity will help to pay for the whole dance event…and then some!
And as always, make sure you have a camera handy so that pictures can be published in the yearbook or school newsletter. Kodak moments are sure to abound!
Looking for the perfect music to get you inspired? Check out these two rockin’ CDs that include instructions for simple choreographed dances to accompany classics like Proud Mary, Please Mr. Postman, and ABC (on the Motown CD) and Who Let the Dogs Out, Mambo Number 5, and Wipeout (on the Dance Party Fun CD) from The School Box. Groovy, dude.
Rachel Stepp is a graduate student at The University of Georgia…and a bountiful resource of creative ideas!
A Learning Experience 