My name is Olivia Propp, and I have been a student at LREI for the past twelve years, in addition to being a dance student at the Ailey school. Most of my life outside of school has been dedicated to spending time in the dance studio several times a week in various technique classes and rehearsals; therefore, I thought that doing a project in relation to this passion was what I would want to pursue. Although I’ve been taught dance for all my life, I have always had a passion for teaching not only in this field but beyond in areas such as French and math. While I’ve had opportunities to teach in these academic subjects, I’ve never had the true opportunity to teach dance. In addition, I will be watching famous ballets and learning variations/repertoire from these pieces. Whenever going to see performances, I’ve always wanted to dance like the dancers on stage and be able to dance their choreography, so I think that this time will give me the opportunity to fulfill this long awaited dream!
Last year, I had started an honors project with a goal of teaching the LREI lower schoolers dance once a week. However, due to COVID circumstances and the short amount of time in the trimester, I had only gotten as far as developing a curriculum for the class and talking to the lower school administrators about my project. This year, I continued to move forward with this project and got in touch with Deborah and Elise, two lower school dance/gymnastics teachers, to figure out when I could come in and teach my curriculum to their students. After several meetings and emails back and forth, I was able to come into the third grade gymnastics class and teach the kids ballet. This experience confirmed my conviction that I would want to continue for my senior project and that teaching is a fulfilling and rewarding job!
During the days that I go to teach, I will be co-assisting Deborah’s 4’s, and 4’s K classes in very basic movements to help them learn dance but become more self aware of their bodies. Most classes will consist of movements including simple zig zags, skipping, matching movements with each letter of the alphabet, dancing with scarves and hula hoops, etc. After I become more comfortable with being in the classroom, I will begin to take more leadership and teach them new steps across the floor and some partnerwork with their peers.
For my project, my essential questions are: How can I teach dance while incorporating students’ voices? How can I teach a productive class while learning to manage and help focus younger children? For the second part of my project, my essential question is: how can I replicate dancers on stage while adding elements of my own artistic style? Out of the four buckets, this project fills creativity, experience, academic, and service.
One main outcome that I hope to leave with is a better sense of leadership and communication. I also hope to develop my artistry and my pointe work as most of these variations are done en pointe. As a person who has always strayed away from the spotlight, I’ve never felt confident to step up in leadership roles throughout my LREI career. Being in the teaching position will unintentionally force me to lead, learn to make decisions for the class, manage time, and communicate effectively with younger students as I find my voice. I look forward to this project and cannot wait to share my outcomes in the end!