Creative week dance workshops

Creative week dance workshops are a fun addition to any arts week. The dance workshops can be based on any theme, and in any style of dance that you are thinking of, to give the students a lasting fun memory.

We went back to one of our regular schools recently – Widcome Infants School in Bath, who Zest has been visiting every year for around nine years now. It’s so lovely to have a good connection to a school and the teachers. We feel right at home there, and have also got to know all the children and watch them grow up through the years.

The children think we are a bit bonkers sometimes with some of the creative dance we have created for their various Arts Weeks over the years, but they all have a great time letting their imagination run wild through dance!

The school chooses the theme for their Arts Week, and all the lessons taught throughout the school that week are based on the same theme.

Here are some of the Arts Week themes they have previously chosen for us to base our creative week dance workshops on:

• Julia Donaldson books
• Outer Space
• Under the sea
• Roald Dahl – we did a Charlie and the chocolate factory themed OOmpa Loompa dance!
• Castles and Kings
• Shakespeare – we based it on the Three Witches from Macbeth
• India
• Spain

This year the theme was ‘In the Woods’

We found a great piece of music all about going for a walk in the woods. It was in a contemporary dance style featuring trees, streams, and lots of animals you’d find in the wood. Some of the dance we taught was choreographed to the music with set moves, gestures and travelling sequences. But we also got the children into groups and they chose a woodland animal/insect/bird to create their own short dances around, as it’s great to encourage their own creative ideas. We performed these to each other and then added it on to our group dance to create a whole piece.

The children had a great time and we really enjoyed it. We look forward to seeing what they have in store for us next time…