| Physical Education classes learn traditional dances (4/08) | | Print | |
| Written by Bonnie Tong | |
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The Paidushko horo, the Schuhplattler, the Saltarello, the
Tarantella, the Troika and the Mayam, Mayam — these words may sound
like gibberish, but all are actually traditional folk dances from the
countries of Bulgaria, Austria, Italy, Russia and Israel. Sophomores in Physical Education teacher Michael Prutz’s classes are currently doing a folk dancing unit. Students were randomly assigned countries from a list including Austria, Bulgaria, China, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Russia and the United States. Once in groups, they chose a folk dance from their country to research, learn and present to the rest of the class. “Options include the waltz, lion dancing, the Western swing, the hula and square dancing,” Prutz said, adding that he may even see belly dancing from the group researching India. Students taught their classmates choreographed dance moves with traditional music and appropriate costumes and shared a one-page written history about the country’s culture and dance. The students developed new skills as they put the presentations together. “It was a slow process, but we did our best to prepare and coordinate our dance with the music and costumes,” sophomore Renee Leong said. Her group, which will be performing toward the end of the unit, is presenting the Mayam, Mayam dance, which means “water, water” in Hebrew. “Some of the steps are really tricky, so we need good interaction and coordination skills to synchronize with the rest of the group,” Leong said. Sophomore Oliver Fong agreed that he gained new skills while learning traditional Chinese fan and flag dancing. “Putting (our dance) together was hard, but it was fun trying something new,” Fong said. This type of dance “is not like any other sport, like basketball or volleyball,” he explained. “We all learned something new because none of us were especially good at it in the beginning.” Prutz was confident that, despite such steep learning curves, the folk dance unit would be “a fun and exciting learning and teaching experience,” he said. Leong said the folk dance unit was “not a strict thing; it was actually really fun.” she said. However, it wasn’t all fun and games. “We know a lot about the folk dances now, like how each country has their own way of expressing their history through traditional dancing,” she said. Some students were so interested in the folk dances that they even practiced outside of class. “I was actually practicing the hand movements (for the Chinese fan dance) after class on my way to” my next class, Fong admitted. The presentations began on Wednesday and will continue for approximately two more weeks. |
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to listen.
