“We
Be Groovin’ dances into the hearts of Cedar City”
September 11, 2014
Cedar City, Utah
Emily
O’Donnell, an undergraduate Dance Education major at Southern Utah University,
has shared her passion for dance with the youth community of Cedar City.
Volunteering for the after school dance program “Wee Be Groovin’” (located at
East Elementary), she has had the opportunity to teach children who attend the
school basic dance concepts and terminology. The students were also taught a
particular set of choreography, which they were able to perform for their
parents. O’Donnell worked with other student volunteers from Southern Utah
University and was able to collaborate with them and develop lesson plans for
the program.
Specific
concepts O’Donnell taught in the program were related to time, space, and
energy. Activities presented to the students helped them explore kinesthetic
awareness and also linked elementary education with dance education. “Because a
lot of the other volunteers were elementary education majors, “she explained, “it
was fun to use their knowledge and combine it with dance concepts that I
already knew. Some lessons began focusing on a story in history, and then we
would later integrate it to a dance concept.”
O’Donnell used her experiences through this program for a
course she is taking at SUU, called EDGE (Education Designed to Give
Experience). The purpose of EDGE is to motivate students through experiential
education and give them a project of their own choice that they can lead.
Emily O’Donnell
801-865-0186
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