UK dancers introduce students to the world of fine arts

If you think teaching a classroom subject to a group of self-conscious eighth graders is hard, try getting them to dance in front of each other. That was a task Rayma Beal’s dance students attempted when Winburn Middle School’s entire eighth grade descended upon Barker Hall Dance Studio last February.

Winburn’s eighth graders visited both the dance studio and the UK Art Museum as part of the middle school’s spring fine arts curriculum. Winburn’s faculty also used the visit to encourage their young students to ponder the possibilities of getting a college education.

With regard to their exposure to the world of modern dance, Dr. Beal said the eighth graders were naturally hesitant about participating. However, she said, their interest was piqued when they were treated to a performance of the Chinese Sword Dance by visiting dance professor He Xing Qiong, said Beal. He’s performance, which incorporated dance movement with martial arts, fascinated the students.

“Surprisingly, the boys seemed to get into the dancing much faster than the girls. Overall, at the end of an hour or so, all the students really seemed to have enjoyed themselves and learned something about creative dance,” Beal said.

Outreach programs such as the Winburn visit are not unusual occurrences for the College of Education’s dance program. About three times each semester, students enrolled in elementary education, kinesiology and health promotion, or dance programs participate in community outreach activities with pupils from several elementary and middle schools in Kentucky. “It’s an excellent opportunity to give our elementary or physical education majors some immediate hands-on experience working with young people,” said Beal as she described some of the goals of the outreach program.

It also helps reinforce to her students a fact that may be too often ignored in public education – that research has established a positive correlation linking physical movement with intellectual development. For example, said Beal, research has shown a neurological connection between an ability to skip and reading comprehension.

Community outreach, though, does more than give future teachers practical experience. Beal regards the program as an important service the college’s Kinesiology and Health Promotion department provides to help public schools expose their students to the fine arts.

In January and February, The UK Dance Ensemble, the university’s dance performance group, visited Southern Elementary and Picadome in Lexington, and Huntertown Elementary in Versailles. However, contact with schools is not limited to the Lexington area. For the past two years, fifth grade students from Cannonsburg Elementary School in Ashland, Kentucky have visited the UK dance program on campus.

“The [Cannonsburg] principal made it a field trip and, in addition to the teachers and students, parents have also taken part in the program,” Beal said.

The demonstration generally consists of ensemble performances and small group work creating dances. Each dancer takes a group of about four to five children and works with them to create basic dance steps that become movement phrases. They then give the young people an opportunity to use their movement phrases to choreograph a short dance.

Getting elementary school students to participate is often not difficult, Beal said. “Elementary school students are a delight to work with because they like to show off a little bit, especially when their parents and teachers are watching.”

As a testament to the success of the outreach program, those schools who have developed a history working with the UK dance program have continued their relationship. It also remains popular with the students and has proven a benefit. It is one of the ways that the College of Education fulfills its role as an educational resource for schools in the state.