Leap and Learn: Dancing Your Phone Number

by Laurie McLeod

Three years ago I began work on the Leap and Learn project with teacher Donna Leep at her unique two-room schoolhouse, The South Egremont School. Located in a small village in Western Massachusetts, the school held sixteen students at the K-1 level. Leap and Learn is an innovative educational program that integrates dance into the teaching of core curriculum subjects at the early elementary level.

Donna and I conceived of this program during a lengthy conversation about the state of education and the world. It seemed to us that with the rise of new testing systems for both teachers and students as well as the proliferation of computers in every corner of life, children were now in danger of learning only in one way - a sedentary way, using only parts of themselves in the process.

Thus in 1997 I began coming to her classroom twice a week to begin creating the moving curriculum we now call Leap and Learn. Her class size was perfect, her students were enthusiastic and we soon recognized both the benefits and the power of the program. The children were full of curiosity and ideas and thus we instituted "idea time" at the end of every class where we give the children time to talk about how they think the work could be developed or what kinds of dances they would like to make. They have played a crucial role in the development of the moving curriculum.

As a result of this, children are now dancing their phone numbers and their math equations, sailing through the air as snowflakes to represent the snow cycle, reading movement maps to understand orientation in space and more. We are currently devising a dancing alphabet which the children will learn in both English and Spanish and which will enable them to them to dance any word as they spell it. In addition, we dance big festive dances to celebrate holidays around the world and to feel big, alive and free.

Now in our third year, we've expanded into a second grade classroom with more and more teachers inquiring about how to implement this method. We've found tremendous support in the visionary work of Susan Griss who created a similar program in the New York Public School system and wrote a terrific book, Minds in Motion. Also heartening is the study entitled Champions of Change - The Impact of the Arts on Learning, put out by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

In this culture children usually move only in gym classes which are either competitive or recreational or after school in dance classes if they are lucky enough to afford them. Leap and Learn makes movement available to all children in a way that is creational as well as recreational, cooperative rather than competitive and free and available to all.

The results went beyond our wildest imaginations, which are indeed pretty wild. Children who have taken a Leap and Learn class are often more focused and cooperative afterwards and their ability to learn other subjects is enhanced. They have the self esteem that comes from a good body/mind connection, and the deep sense of community that comes from being in motion with others. And importantly, they have seen and experienced a way of being physical with other people in a way that is non-violent.

At the end of our first Open House to share this work with friends and families, we had the entire room dance the beautiful Israeli line dance, Zemir Atik. The adults made a circle on the outside and the children who were leading/teaching the dance formed a circle on the inside. People of all ages, all shapes, all sizes were moving together. When we finished, the principal of the local elementary school approached Donna and me with tears in his eyes and asked "Geez, do think we could ever get the School Committee to do this?"

About the Author:

Laurie McLeod is an award winning independent choreographer and performer based in Stockbridge, MA. McLeod with her company Victory Girl Productions have performed as nearby as the next town over and as far away as the North Pole. She has been working with young children since 1989 and finds it heartening, hilarious, and a great sanity inducer.

McLeod reports, mid-September:
Leap and Learn begins in October - this year we are adding a new school, a kindergarden class in the Mill River School in Mill River, MA. Also I taught a Leap and Learn science class at MASS MoCa this summer - it was a riot.

Resources:

More on Victory Girl Productions and the Leap and Learn program can be found at http://bcn.net/~victory/

See http://www.pcah.gov for the report, Champions of Change - The Impact of the Arts on Learning put out by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.