The Kindergarten and 1st grade students have been studying and practicing groundwork and rolling. Students started with log rolling (a simple lateral roll with straight legs), barrel rolling (knees tucked under chest into a little ball rolling laterally), and wheel rolling (a lateral movement from Capoeira that goes from bear crawl to crab walk to bear crawl to crab walk repetitively). The rolls were frequently coupled with reviews of quadrupedal movement, and were later put into complex partnering rolls like surfing (one student log rolls while another student seal crawls or "surfs" across the log roller or the "wave"), monkey rolling (1 student log rolls toward another student, who monkey jumps across the log to then roll toward another student, repeating the whole process). Many students learned somersaults and used them within some of the complex roll games above. Just a few students were able to learn and execute wheel somersaults (with a partner, each holding the others' ankles, students somersault one at a time). Some of these movements will be used in the upcoming performances.
The 2-4th grade students have been studying Capoeira. Thanks to January's cultural event and Capoeira assembly, all students now have some exposure to the Brazilian blend of dance, martial art, music, and culture, but for those who might have missed it, Capoeira is the product of Afro-Brazilian slaves and their descendents. The lineage can be traced directly to hip-hop/break dance in everything from the movement vocabulary to the playful, circular battling. Capoeira allowed us to take all that we had learned as quadrupedal movers and all that we learned in ballet, and look at it from a different perspective. We are also using Capoeira to strengthen skeletal muscles and cardio-aerobic systems, improve flexibility, expand range of motion, stabilize, mobilize, and balance the body, to move rhythmically, and to boost awareness of self, space, and a partner. Capoeira, like rolling, is also what introduces us in PE to tumbling (our next lesson set after a fitness/conditioning/stretching set).
Lastly, I myself suffered a bicycle crash on my way to school recently and have a large bruise and a larger abrasion on my left hip. I have been sharing my own healing process to teach active recovery versus passive recovery, and to teach the students that sometimes a wound or injury may limit activity, but it doesn't always have to eliminate activity.
Stay Healthy, Stay Safe,
Matthew Smith
