Music With Movement: Integrating Dance in the Music Classroom.

Music With Movement: Integrating Dance in the Music Classroom.

In this capstone I present a unit plan around a traditional Estonian polka dance. The unit plan aims at integrating dance in the music classroom by incorporating elements of Dalcroze Eurythmics as a way to overcome the disembodiment of music dominant in both research (Leman, 2007) and education (Bowman, 2004). Although Dalcroze Eurhythmics cannot be considered a form of dance or an approach to dance education, its phenomenological perspective on the physical nature of learning and knowledge makes it compatible with dance instruction (Glasstone, 2000) and can be a gateway for music educators to envision a cross-disciplinary curriculum reuniting music and dance. The unit plan is comprised of four lessons that present the rhythmic pattern of polka through dance. The first lesson is an introduction to polka and the Estonian folk song “Jooksu polka.” In the second lesson, the students start learning how to dance
the song individually. In the third lesson, they continue learning the song, this time with a partner. Finally, the fourth lesson consolidates the previous learning, providing the opportunity to dance the whole piece several times. This capstone and the unit plan try to imagine a way of integrating music and dance, thus overcoming the arbitrary curricular separation of two disciplines that, as cultural practices, are intrinsically connected with each other.

Shalamberidze, Tamar

Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Music Education Department

Kang, Sangmi

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English

Capstone