Move Your Body 2011 (SUNY Cortland PE Rockstars) - JTrent edit

Edited by JTrent (http://jtrentsblog.blogspot.com/)
This is how Rockstar PE Teacher Candidates show how to Move Your Body. It is a response video to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYP4MgxDV2U - Let's Move! "Move Your Body" Music Video with Beyoncé - NABEF

More information about this amazing group of Physical Education Teacher Candidates can be found here http://www.rockstarpe.org/

Move Your Body 2011 - Beyonce (SUNY Cortland PE Rockstars)

Shooting a Flash Workout/Dance in response to Beyonce's Move Your Body was a blast. Thanks to all the PE Rockstars who danced their hearts out this morning. More videos on the way...stay tuned.

The New Cardio: Irish Step Dancing

There is more to Irish Step Dancing than curly wigs and pretty costumes. Irish Step Dancing requires the dancer to have incredible cardiovascular endurance, core stability and balance. The article, "Irish Dance is the New Cardio," highlights some important elements of this dance. These dancers must keep their hands at their sides at all times. This element increases the difficulty of performing any movement since the hands cannot assist in the leaps or kicks. An on looker must watch very closely to see an Irish Step Dancers feet since they move their feet at a faster rate than all other dance disciplines.

Dance class a gift for special students, instructor

Boston, Massachusetts (CNN) -- It's early on a Saturday morning, and Sarah Markowitz limbers up before her dance class begins. Sarah stretches on the bar at the school run by the Boston Ballet as her fellow students start to wander in. They are all excited, because today they get to perform for their parents.
"I like dance because I like Gino," Sarah says, referring to Gianni di Marco, the instructor for this class of more than a dozen very special dancers. Gino, as his students call him, has taught various ballet classes for the school but now focuses mostly on this one, Adaptive Dance. It is a class specifically for kids with Down syndrome. "It's about movement," Di Marco explains. "It's about trying to coordinate the body with the music and have joy."

As a conga drumbeat fills the room, the class begins. Di Marco starts in front of his students. They are all seated, facing the floor-to-ceiling dance studio mirror.
He leads them through a series of motions timed to the rhythm, gradually working to a standing position. They are all smiles, and Di Marco encourages them with "Oh, yeah!" as they shout with enthusiasm, bodies swaying, feet stomping.

"Dance is something that has no limitations," Di Marco says. He leads them all in a circle, a pied piper with his loyal and happy group. They each take turns, one at a time, in a freestyle dance in the center. High-fives, hugs and fist bumps are common as each of the friends completes his or her routine.
The program started in 2002 and was the idea of Michelina "Mickey" Cassella, a physical therapist from Boston Children's Hospital who also works with dancers from the Boston Ballet Company.
"They've had physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy," Cassella says of the kids in the Adaptive Dance class.
"I wanted them to come into this building," she goes on, "and to be able to participate in a class like other children."

Though not a dance instructor, Cassella is always there to help guide the students if one of them becomes distracted or just needs a little encouragement.
"They're moving to music beautifully," Cassella says. "They're developing moves we didn't even know they could do!" She has seen these kids grow into teenagers during their time here and has been amazed by their progress. "It's just been a beautiful thing to watch."
In the studio, Di Marco has brought the parents in to watch their children perform. Anne Markowitz smiles as she watches her daughter, Sarah, lead the class through spontaneous poses, using the opportunity to ham it up a little.

"I think it's fabulous," Anne Markowitz says of the program, and Sarah loves every minute of it.
Down syndrome is nothing new to Markowitz, nor are the many capabilities of her daughter and the rest of the students. "It doesn't matter what your special needs are," she says. "You can do; you can dance; you can express yourself."

Di Marco explains that his students were sometimes hesitant to join in when he first started teaching them. But now he thinks dance has given them all a confidence that goes beyond the dance studio.
"It's not just to learn how to dance," he says, "but also to learn how to be who you are, and I think they're developing that very well, here, in this environment."

The reward goes both ways, however. Di Marco says that seven years ago he was nervous when the classes began. But now, he says, "Here I am having the time of my life teaching these children."
This is the last class of the session, and the students won't be back until March. Di Marco invites the parents to join their children in a dance. They form a circle again, but this time each student shares a dance with their family members instead of solo. The excitement culminates in one large group hug in the center. They are all exhausted and all smiling.

Di Marco, his arms outstretched as if to embrace every one of them, says, "This is life. I love you guys. Thank you for bringing your children to play with me!"

DDR + Science Instruction = SciRAVE

SciRAVE is a pretty cool idea: take a fun game like DDR or Guitar Hero and have the songs be about Science topics. The game works like any Dance Dance Revolution game, you have to step on the matching arrows as they rise to the top of the screen. The arrows rise to the beat of the song, in this case science songs. The goal of this game is to teach children concepts of science while they are playing an enjoyable game. The only problem I have with the game is that the words are too hard to understand for most songs. Also, so much focus is going into hitting the arrows at the right time that there is little time to focus on the lyrics. Other than that it's a pretty fun game. You can check it out at: www.jmtour.com/scirave/

Matt put together a little video of screenshots taken while playing the game.

And here is the rest of it.

Sci RAVE review (ask Miles, It's a Rave)

Alphabet Re-Mix

Teaching well requires you to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. The alphabet serves as a perfect example of an activity you can do to make it extra spicy. Even on Sesame Street, the simple alphabet plays an integral part of the overall mission of the TV series. And here is the rest of it.

It's in the eyes!

In less than two minutes, the dancers have to get your attention, let you know what the 'scene' is, and go about articulating a clear and cohesive story, and makes you want to see more at the end of the dance. Check out what EW has to say about the 7th Greatest Dance Routine from SYTYCD Season 4.

7. Mark & Chelsie's Hip-Hop
Season 4, Top 16, June 25, 2007

Readers of my SYTYCD TV Watch this season already know about the warm, well-upholstered spot in my heart for Mark, and this is the routine that put it there. Which is actually kinda odd, since it's really quite bittersweet: A heartsick woman (Chelsie) tries to keep her workaholic (Mark) lover from leaving, but instead he steals her heart and then walks out the door. One of the biggest complaints about season 4 is the time the judges spent heaping endless praise upon the choreographers rather than discussing the dancers, but in the case of hip-hop choreographers Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo (i.e., NapTab, just 'cause), that praise was well deserved. The couple brought a lyrical storytelling sensibility to their routines that transformed hip-hop from hard-hitting abstract steps to something far more emotionally engaging — along with Mark, they're my favorite SYTYCD discoveries this year

Emoting before starting dance

It was amazing to watch this summer's So You Think You Can Dance Season 5. I liked it last season, but I was really drawn to the dancers' back stories, the choreographers' vision/message but most of all the high quality of the dancing. This was the first dance of the season and for new partners Joshua (popper) and Katee (modern), but it was hard to tell that Katee was dancing out of her element.

Entertainment Weekly voted this performance as the Greatest, but you could have also taken any of a handful of other Joshua and Katee dances. Enjoy!

1. Katee & Joshua's Hip-Hop
Season 5, Top 20, June 11, 2008

After clicking through clips of dozens upon dozens of routines for this list, the one that moves and impresses me most of all, even after repeated viewings, is easily this hip-hop number from the illustrious NapTab. A perfect match of story (a soldier telling his girlfriend he's going back to war), music (the Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown duet ''No Air'') and, most of all, the two dancers performing it — it ain't even a contest. Katee brought her technical finesse and deep feeling, and Joshua his preternatural talent and strength, and together they created a number that felt all of a piece, that transcended its steps, imbuing the movement with an uncomplicated humanism that is doubly impressive considering it was their first ever full performance on a nationally televised dance competition show. It's no wonder these two dominated so much of the season (and, in Joshua's case, this list), and in truth, their final routine together — an evocative Wade Robson number about a reconciling couple — could've made this list, too. But I figured two slots, including the very top, was a fitting recognition of this couple's accomplishments, and besides, nothing they or anyone else have done on So You Think You Can Dance has quite equaled the agile, eye-misting power of their earliest routine.

"Work for the rest of your lives" to get better

Katee and Will nail this performance choreographed by COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet co-Artistic Directors Desmond Richardson & Dwight Rhoden. Nigel later states that the one little mistake in their routine should be a reminder to always work to achieve higher goals in your life.


L'il C (Guest judge)
“Dancers have the most difficult task because you guys are the mediators and intercessors to communicate and manifest what the choreographers see so that there is such a burden to have on your shoulders and I feel like you guys danced with SO much commitment, and SO much passion, and vigor, and fervor, just conviction all the way around that nobody cannot get it. Like it’s not oblivious. You guys delivered.”

Popper turned dance Phillip Chbeeb - SYTYCD 4

SYTYCD 4 contestant Phillip Chbeeb made it to the Vegas auditions last year but was eliminated mainly because he wasn't really a dancer and could not adapt and perform like the other contestants. As an engineering student, he practiced all year on his dances (mostly footwork) with Marvelous Motion Crew in Houston. If he can combine his new footwork with the "boneless/fluid" moves and his popping and locking - look out!

Telling a story through movement - Hok & Jaime - SYTYCD

Dance is a beautiful metaphor for teaching as it requires many of the same elements: 1) Performance - both are performance-based in that they are done in front of others. 2) Communication - communicating a message is the central goal to dancing and teaching, 3) Commitment - being passionate about what you're doing is so important as it can easily be seen by the audience/class. If you aren't excited and don't care about your subject...guess what...your audience will not either.