Newsletter
Emily Burton
Maple Valley, Wa
Family Life and Human Development
Leadership Engagment
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Dance Camps in Mesquitie, Nevada.
For my edge project I planned out and carried out four weeks of dance camps in Mesquite, Nevada where there are no current dance programs avaliable. I set up a meeting and then went and talked to the Mesquite Recreation Center. I was able to work out a deal to use there space.
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When carrying out the camps I would teach two groups of girls every day for a week. We would play games that I had researched and that taught dance concepts. The girls also learned short routines that I choreographed. They learned two dances usually a jazz and a lyrical. At the end of the week the group would put on a short performance for their parents and whom ever else they wanted to invite.
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I got the inspiration to do this project one day when I was having lunch with my grandparents. I have previous experience teaching dance and I was disscussing with them what I was going to do over the summer. I mentioned I would like to teach dance to earn money. My grandpa knows the head of the Recreation center and my grandma knew that there was a demand for dance in Mesquite but no one to fill it and I was in an EDGE class looking for a project. I figured summer camps would be a good idea because then I wouldn't have to be in Mesquite all summer only to meet once a week.
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The first challenge I ran into when doing this project was that the recreation center I was doing my camps at did not advertise very well. My sign ups the first week were so small I almost couldn't run the camps. I had to figure out other ways to advertise to get people to sign up for my camps. Especially since I wasn't from Mesquite so didn't really have a reputation yet.
Another challenge I ran into while teaching the dance camps was the different skill levels that would be present. I organized hte camps by age but occasionally I would get a wide range of dance experience. It was difficult to find the balance between choreographing rouitnes so everyone could grow and be challenged and not favoring specific dancers.
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This project was able to benefit others besides myself. With this project I was able to expose girls to dance that didn't have the opportunity. It also gave girls an outlet of expression and something to do over the summer. It was also able to give parents a break from their kid for a couple of hours.
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This project was a benefit to me in so many ways. Being able to work with kids, especially doing something I love is always a great opportunity. It also gave me something to plan and look forward to over the summer. I was able to spend time planning and organizing something I was very into while I wasn't busy with school work. It was alsos a big benefit to me because the money I earned from teaching was able to go towards my schooling.
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This project also helped my teaching skills a lot. I was put in situations where I had to try new things and handle different situations. It is now useful as I go to teach dance at SUU. There is no subsitute for real life experience.
