SHAKE AND MOVE ‘TILL YOU DROP IN DANCE CLASS
BY SOO YEON NAM
At Shanghai Livingston American School (SLAS) there
is a dance class where students learn different types of
dance and which they perform in many school activities.
Students in dance classes learn hip-hop, breaking,
locking, jazz, and urban dance. They perform in many
school events such as the Back to School Bash,
International Festival, Spring Concert, Winter Concert,
and International Dance Day.
Mr. Yao, the secondary dance teacher at SLAS said, “I
listen to music, read lyrics, and think about the steps. I
also watch dance videos to get some ideas and go to
workshops to teach younger kids. These are the things
I do to develop and create choreography.” He
continued, “It is hard to teach students to dance
powerfully because some students are too shy. I want
them to have an open-heart and passion for dance.”
Having a teacher who helps students improves their
ability to dance well.
There are 14 high school students in dance class. In
order to prepare for dance performances, the teacher
chooses music that matches the students’ ages. Then
he creates steps and positions, and finds out who can
dance which part. Finally, students rehearse their dance
for about 2 months until their performance. Popular
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dance type in SLAS is hip-hop because many students
enjoy hip-hop music. Hip-hop is a dance style, usually
performed to hip-hop music, that has evolved as a part
of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles
primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were
created in the 1970s and made by popular dance crews
from the United States.
“We learn mostly hip-hop in dance class,” said Judy
Kwak, a sophomore at SLAS. She added, “The difficult
part of learning dance is that the steps are complicated
and hard to memorize. The good thing about the class
is that dancing is good exercise that helps us to be more
flexible. Another good thing is that we learn new dance
moves that we always wanted to do.”
On September 24th, 2016, students in dance class
performed at SLAS during the Back to school Bash. They
had been practicing diligently for this event, and it
turned out successfully. Many parents, teachers, and
students enjoyed watching the performance. There will
be more school events coming up and the dance class
students will entertain audiences with amazing
performances.