You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music summit each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
Hello, and welcome back to that music Podcast. I'm excited to welcome areni Barton back to the podcast, we are going to be chatting about both dances, movement activities, all these wonderful things that are so helpful at the end of the year, especially. So rainy, I am so thankful for this conversation. I can't see Wait, can't wait to see what we can get into.
Yeah, I'm excited. It's been a hot minute since we've gotten to chat. So it'll be a good thing. No
way. And it feels like there's so much going on. And then in that time. So speaking of can you share us a little bit about your background kind of your experience, especially when we can if kind of talking about incorporating folk dances, play parties, and other movement activities in your classroom? Yeah.
So I've been teaching music now for nine years, which blows my mind has been nine years already. But you know, Time goes fast. And I actually went from public to private, which has been a big shift as in itself, but that's been actually really great. So I've been at my current school for three years. And as far as, and I teach elementary music and middle school theater now. So that's a big fun, fun fact. And as far as folk dances and stuff go, I've always tried since the beginning to like incorporate movement into my lessons. Like before, I even knew about folk dances, like we were always doing some sort of movement thing because like, I know that my students focus better when they get the wiggles out. And there's like, you know, all those millions of like research studies that say that if you move like, their students are just more engaged, they're more focused, they're better at listening. So I like knew that from the get go. But I really discovered my love for folk dances at our annual music teacher conference, the Amazons were there and they did like a play party folk dance night, as like the big mixer for the night. And that was best thing I've ever done. I was obsessed. We did like a million dances. And they are just the coolest cutest little couple ever that teaches folk dances. And so we had a blast. And then after that, I immediately wanted to put all that into my classroom, which of course got very mixed reviews, because my students were like, you're telling me to sachet what, into like, promenade, what what are you talking about. And I didn't know any idea of like, how to actually teach it and what grade levels to do what dances to like, or where to get the quality music, like I didn't really know anything, I just knew I wanted to do it. And going into it was also like when I had just started going to like my first school ever. And so like the older kids were like, not really mine yet, because you know, you have to take a couple years to like make it your own. So it was just a whole thing. But I kept trying. And I kept doing every folk dance session or workshop I could find that was near me to just learn a lot more. Because I really did want it to actually work in my classroom because like, when I did have success, it was like really great. And the students were all engaged and it was fabulous. And then I just one day through a folk dance into my first day of school lessons for every grade level. And that really worked. Like I don't know if that was like the if it was because I chose the right folk dance or like whatever it was, but like I was just like, we're just going to do this at the beginning of the year, and you're just going to know that you come into my classroom, and that's like a precedent, like, it's just gonna be a thing. And that really worked until I just rolled with it. And then I keep doing it now and we do at least two folk dances a month per grade level, and it's just like the best thing ever. So I feel like that was very winded, but
I echo a lot of I have always had been really into movement. But, you know, not really sure what that was gonna look like. And then when I started I think Andrew Ellison was the first person I saw do a poker game session and it well, I love him. He's great. It was just great. Being able to see not only just the this is how this goes, but also the process. Because let's be honest, we might get into this a little bit later, there are a wander among a bunch of wonderful books, some of them even by the eminent that you can read about doing a play party or doing a folk dance, but it's so much easier and so much more meaningful to learn it by doing it, which is why I also those sessions are so invaluable. So you briefly talk about some of the benefits you've you've you've noticed, but really kind of what are your what are the reasons that you keep doing folk dances? What are some of the things that you think your students are getting out of it and why they're important?
I mean, there's so many reasons. I mean, one is I like them and I'm not going to do stuff in my classroom that I don't enjoy just to Like, check off a box. Like I know, there's so many concepts like we have to teach and so many things, but like, if I'm not liking what I'm doing, then the students are going to, like feed off of that. And they're going to be like, Well, why should we care if Miss Barton doesn't, so since I have so much fun with them, and I'm just like having the best time, I feel like that feeds into the whole experience for them. But I also feel like there's just so many benefits as in, there's like, more confidence in students like, especially in like those students that like, maybe at home, like they have to be quiet all the time. And like, they're not allowed to like express themselves, because they come from like, really rough backgrounds, like you don't know what your students are dealing with that home. And like, I feel like the music room is like the perfect space to be like No, like you can, you can be free, you can dance, you can sing like you can be the whole part of yourself that maybe you don't get to share with the rest of the world. And I've seen like really quiet students really excel in folk dancing. And so that's been really great. And then across the board, like I already said, like student engagement is normally better. I honestly don't really get that many kids that are not about it. Because if they're not everyone else is just like, can you just go with the program, like, come on, we're sashaying like, Get with it, and they all just end up doing it. And then you know, community team building, like all those sorts of things are just great benefits that I've seen, and having to learn to work with a partner that maybe you wouldn't necessarily pair up with. Because you know, when you have partner dances where they switch partners, like you can't predict who you're gonna get, and you just have to flow with it. And know that like, in the end of it all, it's really like a minute of dancing with that person. So like you can, you can survive, right? But yeah, I just feel like them having a blast. And just, you know, building all those social skills and things that are so important, and just really being able to express themselves is the ultimate reason. But I feel like there's like a billion reasons as to why. Yeah, I
also kind of I agree with that, or there's just, there's so many different facets of why these can be so helpful. I mean, I one thing that has really proven true for me over the last couple of years, you know, as we started coming out of COVID, where we, you know, we weren't able to be anywhere near each other, we'd be six feet apart, and we weren't able to do any of these things. Students didn't learn how to interact with each other, they didn't learn how to you if they seems kind of basic, but some of these students, especially if they hadn't experienced pre COVID school, they didn't know how to move through space with each other, because you know, they had so much space between them because of all the restrictions. So I've noticed that doing folk dances and play parties and things like that really make it so much it really kind of walks them through that process in a way that's not just talking about expectations, or talking about working together, we're talking about listening, but actually like doing it also, natively, and so kind of as a byproduct rather than the focus.
Yeah, for sure. Definitely. I just Yeah, I just really have seen a lot of great things come out of it. And I mean, I feel I feel like a million times I could just say this. Yeah, it's just, it's just my favorite thing. Honestly, I like doing folk dances more than any other thing in my classroom. So I just, I feel like I'm known as the folk dance person now, because my band director came in the other day. And he was like, So what rig are we learning today? Or what reel or what jig? You know, it's like, oh, you know, you're welcome to join anytime.
I love that. So you bring it you kind of bring us really nicely into our next question, which is, how do you choose what to do? I mean, let's think about let's, let's be honest, there are millions of folk dances, at least that have existed at some point in throughout time. And you know, a lot of them have still continued, or have been shared, that are still available, how do you choose the ones that are really going to fit the age and the ability level of the students that you have in front of you.
So that definitely it a lot of trial and error. Like I had a lot of flops, like, a lot of times, I was like, Oh, this is gonna be great. And then you know, it turned into a dumpster fire, and you're just trying to recalibrate from there. So it was a lot of trial and error. And it was just things like either I didn't teach it well, or if the dance was too complicated for where my students actually were in their ability. But I have also had successes when pushing my students to do dances that might be outside of their normal like ability, but that's only impossible. That's only possible now because I've exposed them to so much difficult dance. It's like second nature to them. But that was not a normal thing. However, I usually will assess the difficulty of like a dance by like the following things I look at like what dance formation it is because circle along way sets are just traditionally easier for students because most of them repeat if anything, like they might not do the exact same order, but like they do the same thing, essentially. So those are that's the first thing I look at. And then I also look at like how many sections there are and like what is the form because if it's like that you do this and then you do this and then you go here and then you go here and there's like all these moves. In part two, I'm like, Okay, well, like that's probably an older person, an older student dance, because only younger students can only retain so much. And it's just going to confuse them. And then I also think about, like, what dance terminology does it include? Like, I don't want to throw too much at them all at once. Like if they've never, like if they're in kindergarten, and they've never done anything like, I'm probably not going to pick one that goes like sachet and promenade and dosey, DOE and elbow circle and down the line and skaters hold. And like all these traditional terms, they're going to be like, I don't know which ways up, essentially. So those are normally the things that let me like, figure out how it is. But I also just try things out, like I did, I think it's called a Virginia real with my second graders the other day. And that routine, that's actually a harder one that I've seen, most people say four through five do and I was like, I'm gonna do a second because I think they can do it. And I will say, there was one part that I was like, Maybe I proved myself wrong. But they pulled it together at the end. And it was fabulous. And I was just a great time. So I don't always even follow the recommended age range, if there is one, because most of the time, there's not, it just is a folk dance, and you just have to figure it out. But yeah, it really just depends on your students. And I feel like most teachers will know or have some sort of idea. But also, it's just like a time to experiment. And to see, but I feel like those three things to think about the dance, what what formation, is it? How many sections? And what terminology does it have is like a great beginning point for that.
That's really practical. But I have a way that I've also looked at it is kind of thinking about when you get a new piece of music, and you're trying to say Alright, well, would this be a good fit for for this, this class, this class or whatever, we break it down into what they know and what they don't know, right? It's kind of like, we don't want it to be everything that they nothing that they know, we want to have them some basis. But we also don't want to be all the all the things they know. So finding that final balance. And just like you said, even if they don't necessarily know all the concepts already, that doesn't mean they won't be successful. It just means that if they already have experience with some of these foundational soft skills, then they will likely be easier, which I think is something that you also mentioned that you often learn how what's going to work by having some epic fails along the way. Oh, yes. But you know why it happens? And it's part of the process? And it's, it's a great way to say, All right, well, maybe not now, maybe maybe another time. So I would love to talk about the successes as well. So when things go well, at least, what does a typical lesson or activity in your classroom look like? Especially when you're doing these folk dances or play parties or any other sort of movement?
Yeah. So successfully. What normally happens is I have I introduced a new folk and from the classrooms, I do, I do try to break it down. I used to try to do it all in one class. And then I was like, rainy, they do not need to be doing dance for 30 minutes. Like that is just ridiculous. And students, you know, their time span or their attention span is like whatever it is their age plus five, I don't remember. But it's not long, it's not long enough for 30 minutes. So now I break it down into two classes, sometimes three, it depends how long it is. Because they don't have to learn it all in one sitting. I just, I guess had it in my head like, oh, well, it's not a success if they don't, but honestly, it's just better. In the long run, if I break it down. And I don't like I said want the entire lesson to be one activity. And then I start by just introducing the dance, I always try to make sure I know the origin of the dance because I want the students to know like, Hey, we're learning a dance from like the Caribbean this week, or like we're learning a dance from the British Isles or wherever it is. I also tried to find a fun fact about wherever the places because I think that's just fun. And my students were like, Oh, look at this fun fact. I feel like some of them don't care, but I like it. So I'm gonna keep it. But then we start breaking it down section by section. What I found, and I can't remember who told me that they do this. I think it was Matthew censored, who I absolutely love. He's like fabulous. He What did he say? Oh, yeah, he strives to show his students of video of the dance if possible, like before they do it. Just because some students like there's some students that need that. And they're just like, Okay, what are you about to have me do like I need to, I need to know where the end processes and that's really helpful. Some of them don't care. And I don't always do it all the time. Like because most of the time, I mean, unless watching though, a lot of the time there is a video because the bow tie music person is fabulous on YouTube. Most of the time there's a video, but not for all the cultural ones, the ones not from the Amazon so it's not as many but I'll try to show a video if I can. And then we just that builds up the excitement a little bit more and then we just go from there and then we see where we left off on the next class and then we put it all together at the end with music and then yeah, then the class after that, I will always just run it again. It's like a beginning like warm up like Alright, let's get our movement in our bodies and off to the races. And then we put that one away for later and then we move on.
Yeah, I will say being able to see people do it is so helpful. I mean, I'm such a visual learner. Like, I have pretty much all of the Amazon books, but sometimes I'm like, What are they saying? What are they? I don't even know. And I've just so I literally bowtie music. So many of my folk dances for me when I was like, just like, go on YouTube and find it. And I think it's a great idea to bring that into your students too. Because one that that can kind of get them excited to see like this is there's an end goal of this, we're not just doing these random steps. We're going somewhere, but also it lets them kind of see that bird's eye view, which I think is while sometimes we can struggle on those formations that aren't a long way set or a circle, because they are so nebulous, when you're looking at it from your space, rather than kind of that bird's eye view.
Yeah, for sure.
So when we start talking about folk dances, and play parties, especially when we start doing them with older kids, we're probably going to get some pushback from some teachers that are gonna say, my kids would never or you have them connect hands while I see Ivan say connect hands because you have them holding hands. Yeah, I know, how do you? How do you create an environment that's positive? And that allows this and allows them to be comfortable with what they're comfortable with, but also pushing them a little outside of their comfort zone? At the same time? How does How do you do that? How do you really kind of balance that fine line?
Honestly, that's the hardest thing, isn't it? I feel like I don't even feel like I have 100% mastered. And at this point, like I just I feel like I was too harsh in the beginning. And then I was like two lakhs in the middle. And then I was like, Okay, we have to have like a happy medium, because it's like you said, like, you don't want to be like, pushing them past their comfort zone to where they're uncomfortable. But you also don't want to just let them have their way if they really could just get it together. So it's been a little tricky. The things that I have noticed is my biggest tip is don't call it a dance, do not call it dance, because your older kids do not want to dance, at least some of them do. Because you know, some of them probably take dance, and some of them just like to dance. But also, when you say dance, you're not thinking of the folk dance, like that's not what you're thinking of if you're a little kid. So I don't say that, I usually just have them get into whatever formation it is in. And then I just say for our next activity, and I just start teaching it, and it's off to the races. And then you know, by the middle, they're like, this is a folk dance again. And I'm like, Well, we're already doing it. Fine. So that's one thing. But as far as the partner thing, because I feel like that was the partner thing. And the holding hand thing, like you said, has been the hardest thing because especially for partners, like you know, kids want to be with who they want to be with, and they don't want to be with who they don't want to be with. And then you don't want that one kid that, you know, maybe might stand out a little bit, maybe they're having difficulty with like connecting and making friends like you don't want that student to be feeling like no one ever wants to be their partner. And so I've tried really hard over the years one to be like, Well, first I have a partner zone in my class or partner list zone in my classroom so that if you don't have a partner, you go over there immediately. So I'm like I because I'm sick of kids coming up to me saying I don't know a partner, I'm like, I don't got time for this. So I'm like go to the partner zone, you know where you're going. And then if one or if I'm like if one person goes over there, and like that's it because everyone else has a partner, then like, I'll be their partner. But if another person goes over there, I don't care, you guys are being partners. And I don't want to hear any if ands or buts about it. And if they come up to me later, I'm like gas, it's a one dance, you can do it, I promise. So I've tried really hard to do that. And that's been mostly successful. We've also just talked about the fact that like, this is like a moment in time. And that in like another moment, you'll be in math class. And then another moment, you'll be in p and another moment, you'll be eating dinner. So like it's a moment, it's fleeting, so let's just like take it and not make it bigger than it is. And then, as far as I'm also the holding hand thing, as far as that goes, I have I've tried a couple of things. At first, I was like, you're just going to do it. And that's, that's just gonna be it. And then that was not working. Because you know, there are really some kids that are just like, I don't want to touch others. Like, I don't know how to do this. So I've tried a couple things. I've tried scarves for those kids, if they need to hold scarves with the PERT like the whole, like one person holds one score or one and one person holds the other, like sure that the guy has worked before. I also have a hand sanitizer thing literally at the front of my classroom and like they don't even have to ask like if they just want to go up and get hand sanitizer after before whenever like it's always there. And I let them know that and so some kids just do that instead. Like they don't necessarily like holding hands but they know they can just go wash their hands or whatever after and that's been helpful. The other thing I've done I've been scarves have been hand sanitizer. I feel like there was one more thing I did that oh, just changing the actions per se. So like for example, when you're like when you normally when you sashay down, you know like an alley or something you're holding hands with the person you're staring at them and you're like dancing down all like let them do the dosey doe hands positions which is typically or you just cross your arms in front of you, and they're still facing their partner and they're still dancing down together. They're just not actually touching. So I've tried things like that before, just to be like, you're still doing the actions, and you're still with your partner. But like, if you really can't touch, then that's the thing. However, I will get on a student, if I see like, if it's a mixed partner dance, I see them do that with one partner and then not with the other. I'm like, Okay, well, we're not going to touch hands with one person, then we're not going to touch hands with anyone. So we're not going to do like the Oh, you're my friend. So I'll touch you. You're not my friend. So I'm like, No, we need to have some respect and decency in that area. So those are the things I've tried. But you know, each student is their own entity. And some just don't care about any of those suggestions. But I've tried my best.
I love what you said about the partners. And because I've always done it, where they just raise their hand. But then when you get people that are just like raising their hand and staring at each other and not solving the problem, so I love that. But I also I've kind of also gotten kind of back and forth on the hand today. First of all, I always use the phrase, I don't know who taught me this, it's not mine, I've always used the phrase connect the connect your hands or connect the circle, rather than hold hands that alone, Oh, I love that. That's been a huge, a huge thing. But one writing that I felt it's one of those things where you know, the more you do it, and the more you do it, the younger, they're gonna get. Yeah, so I started doing these folk dances and things like that. And I was starting to feel really confident in the fact that I also have the hand sanitizer that like, alright, we have, you know, everyone is really, most people, it's pretty much open set up for success. And we can modify if this. Yeah, like pandemic, then we had a global pandemic, and the kids weren't allowed to touch each other. And I was like, I spent all this time telling them, they didn't have cooties. And now we have this whole thing. So it definitely did require a lot of, of unworking, that kind of doing that. But I think, again, just being aware of the comfort level of your kids, you don't want to push them too far. But you also want them to understand that like, sometimes you have to get a little bit uncomfortable. And, you know, we're doing this for a reason. And again, given the choice, you know, if you were if you want to do a scarf, use a scarf, you want to use hand ties use hand sanitizer, but those are your choices. I think it's a great way to do some some differentiation there.
I really liked what you said about having the kids at a younger age doing it because yeah, it's a total exposure thing. Like if you don't expose them to like having to connect hands, or doing these types of dances or things until like they're old or like, there's really no hope there. Like they're gonna be like, What are you trying to have me do. Whereas if you're introducing it, like you said, from like, the younger age, like it just becomes the norm, which is great. And then the partner zone, I remember, I only learned to do that because I was doing we'll get to this later, I'm sure. I was doing a folk dance, like interact or not interact with thing, but I was doing a folk dance, like they were performing a folk dance at a concert or like spring showcase. And I was like rehearsal, and they were all just raising their hands, like in the gym, like, I don't have a partner. Oh, and I'm foreigner. And it was like chaos. And I was running like low on like rehearsal time. And I was like, I need a better fix for this. And then I was like, You know what, there's a zone. Anytime you don't have a partner in this show, you go there. And if someone shows up, you'll be with them. And that's it. Boy, girl, I don't care. And then that fix to that. And then I was like, Okay, well, we're just gonna keep that because that cuts down on my time immensely.
Yeah, so I'd love to kind of dive in a little bit. recently talking about that what you were just talking about there because I do the last couple of years, I've done a a third grade folk dance night instead of our traditional concert. So I'm curious, do you do something similar? Or kind of what was your your experience with that? Yeah,
so not this last year was our first year doing this, but we you know, the end of the year is so busy with like, and if you're testing and just like all the things that come up graduations like all the different things. And so at our school, you know, we have a band program, we have a theater program, we have dance, we have music, like we have a lot of arts and it's like how are we supposed to all have our own night to do all this like it's just not going to happen. And so last year, we decided to do like a spring Arts Showcase. And so we turn like the whole like the whole school gets like decorated like with whatever the theme is, and a deck gets decorated and we have all these different like we have food trucks come in for like families to come eat like in between stuff. We have like an MC that says like dance is happening in the auditorium at seven and theater is happening at eight and elementary music K through two is happening in the gym. We do it in the gym because of the folk dancing. And so like No, no, no art is doing anything at the same time. And then also there's all the art being shown off like elementary artists just displayed all throughout and like high school art does like a black tie like gala type of fare. It's really really cute. But last year we started doing it and I was like okay, well what am I going to do with them in the gym because like I also wanted to not necessarily focus on singing because for Christmas we do like a huge like Christmas show. It's like all singing because it's like Christmas carols and telling the story of Jesus because I work at a private school. And so I was like, Okay, I want to showcase other facets because they also, like they've been singing so much like, I want to show other things. And so I was like, Okay, well, I'll have them do like some sort of fun activity like I've done like, I've done like an RDL made a parachute thing before. And I've done like bucket drums and like other things, but I wanted to do dance, because I was like, we do so much dance in our classroom, like I want the parents to see. And so I started doing one folk dance for each grade level. So they would perform that for their parents. And then at the end, which was my favorite part, we would bring the parents down to meet with their kids. And they would teach a dance for them to all do together. So for like a for to this year, I did Sasha with K through two. And then for three through five, I did one called kings and queens, which was really fun. But yeah, they practice it in the classroom, like with a partner, but then I invite their parents down, and we do it in like five minutes or less, because you know, there's like, hundreds of kids and their parents doing this. And then we just put the music on, and the kids know what to do. So they should help their parents, which they did. And that is the best thing ever. I all the parents are just so happy. The kids are so happy. They're all having a blast there dancing around like it is the best thing ever. Like I cried the first time we did it because I was like, this is beautiful. It's so fabulous. But yeah, so we did that again this year. It was literally just this Friday, last Friday of the past. And I'm still honestly recovering because I did way too much. Because I do way too much every time I had to talk the first year. But anyway, that's been that was what I did for that. And so now we do Yeah, they do a folk dance to show their parents and I do it if like varying degrees. And then we do the big interactive one at the end. And I would ultimately love to do like a folk dance night where parents and students get to do this all together. But we might not get to do that. Just because you know, there's only so many nights and there's so many things. And since my school is K through 12, there's like a lot of other things to have nights. But yeah, that's my, that's my little show stuff.
I love that. So I have some podcasts that I've recorded on how I do those as well. So we'll put those in the the show notes of this episode. So you can check those out as well. But really, I would love for you to share some of your favorite resources or websites or whatever. Basically, if someone was wanting to dive in, and and get started or take at the next level, what are some things you would recommend or places that you would like them to check out?
Yeah, so for one if you have any sort of like local or if chapter or any local like town workshop, or like the state ones, because I know a lot of places have those. Most of the time there'll be some sort of folk dance, not always, but there'll be something there. So I always recommend doing that if you want the actual like in person experience, because I think that's also important to not just learn it without doing it yourself. So if you can do it, then that's great. If you can't necessarily right now, because of where you're at or whatever the circumstances, then of course, New England dance Masters is like a must, because they are fantastic. Their books are fabulous. I will say like Bryson, as you said earlier, the the terminology and like the way they say things in there, sometimes I'm like, I don't really know what you're telling me to do here. So just keep that in mind. But a little bit of decoding can take a little bit of decoding to figure it out. But they are fabulous. They have like a million books and they don't they don't only do folk dance, they have like singing ones, and they have movement ones. So that's a great one. Rhythmically moving is another one that I absolutely love by Phyllis Leichhardt. Her CDs, like the music she chooses for, like the different movements are just great. And the book itself like breaks, I love that it breaks down like, like not even grade level. But just like by development, like in it like oh, these are easy ones. And then you progress to here. And then you advance to here. And so that's been a great lifesaver for me. But as far as other ones I love Santa longdon Because she focuses hardcore on cultural ones. So like one from all other parts of the world. Like I think there was one that I did a year ago with my students from Zambia, I'm pretty sure I can't remember for sure. But she I just love that she doesn't do just the ones that are from like, you know, North America and things like you're learning from these other cultures. She always tries to make sure that like she explained how they do it or like why and like how it came to be. And so I really really love her for that. But then also just on YouTube, oh Thai music. He's like you need to you need to be following because his now he has a website where he categorized it all for you. So you can go on there and you can look up circle dances, long way set dances, older kid dances, like it's like it's a goldmine for music teachers. So please check that out. And then the other one is Matthew stem thread, because he is really great at all sorts of movement. He was fabulous in the pandemic with teaching how to adapt to doing dance and stuff when you can't actually touch and he was And then I saw at a workshop in person, and he's where I actually learned the best learn how to teach a folk dance because he taught us exactly the way he teaches his students. And that was the best thing ever. Because I just I just took everything in, I was like, Okay, I need to do this. And I need to stop saying this. And I need like, if I could just like, follow him around all day, like, I feel like I've learned so much. He's just so fabulous. But yeah, those are like, great ones to start out with the YouTube ones, especially because though they're free, you know, so we love a good free moment. And then the other ones, just, you know, get them when you can feed your school will purchase them for you. But I think they're really great curriculum to have like in your classroom.
Those are all great resources. Speaking of great resources, you are actually going to be leading a masterclass inside that music teacher community, which is our membership for professional development. So can you tell us a little bit about the masterclass that you're going to be doing and what our members can expect to you to get out of it? Sure.
So, um, you know, gonna say all these things, and more kidding. I titled my masterclass the art of folk dancing. And I really want this masterclass to just condense folk dance as best as we can into an hour because you know, folk dance takes more than that. But I'm going to try my best, essentially, of just the one on one behind it. Why do we teach it? what are best practices? Where do you start if you have literally no experience? Like you're walking in not knowing how to do anything? Versus what do you do? If you have some experience? What if your children don't have any? How do you incorporate them into performances and informants is how to identify folk dances and make sure that you're not only pulling the finding cultural resources as well. And then actually giving some concrete examples for like, younger students, older students, and like all the different things from their materials, all the stuff, I just basically want anyone that watches this masterclass to come away with the knowledge to feel comfortable that they could utilize folk dance in their classroom as soon as tomorrow. And not necessarily knowing that it'll be a huge success yet, but knowing like, Okay, I have the tools like I could take this really simple dance, and I could do like Sasha, which is a great scattered mixer dance. And I could do that with my kids tomorrow. And like, we'd be okay. So that is the end goal for this.
I love that. So our members will be getting information about how to join that live. If you are listening in the future, Hello future, that replay will be added to our growing professional development library. So you can always check out that replay as we go on. Now, Rainey before I would be remiss if I didn't ask this question, because I know you've talked a lot about how you don't like just doing the North American folk dances because there's so much more out there. And I agree, and there's so many good ones out there. How would you recommend we really make sure that we're ensuring inclusivity and cultural sensitivity when we're selecting and teaching folk dances? That might be from a tradition or a culture that's different than our own?
Yeah. So yeah, that's definitely a hard one. Definitely. The reason? Well, first off, it's just important in general to make sure that you are doing something because first off not all your students are, are from, you know where they're from, there's different places, like some of my students from Mexico, I have a student from Russia, I have another student that's from the Czech Republic, I have like a couple like because my school is international, like students come here from all over. So we actually have like an international banquet every year. And it's actually really awesome. Because there's so many cultures represented. I think I have a student from Croatia, too. There's just so many. But it's really important because what's great is that if you're able, if you're possibly able to find one that happens to be from when other where another student does from, maybe they know it, which one time that did happen, I picked some folk dance, I can't even remember what it was. And one of my students was like, that's when we did back in my old town. And it was the, it was the best thing ever. And they were like, Oh my gosh, I feel so seen, which was great. So that's one thing. The reason I do it is because you want to be able to make sure that like you're making each student feel seen and heard. It's also just important, you know, because you want to make sure that you're you're exposing them to it because we're I don't feel like they're going to get this exposure as much in other ways. And music is just an easy open door to do that with, especially like exposing your students to music that they otherwise wouldn't hear in other places and just getting to experience how other parts of the world view dance as opposed to us because there are some folk dances I've taught from other parts of the world. And I'm like, these actions are extremely different. But you know what, we're gonna go for it because this is what they do, and we try our very best, but I also do come across to them with the knowledge that like, I don't know everything. And like I do research as best I can to make sure that like I'm not saying things that are not appropriate or that I'm not disrespecting a culture or other things but like sometimes, you know, Miss Barnes gonna get it wrong. Like there was one time I was teaching. I think it was Sasha for the longest time and I was saying that it was a Russian dance because It was from an that they call that sort of nickname for Alexander and Alexandria in Russia. And I actually read, I think it was from Santa London recently that she was like, there's actually no proof that it's from Russia. It's actually possibly from Denmark, or there was like some other place. And they were like, it came to be because of this, all this stuff. And I was like, Oh, that's not even like the worst thing that I could have said, but it was just like, I was just taking what I've heard, and I hadn't really, like dug into it. So I think it's important to just also try your best, which also, you won't always find the information, like you just won't. I will say, though, Santa's longdon really has helped with this, because she does a lot of the research for you. And so that's ultimately where I pull most of my cultural dances from, because I wouldn't even know where to look honestly, otherwise. But I just try to make sure every student feels represented, do my research, let them know the you know, that I'm that there's always more you can learn about other cultures. And just that's really all I tried to do. But I don't feel like I always get it 100%.
And we never will. And that's it's the real thing. I think it comes down to try your best. And like in many things when you know better do better. Because again, we're gonna make mistakes. We're human. And that's just how life is. Yeah, for
sure. But yeah, I just, it's just I know, it's important. And I always try to do better, like you said, know better, do better. And I will, it's just ever since I have that one time with the student that was like, oh, like I you did a dancer, my folk town or my hometown. That's been really helpful. And then there was another time that I said something in the students like that is not true. And I went, you probably right. I probably messed up. I you right. So teach me Teach me your ways, tiny children. But yeah, it's just it's important. So I tried to prioritize it. While
reading we could continue this conversation so many different ways. And we can go so much deeper. I'm really looking forward to watching your masterclass because I love folk dances, especially this time of year when the kids get a little bit wild. So you can for those of you that are members, you'll be able to log in your members portal and get that if you would like to join us this month, you can head over to that music teacher.com/tmt community or check out the link in the bio as well. Rainey. Thank you so so much for joining us and thank you for doing our masterclass coming up soon.
Thanks for having me. I'm just so excited. Oh, dances is like my favorite thing to talk about. So we will have a great time. For sure.
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