If you remember (since it was so long ago) I had started a dance unit you all before school closed. While it is not really possible to do swing dancing via distance learning, I still wanted to incorporate some dance into what you are doing at home. I personally love dance and it is one of my favorite units to teach so I am giving online dance a try. In order to do dance online I filmed some videos with the steps and instructions for you to learn a few line dances. I wrote out the steps for each dance and filmed the video with me doing the step-by-step break down of the dance. This is a very new way to teach dance, or anything for that matter, and it is challenging for me to film an instructional video that will help you when I won't be able to see you in class and help you with each step as we go. This is all new for me too! (and please forgive any poor filming on my part or any cameos from my dog.)

I have posted each dance as a separate assignment to try to keep things organized in Canvas. I would recommend you learn the dances in the order I have them posted, as they do get a little more challenging as we go.

The first is the Hand Jive. This is not a dance, but more so moving your hands on beat. It is a sequence of 8 moves you do with your hands. The purpose of the hand jive is to learn beat and rhythm so you are able to keep up with the song you are dancing along with. I would highly recommend you work through the hand jive before anything else. Since I will not be there with you all the time and won't be able to count the beat through a whole song for you it is going to be important that you are able to find the underlying beat of a song and stay on that beat while performing the dance.

(Song: Smooth by Santana) - feel free to practice this as may times as you want to whatever songs you want. Make sure you are comfortable with finding beat!

Next, I would do the Electric Slide. This is a line dance very similar to the Cupid Shuffle. Like the cupid shuffle it is a four-wall dance and you will turn after you complete the sequence of moves. This is a good one to get you on beat and uses steps that are either exactly like, or similar to moves you will use in the other two dances. It is also very common at dances, weddings, etc. so it is a good one to know how to do.

(Song: The Electric Slide by The Hit Crew)

The next dance is Copperhead Road. Another basic and fairly common line dance. It is another 4-wall dance and requires you to do a slightly more complex quarter-turn, but still very doable. A little faster than the Electric Slide, but has very few moves so it is quick to learn.

(Song: Copperhead Road by Steve Earle)

This is a new way to learn dance and this is just as much of a learning experience for you as it is for me. I know a friend of mine who is student teaching at Central had kids submitting videos of parents and other people getting in on the dancing too. Feel free to learn these with your families and...

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

- Ms. Smith