Freestyle & Dancecraft

Freestyle & Dancecraft is a dance class for kids ages 9 to 14 emphasizing the craft of dancemaking in both its freestyle and choreographed modes of creation. Prior dance experience is helpful but not required.

Class Structure & Approach

Class begins with a brief warm-up emphasizing rhythmic body coordination and essential movement patterning practice, emphasizing movements widely shared across various hip hop dance genres. These foundational footwork exercises help students build a strong foundation in and facility with fundamental movement patterns and help them to build a broad movement 'toolkit' from which to create freestyle and choreographed dances.

Freestyle: A core aspect of this class is regular freestyle practice, where students are given time and space to improvise to music for an extended period of time. Students will receive structured support for ways of expanding their freestyle toolkit using a "Yes, and ..." approach which is additive, not corrective, and values each student"s unique dancecraft. This openness is complimented by instructor support in finding and exploring their own movement interests, style, and creative process.

Dancecraft: Class typically concludes with students making or crafting their own original dances and choreography individually or in a group. The instructor provides an overarching movement theme or creative structure for students to work from and provides guidance and support along the way. Depending on the specific learning objectives for a given multi-week session, students may be asked to work on the same dancemaking process across several class meetings or may be tasked with "one and done" activities limited to a single class meeting. Students who wish to do so will get the opportunity to "Share & Show" their original choreography at the end of class or at the conclusion of a multi-day lesson module; performance in front of others is not obligatory, however.

Who Is Freestyle & Dancecraft Designed for?

Ages: 9 to 14 years.

Experience Level: Prior dance training is helpful but not at all a requirement given this class's unique emphasis on the individual's own creative interests in dance and movement.

Prerequisite: None (just a strong interest in creativity and movement expression!)

This class is best suited for students who have a love for creative movement, enjoy making their own dances, or who really enjoy dance but have otherwise longed for more freedom to try out their own original dance ideas than more traditional studio dance models tend to accomodate.

Freestyle & Dancecraft was created with those young dancers in mind who maybe struggled to find their footing inside more traditional dance instruction models where the instructor makes the dance and the students copy. Pulling from more contemporary approaches to dance education, Freestyle & Dancecraft looks instead to put youth in the choreographer's shoes to explore their own creative "dancecraft" with the structure, support, and encouragement of instructor-facilitated studio practice.

Class Length & Schedule

This class meets once weekly for one hour on Saturdays from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. in the dance studio on the second floor of the Robert Crown Community Center in Evanston, Illinois.

Class Attire

Clothing should be comfortable, non-obstructive, and support dynamic movement in all spatial planes.

Shoes

Footwear requirement: comfortable, non-marking sneakers. Low-grip or shallow-tread, soft-soled shoes are ideal for freestyle and hip hop-based dancing, which involves turning, pivoting, and articulation through the ball and ankle joints of the feet. Boots, dress shoes, and other hard-soled shoes or shoes that restrict the motion of the ankle joints are not suitable in this context.

Bring a Water Bottle

Please bring a water bottle to class. There is a filtered water fountain just down the hallway for students to use which is equipped with a fill spout.

Accessibility & Inclusivity

I am deeply committed to creating a learning environment that is accessible and inclusive, which includes a number of routine considerations around space and stimuli management, movement modifications, language access, lesson planning, and differences in learning styles and the use of diverse visual, auditory, and kinesthetic instructional techniques. Accessibility and inclusion are core commitments at the Robert Crown Community Center and are also part of the City of Evanston's accessibility and inclusivity statement, which reads:

The City of Evanston is committed to promoting a city-wide culture of accessibility and inclusivity. To request an accomodation for a program, service, or activity, please call 847-866-2919 to make an ADA service request or fill out a request form online at evanstonil.qscend.com/311.