Dance and Drama Workshops


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Dance

A "one off" workshop can help bring a history study unit to life: teaching children not only the dance, but placing it in its context and exploring sources of evidence. A short series, or a residency allows more in depth study, with time to develop skills in choreography, musical accompaniment and performance.

Workshops can be tailored to meet curricular requirements for Key Stage 1& 2 in PE., History .and Music, and to support work in English, Maths and Science. Planning to Curriculum 2000 learning objectives can be supplied, and all workshops are supported by a resource pack

Individual Dance Workshops

After an appropriate warm up highlighting health and safety teaching points, children learn a repertoire of steps and figures used in the chosen dance form. They listen to the music, and learn to match these to the phrasing. By the end of the session they will have learned a complete dance which they can practice independently with the help of the resource pack. In longer sessions two dances may be taught featuring differences in tempo, or reflecting the dances of men and women or different social groups.

Dance Workshop Series and Residencies

During a series of workshops or a residency children learn and develop confidence in the stepping, figures and music of a range of dances. Children are encouraged to play music to accompany the dances wherever possible. They learn to understand the structure of the dances and use their knowledge to create their own. They record using informal notation and evaluate and adapt their ideas through discussion and collaboration. Their work is practised to performance standard. Work can be planned to support a particular study in History; to teach dances across a range of periods and cultures; or to build up to a performance.

Feel free to choose from the list of themes below, or talk to Verna about tailor made options - almost anything is possible!

Contact her at kickback@btinternet.com

Historical Dance

Traditional Dance

Medieval Line Dance

Social Dance

Dances of the Tudor Court

Step Dance, Clog and Appalacian

Jigs from Shakespeare

Cotswold Morris Dance

Civil War Dances

Maypole Dance

The Victorian Ballroom

Sword Dancing

The Victorian Barnyard

Mumming Plays

The Roaring Twenties

Dances from World War II

Rockin' and twistin'

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History Through Drama

A "one off" workshop can begin to enable children to "see" a historical period or event at first hand by taking on the role of a participant. A short series or residency allows time for children to develop the necessary skills more fully; to apply them to a wider range of situations or events; achieve a greater depth of understanding; or produce a performance.

Workshops can be tailored to meet curricular requirements for Key Stage 1& 2 History and English and to support work in Music, PE, Design and Technology and ICT. Planning to Curriculum 2000 learning objectives can be supplied, and all workshops are supported by a resource pack.

Click here to see what happened when a group a children went in search of a missing princess....

Individual Drama Workshops

Children are introduced to characters of the chosen event or period and given information, usually drawn from primary sources. Through drama games and exercises they learn how to take on a role and sustain it in interaction. Working in role, Verna uses background information, and children's prior learning to guide them through the event in a structured sequence which allows them to explore and communicate their responses and decide outcomes.

Drama Workshop Series and Residencies

During a series of workshops or a residency children learn and develop confidence in building and sustaining a role; use of gesture and speech to communicate; and responding spontaneously in interaction. Working in role, and using a guided structured approach Verna enables children to explore and respond to a series of related events taking increasing responsibility for making decisions as they go. This work can be used as a basis for interpreting and communicating historical events through performance in a variety of media.

Feel free to choose from the list of projects below, or talk to Verna about tailor made options - the options are almost endless!

The Vikings are Coming!

Based on archaeological evidence from the Thames Valley, and accounts in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles this project explores the reactions of saxon villagers to reports of Viking raiders in the south midlands and Thames valley areas.

For King or Parliament?

Using eye witness accounts, letters, news reports and pamphlets of the period this project explores events surrounding the beginning of the English Civil War. It can be focused either on the Battle of Edgehill or the garrisoning of Oxford by the King shortly after.

The Coming of the Iron Horse

Maps, census records, newspaper articles and old photographs provide the background to investigate life in the changing world of a Victorian market town.

A Family at War

The outbreak of war in 1939; and the impact of local and national events during the war, and after, can be explored through the eyes of an ordinary family using a variety of public and private archive material.

Contact her at kickback@btinternet.com

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