Summer Learning Series: Your Invitation to Get Moving!

From exploring elements of dance to creating beats, this installment in our summer learning series invites learners to MOVE this summer– whether they’re dancing, twisting, stomping or running!  The first video is a moving exploration of the elements of dance. Other videos highlight the power and significance of exercise. The last video, Bure Beat, highlights movement in a cultural context.

The Five Elements of Dance
How fluent are you in the language of dance? Follow along as we detail the five elements that all forms of dance and creative movement have in common. Being able to identify and understand these core characteristics can help when talking about a dance performance or can help you get your own messages across through movement.

How the Body Responds to Exercise
This video segment adapted from NOVA describes the effect of exercise on the body and defines one measure used to gauge aerobic fitness. VO2 max (maximal volume of oxygen uptake) is a measurement of how well the body gets and consumes the oxygen that muscles need in order to sustain activity. Learn how the entire cardiovascular system benefits from exercise and how the body’s response to the demands of physical activity is a survival mechanism.

Strength, Endurance, and Power
In this Science Now video middle school students discover the importance of exercise in maintaining fitness and preventing disease. Human fitness – physical strength, stamina, and power – is totally dependent upon the health and functioning of the collection of mitochondria located inside each of the 32 trillion cells in the body.

Recess Helps You Think
Help students understand why physical activity is important for both the body and the mind. Amidst a national focus on testing and raising academic performance, a different kind of movement is catching on. Use this PBS NewsHour video report from February 2014, to understand how active learning incorporates strategies like dance and play to help students concentrate better, navigate social situations and practice leadership and patience. Teachers and administrators who create the right balance of academics and play report promising results in their classroom.

Bure Beat
Explore the Fiji Beat Making Lab experience, at this crossroads between traditional Fijian culture and new-age technology and rhythm. These artists, both from Fiji and from all around the globe, collaborate together to sample, mix, and perform amazing feats of song and dance. The Beat Making Lab travels all around the world to explore the influence that culture has on musical heritage, as well the newly emerging accessibility of producing electronic music.

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