A Juilliard Style Creative Evolution

Our Year 1 students have been diving into a fascinating musical world of contrast and expression, guided by another brilliant lesson from the Juilliard Creative Classroom. This month, their curiosity has been sparked by the essential question: "How do music and movement show the difference between heavy and light?"

Through an engaging study of Igor Stravinsky's "Spring Rounds," our young musicians have been discovering how a composer uses sound to paint a picture. They have listened attentively, identifying how deep, pulsing rhythms create a sense of heaviness, like giant, trudging footsteps; and how gentle, fluttering melodies from the woodwinds create a feeling of lightness, like a feather floating on the breeze.

But this hasn't just been a listening exercise! Our students have become music itself. They have been performing along to the steady, heavy pulse and creating their own expressive movements to physically demonstrate their understanding of these musical contrasts. One moment, you might see them moving with slow, weighted steps; the next, they might be gracefully floating or tiptoeing around the classroom.

This immersive experience is more than just playing. It's a foundational lesson in active listening, emotional expression, and the powerful connection between sound and movement. We are so proud of the focus and creativity our Year 1 students have shown as they explore the building blocks of music with the help of a world-class curriculum.

YEAR 3:

Our Year 3 students have been stepping into the world of rhythm and choreography, exploring a central question from the Juilliard Creative Classroom: "How do tap dancers use patterns to make movement?”

Through this engaging unit, our young dancers have discovered that tap dancers are master pattern makers! They have learned that patterns - those satisfying, repeating sequences - are the building blocks of rhythm, making dance both fun to perform and easy to follow.

In the classroom, this has come to life in two exciting ways. First, our students have become pattern detectives, identifying rhythmic and movement patterns in professional performances, including a core work by renowned dancer Jason Samuels Smith. More importantly, they have stepped into the role of choreographers themselves, creating and performing their own simple movement and rhythm patterns.

This exploration does more than teach dance steps; it develops crucial cognitive skills. By creating, recognising, and repeating patterns, students strengthen their memory, sequencing abilities, and understanding of mathematical concepts in a physical and joyful way. It has been a pleasure to watch them collaborate, listen closely, and express their creativity through the universal language of rhythm.

YEAR 4:

Our Year 4 students have been thinking of a fascinating question from the Juilliard Creative Classroom: "How do dancers incorporate geometric and non-geometric shapes into their body shapes?"

This unit has taken our students on an exciting journey into the world of dance composition. They have discovered that in "dance talk," any position the body takes is called a "shape." Moving beyond traditional geometry lessons, our young dancers have learned to create both precise geometric forms, like triangles and circles, with their limbs, as well as unique, abstract non-geometric shapes that express their own creativity.

In the classroom, this exploration has been dynamic and hands-on. Students have become both artists and architects:

· Creating "Shape Scores": They have designed their own visual guides and used them to choreograph sequences of body shapes.
· Becoming the Shape: They have experimented with "filling" a shape with their whole body or using their arms and legs to outline the edges of a form.
· Analysing the Pros: They have sharpened their observational skills by identifying these concepts in professional dance performances by Juilliard dancers.