TAPE ONLY

Contents
Country
Page

Acknowledgments

4

About Shenanigans

4

Teachers' Workshops

4

Multicultural music and Dance Education

4

Teachers' Resources

5

Suggestions for Teaching Dances

6

Photographs

7
The Dances

Scissor Dance

Serbia

8

Seno Slama

Macedonia

10

Boanopstekker

Netherlands

11

Bear Dance

Belgium

12

Polka Piquée

France

13

Louisiana Saturday Night

U.S.A.

14

Cotton Eyed Joe

U.S.A.

16

Little Bird

International

17

Frog Puddles

Australia

18

Blacksmith's Apprentice

Germany

19

Zvarniara

Greece

20

La Bastringue

Canada

22

Sellenger's Round

England

23

Link to Complete List of Dances on Shenanigans Resources

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING DANCES - from the accompanying booklet

Know the music, steps and tape deck thoroughly. Preset the volume control, make a habit of zeroing the counter and teach near the tape controls.

Level 1: Teach in an involving manner. Draw to the music, use body percussion ostinati (repeating patterns) to the music, sing the melody (with the tape, unaccompanied, in solfa, with the harmony), clap the rhythm of the steps, do question and answer activities within the rhythm, do activities clarifying the number of phrases and the different timbres.

Establish a dance programme with regular sessions of 45 minutes to 1 hour. In session 1 teach four or five dances and dance through them at the end. Revise these and teach one or two more next session, and so on. Begin each session with some "warm-up" activity to avoid injury, perhaps one of the less vigorous dances. Choose a "high" number to start and finish.

Further work could involve improvising movement to the music, making up dances and dance tunes, e.g. pentatonic tunes.

Level 2: Teach in a direct manner. When demonstrating in a circle move around to allow all dancers to copy steps from behind. Make a clear distinction between dancers "watching" and "doing" with a game like "you clap the rhythm of my feet on the floor as I move …… now I clap and you move". Use signals to synchronize movements, e.g. "ready, and" or singing the introduction to begin; a handclap for go or stop; three quick claps to change direction; a "Hey!" or other call just before the end of the phrase, to warn of an approaching change.

With a difficult group it may help to begin with a small demonstration group, but give everyone a task e.g. clapping certain stamps or rhythms from the dance. Keep your sense of humour and enjoy the little surprises that arise. Nobody, including yourself, wants a session that is a "downer".

Level 3: Show the whole of the dance once or twice and immediately involve the dancers, perhaps with a basic version, as the finer points can be elaborated on later. Stop and clarify the steps, without preambles, commentaries, or justifications - just brief, specific instructions related to the actions. Repeat the above process if the dance has a number of sections. Sing the musical phrases to express the duration of the movements while walking through the dance, rather than mechanically counting.

 

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