BYU Arts Scholar- Integrating Dance into Education

I was able to teach many Language Arts lessons over the course of this semester. We were able to learn how to find the main idea of a passage as well as summarize a passage earlier this semester and the last thing we learned how to find was the theme in a passage. To find the theme of a passage, you must follow these steps: Find the big ideas or central topics in the reading or dance. Find out what the characters do or say that relates to the central topics State what the author or choreographer states about life that relates to the central topics Using these steps we were not only able to find the theme of a passage, but the theme of dance. To find the theme of a passage, we read through a passage and then used these steps to form our theme. To find the theme of a dance, we watched this video clip of a dance, and used these steps to come up with our theme. When the dancers were asked to create a dance based off of one of the themes we found in the passage or vi

My Halloween with Mr. Bawden's 5th grade class was a very special one. My lesson focused purely on Halloween, dance, and having fun! While it was a little crazy with all of the costumes and excitement, I witnessed the dancers truly enjoying dance. We warmed up by dancing like zombies, waking up for the first time. Then we played a fun zombie game, and ended with learning/performing Thriller. Thriller is such an easy and fun way to engage the dancers in a Halloween dance activity. It is also a way they can relate to their parents who may know Thriller as well. It was such a great experience for me to be able to teach a Halloween lesson and give the dancers a chance to have fun with dance. I will never forget the smiles and giggles of the dancers accompanied by their creativity and imagination. Halloween Lesson

The Varying Degrees of Freedom lesson is one of the best integrated lessons I was able to do this semester. This was also the first Social Studies lesson I was able to integrate with dance. To help portray different degrees of freedom, I based my lesson off of the principles of bound and free flow in dance.  The lesson more specifically was focused on comparing  the varying degrees of freedom held by different groups (e.g. American Indians, landowners, women, indentured servants, enslaved people.) As a class, we discussed the degrees of freedom each group had in the colonial times and then assigned each degree of freedom a form of bound or free flow.  As we discussed and explored this sensitive topic as a class, our class built connection to each other through dance. Not only did we build connections, but we forged new neural pathways, connecting our minds to our bodies. I was able to truly see this through a little quiz I gave the class after this lesson. They did so well on

The Field Guide to Aliens is one of my favorite lessons to teach! This lesson is based off of the book, A Field Guide to Aliens by Johan Olander. I first created this lesson as a member of Brigham Young University Kinnect Dance Company in the Spring of 2019. With the help of my Kinnect Director, Angelia Rosales Challis and fellow Kinnect member, Sarah Olmstead, I was able to develop a creative dance lesson that explores these aliens through movement! The alien lesson introduces five unique aliens: Aji, Zappy, Disco, Quadra, and the Intergalatic Worrywart. All of these aliens are unique with distinguishing characteristics and personalities. Throughout my lesson, we explore qualities of movement, levels, and different shapes that creatively express these five aliens. This was a great introductory dance lesson for my 5th grade class and I am excited to see my class grow throughout the semester!   Alien Lesson Plan

Hello! My name is Lesley Gee and I am a Dance Scholar for the Brigham Young University, Arts Bridge Partnership. I am 21 years old and I am from Murray, Utah. After graduating from Murray High School in 2016, I moved to Ephraim, Utah to attend Snow College. While attending Snow College, I met my husband and we got married in August 2017. After graduating from Snow College with an Associate of Arts in April 2018, me and my husband moved to Provo to attend Brigham Young University. I am currently a senior in my program, Dance Education, and will be graduating in April 2021. As an Arts Bridge Scholar, I am paired up with an elementary school teacher, and together we integrate dance into a classroom setting. For this internship, I have been assigned to teach at Bonneville Elementary School in Orem, Utah. I will be working with Thomas Bawden and his fifth grade class. Throughout this semester, I will be planning and teaching lessons that use dance to explore fifth grade language arts,