“Dancing feels awesome.”
“It makes me feel active and healthy, and it’s a great way to get yourself out there.”
“I just love it so much!”
These are just a few ways students are expressing their excitement for the new dance classes added to the music education curriculum at Bemus Point Elementary in the 2013-14 academic year.
In the new curriculum, students in first through fifth grades attend dance class for a 20-minute session, once every three days. During that time, music teacher Casey Way teaches them basic moves from various dance styles, such as line dancing, rhythm dancing and Zumba.
“The kids would say, ‘It’s a really great way to get in shape without realizing you’re getting in shape. You’re exercising, but you’re having so much fun,’” Way says.
According to Way, district superintendent Mike Mansfield approached her with the idea for dance classes before the last school year, when he was still principal at Bemus Point. Way doesn’t have a trained background in dancing, but she has experience preparing choreography for school musicals.
For fun, Way says she often teaches the kids a song in the morning, then has them come back and dance to it in the afternoon. She says the movement helps them better learn song lyrics because they can associate them with muscle memory.
The dance fun wasn’t just reserved for the classroom.
Led by Way, the school garnered widespread attention for its participation in National Dance Week by organizing a dance mob to Pharrell Williams’ song Happy in the school gymnasium. After uploading a video of the performance to the National Dance Week website, Bemus Point was awarded the popular vote.
“It really drew the whole community together,” Way says.
“Competing for a national contest gave the kids and teachers something to look forward to.”
Excited about the challenge, Way says she was inspired to participate in Dance Week after learning about it on the TV show So You Think You Can Dance.
About 250 students participated in the week’s activities, which included a poster and essay contest focusing on what they like about dancing.
The performance landed on the last day of state testing week, so Way says it was something positive for students to look forward to and help them de-stress. Way even made an instructional video for any teachers who were interested in joining them.
The Dance Week competititon is only one way she has helped inspire students and get them excited about dance. Keeping true to the task of teaching kids a variety of dance styles, Way asked professional ballerina Molly Vine, a Jamestown native, to visit Bemus Point to teach a few ballet lessons.
The kids liked Vine so much that Bemus Point hosted a two-week ballet camp at the beginning of the summer, led by Vine, with about 20 students participating.
Dance classes became such a hit, Way says the administration decided to offer them every year.
“It’s been really popular with the kids,” she says. “You could see it when they were dancing. They were just so excited to be a part of it. It’s exceeded my expectations.”
Moving forward, Way hopes to get dance mirrors installed in her classroom to help the kids practice, and make the setup a bit more like an authentic dance studio.
