Getting Heart Healthy Through Dance

written by Isobel Kleinman, author of Too Dangerous to Teach

It's been seven years since I grieved - in writing - that our educational system focuses on test taking while completely disregarding the needs of the bodies taking the tests. Unfortunately, not much seems to have changed. Physical education is still an undervalued stepchild. Too many of those in charge of our schools believe that academic skills pave the way to productive lives, and that good things will come if we keep kids at their desks all day and ignore their need for movement and exercise.

I think that is schizophrenic thinking. Would these same people happily fail to oil the engine of their car? Of course not! Their car would soon stop working properly and the computer chips inside would become useless. We should think of the mind as the computer and the car the body. Neither one can be ignored if we expect everything to continue working just fine. It is so clear to me, yet too many people simply don't get it.

I know we are all busy enough doing our jobs and have little free time or energy to battle physical education's detractors, but it's vital that we generate grassroots support for getting our kids' hearts working vigorously daily. This simply won't happen unless students are taught routines that develop good habits. We all see that kids are not going out to play as they once did. Instead, they go home to "talk" on Facebook, or play a computer game or watch a show on TV. If we want our children to move every day, we have to get physical education and physical activity back into the daily school schedule.

For Heart Healthy month, I continue to advocate an aerobic activity with multiple virtues - DANCE. I suggest you incorporate dance into your lessons for four to six weeks. If you do it efficiently, you can teach dance with all of its associated virtues, as well as reinforce (or introduce) concepts about the heart including guidelines for appropriate workout heart rates.

Now I know that many physical educators are uncomfortable and unsure of themselves when it comes to teaching dance. So let me give you a few motivational reasons for doing it:

• Do it for the kids who are tired of the same old thing. Remember, some kids do not like to compete.
• Do it because kids need to move the whole period and remember, once routines are learned, the music can be put on and students will dance their hearts out from the minute they walk into the room until the music ends.
• Do it because kids should learn to move to rhythms. Remember, dancing can be a valuable social skill but won’t be if the kids don’t learn to move to the beat of the music.
• Do it because you have male and female role models appearing on TV in reality shows who express how much they loved dancing and how sad it was to be done with the "show."

Teaching Recommendations:

• Get a good sound system.
• Get brave. Many of you will be teaching something that is probably not your strong suit and that takes guts. But, please be aware that there will be students in your class who will pick up quickly what you are teaching, love you for teaching it, and help you get it going.
• The truth is, times they are a-changing. You would be surprised to learn, as my friend did just before the Christmas holiday, that when her boys were given the choice of holiday stations to participate at, they chose the dance station. Let's keep learning along with our kids.
• For some fun, variety, and ease of making-up routines, include folk and novelty dances in the routine. The kids will enjoy them especially once the music is on. Doing so will teach social dance skills.
• Appreciate the goals that can be addressed with this unit:
  • Once the routine is learned and music taped together, each time your class meets they are getting tons of continuous movement activity.
  • Dancing – even if it is aerobic dance – will improve their confidence about learning to dance, which will help when they want to do it socially.
  • As you introduce concepts of aerobic movement you will be teaching the current beliefs about cardiovascular fitness.

Sample Schedule

DAY 1
Start with an introduction to cardiovascular concepts about the resting pulse and the working pulse and how it varies. Teach how to take a pulse rate.

Step 1 - Choose a rigorous dance that is easy to learn or has already been learned. Review it with the kids and then dance it through. (This will be one of the dances you will include in the aerobic dance routine you are starting to build)

Step 2 - Take a pulse rate after this activity and ask the kids what changed.

Step 3 - Use a song about 5 minutes long for a simple abdominal/thigh routine (8 crunches, 8 right leg lifts up, 8 left leg lifts up, 8 more abdominals, 8 other types of abdominals, 8 R leg lifts back, 8 left leg lifts back) repeating until the music ends.

Step 4 - Teach a novelty dance to a popular tune with a slower rhythm (I used Saturday Night Fever Walk, Pata Pata, Electric Slide etc.). Use it daily either in the front or back of the aerobic routine you will tape once all component dances are learned.

DAY 2

Step 5 - Begin with the novelty dance taught last class by reviewing the steps and dancing it through.

Step 6 - Teach a new combination of movements to a popular song that has an energetic beat. Match instructions to different musical phrases (8 or 16 beats) using basic locomotion (i.e.: run forward 16 steps, run backward 16 steps, hop in a CCW circle 8 beats, jump in place 8 beats, repeat until the music is over. Don’t forget the arms. (I used Beat It).

Step 7 - Do the abdominal exercise you taught the day before to music

Step 8 - Review and do the rigorous dance you did the day before

Step 9 - Teach a cool down routine that has students doing essential stretches. Make sure they stretch properly, and hold each position at least 16 beats. At the end of day 2 you will have your students dancing 3 routines, doing one set of abdominal/thigh exercises and stretching as they cool down.

DAY 3

Step 10 - Teach a second moderate novelty dance.

Step 11 - Teach a vigorous dance to something the kids’ love. If you are running out of ideas or have no one to help you create your own routine, go to your folk dance books or to COMPLETE PLANS FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION GRADES 5-12 to choose instructions for something easy but vigorous (e.g. Hora, Savila Se Bela Loza, a Polka)

Step 12 - Review and do what you have time for, ending with the cool down. At this point you should have about 40 minutes of routines. It is time to take home the music for each dance, copy it onto one tape, starting with the favorite slow novelty dance as the warm-up, then something fast, then something else fast, then the abdominal routine, then energetic, then something moderate, then the last slow novelty dance, and finally the the stretching routine. The music should carry you from the beginning to the end of the class. If it doesn’t, add another vigorous dance to the group.

DAY 4 and until the last week of the unit let the music play as the kids come from the locker room. Music will be the driving force of the lesson.

THE LAST WEEK
Introduce more cardiovascular concepts to tie what the kids are doing into how healthy it is for them to be doing it. By the way, if you have no time to be creative and want more assistance in creating these routines see the fitness unit in Complete Physical Education Plans for Grades 5-12. It has unit and lessons plans for several experience levels, with the instructions and lesson plans written out for you to follow.

Enjoy the experience, and have a wonderfully Healthy Heart Month.

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