Themepark

imagination
Dance

In almost every land, since the first man walked the earth, people have probably danced. Dance is a language of movement, rhythm, pattern, and imagination.

Sample some of the following activities to learn more about dance.

 

Places To Go    People To See    Things To Do    Teacher Resources    Bibliography

Places To Go

The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about dance.

American Ballet Theatre
Plié over to the American Ballet Theatre to find out about this prestigious dance company. Choose "Ballet Dictionary" from the menu to see a listing of ballet terms. If you have the Flash plug-in, you can even see a demonstration of the ballet terms.
Ballet West
Ballet West was established in Salt Lake City in 1963. In 1951, the first ballet department in an American university was established at The University of Utah and this program grew into the Utah Civic Ballet, Ballet West's first incarnation.
New York City Ballet
Pirouette over to the New York City Ballet. Select "Fun and Education" from the menu to play a ballet trivia game.

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People To See

Agnes de Mille
Meet Agnes de Mille. She was a world-renowned choreographer. Then meet other choreographers such as Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse.
Alvin Ailey
Dancer, choreographer and founder of the world famous Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Ailey is considered one of the finest, most influential, and most beloved modern dance figures of the 20th Century. Much of his work celebrates the American black experience.
The Honey Bee 
Honey bees do little dances to communicate to fellow bees. When a bee discovers a source of nectar, it returns to the hive to tell the other worker bees. Instead of leading the other bees back to the nectar, it performs either a round dance or a tail-wagging dance to tell them exactly where the nectar is.
Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was an innovator and pioneer in modern dance. She was inspired by the theatre of ancient Greece and liked to dance barefoot to music that was often not written to be danced to. She founded dance schools in Berlin, Paris, Moscow, and London.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
During his illustrious ballet career, Baryshnikov danced more than 100 different works, from the classics Giselle and Don Quixote to Twyla Tharp's Push Comes to Shove and George Balanchine's Apollo, and he was a leading guest artist on the world's greatest stages.
Shirley Temple
Become reacquainted with Shirley Temple. She was a great tap dancer.
Swing
Have students talk to their grandparents or others who were teenagers in the 40s and find out about swing dancing. Find out about Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey and other bits of information about the famous Big Band era of the 1930s and 40s.
Martha Graham
Meet the American dancer and choreographer who's considered the mother of modern dance.

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Things To Do

Del's Dance Book
Oh boy! Renaissance dancing! Learn the details of how people danced in the 16th century.
Flamenco World
Read an online magazine devoted to everything flamenco.
Great Dance Performances
Read essays and view multimedia presentations on great dance performances and the dancers who performed them.
Henry's Dance Hotlist
Check out this list of links to sites about tango, ballroom dancing, country-western/line dancing, swing dancing, and more.
Just Salsa
Salsa dancing is "hot" now. This is an online magazine devoted to everything you ever wanted to know. Take cyber salsa lessons from this site.

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Teacher Resources

Lesson Plans

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Bibliography

  • Ancona, George. Let's Dance! New York: Morrow Junior Books, c1998.
  • Grau, Andree. Dance. New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, c1998.
  • Maurer, Tracy. World Dances. Vero Beach, Fla.: Rourke Press, c1997.
  • Packard, Helen C. A Day in the Life of a Dancer. New York: Rosen Publishing Group's PowerKids Press, 1997.
  • Tythacott, Louise. Dance. New York: Thomson Learning, 1995.