Activities
Waltz with your Friends or Classmates
Overview:
Do you love to dance? Have you ever wondered whether people danced differently in the past? Dancing was one of Olive Ruby Henty's favorite activities. As you page through her scrapbook, you will notice that she saved many dance cards from her time at Simmons College. Her old-fashioned dance cards list the order of different dances for each night on the left and the person with whom she danced each dance on the right.
Make your own dance card by gluing or stapling a piece of lined paper to a piece of slightly larger construction paper. Be sure to position the lined paper so that the lines run from left to right when you hold the construction paper horizontally (you may have to cut the lined paper in half). Then fold the card in two widthwise and punch three holes along the left edge. Weave a piece of yarn or a ribbon through the holes and attach it to a golf pencil at the end. Decorate your card with glitter, markers, stickers, your name, etc!
Learn to waltz and two-step as a class. See these instructions from www.ehow.com for how to waltz. Two-stepping involves simply stepping to the side twice in alternating directions while moving around. The teacher can find music appropriate for waltzing (with one downbeat for every three beats) and two-stepping (with one downbeat every two beats). Students and the teacher can also teach each other their favorite modern dances (such as the hokey pokey).
When everyone is ready, the class can have a dance! Have students write a determined order for the dances on the left side of their dance cards, mixing older and newer dances, and then have them sign up to dance with each other on the right (students do not necessarily have to dance with students of the opposite gender). When the dance is over, have them discuss how modern dance and etiquette differs from dance etiquette in the early twentieth century.
For further information on dance cards, see the following website: http://tinyurl.com/2xpxyp
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