School Residencies

Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery.  ~Martha Graham

Over the past eight years, The Blue Collar Dance Company has developed their contemporary and urban dance skills into one and two-artist residencies that cater to the unique requirements of each school.

Dance has implications beyond traditional audience sharing and storytelling through performing arts.  Dance, movement, and rhythm access multiple body intelligences and experiences beyond the typical school curriculum, which can connect beautifully and effectively into other areas of a student’s education. In addition, teachers gain fresh new approaches to lesson plans, as well as valuable resource material for future projects.

Outlined below are the objectives of Blue Collar Dance in Alberta schools:

1. Within each class/level Blue Collar Dance will work with School Faculty to identify workshop projects based on core curriculum requirements. No two residencies are ever the same.

Examples of past projects include (but not limited to):

• K  - Increasing attention capacity and story telling skills (what happened next) with an interactive “Goldilocks and the Three Bears Rap” combined with “Duck Duck Dance” utilizing different Body parts and repetition choices from 1-5.
• Grade 1 – Exploring levels, sequencing and directions through urban line dancing.
• Grade 2 – Discovering links between math and rhythm through Urban Dance Body Rhythms and Djembe Drumming.
• Grade 3 – Merge contemporary dance, geometrical patterns on the floor, and “follow the leader” to create original Dragon Dance, which was then used to celebrate Chinese New Year.
• Grade 4 – Incorporating basic math multiplication and fraction skills in creating a multi group circle dance to Celtic music.
• Grade 5 – Explore Dance, Drumming, and Throat Singing to augment Inuit Study Module.
• Grade 5 – Incorporating Basic Urban Dance Moves (Back Spin, wave ) in physics module.
• Grade 6 – 9 - Create a two-team version of West Side Story  “Jet Ballet”.  
• Grade 10 – 12 - Incorporate Urban Dance and Body Rhythm Stomp Section for Musical Theatre Number “Hard Luck Life” from the musical Annie.
• Grade 10 – 12 - Workshop with dancers to facilitate their first choreography project for their school’s full length performance of “Once Upon a Mattress” 

2. Lead classes k – 12 through key dance disciplines (techniques vary according to class size and level)

• The importance of a basic, physically sound and fun warm up.
• Incorporating movement and rhythm into group singing and play.
• Teaching movement vocabulary.
• Find different ways established movement choreography can be interpreted and expressed through basic choreographic exercises.

3. Give all students a basic understanding/appreciation for:

• Contemporary and urban dance forms including jazz, hip-hop, and body rhythms. 
• Listening with open eyes, ears, mind & spirit.
• Recognizing that everyone can dance and create through movement.
• Discovering that Dance and movement can be fun tools for discovering and learning many different subjects, as well as “Thinking outside the Box”.
• Appreciation for the unique abilities and personal expression of their fellow students, as well as their own.

Residency Requirements

These items must be provided by the school:

• All residency activities will take place in the gym. Please ensure that the floor is
• cleanly swept on a daily basis.  In addition, an extra floor mop/broom to clean floor between classes is appreciated.
• A Sound System With CD Playback that can be heard clearly in gym.
• Minimum of One Teacher or Teaching Assistant who is there to actively supervise and participate with class at all times.  In addition, any class size over 20 requires an additional teacher/parent volunteer.

To learn more about how you can bring BCDC into your school
please contact us at (403) 217-4354 or email Artistic Director Tara Blue at tara@bluecollardance.com