Teaching
dance is a powerful way to introduce history to kids or adults.
Teaching history through dance allows us to go beyond the usual
string of dates, gives a social context to names from history books,
and brings the past to life.
Our
colonial workshop teaches students what colonial dance was
like and why it was important in colonial society. The students learn a
variety of historically accurate colonial steps and perform
age-appropriate colonial style dances. We come dressed in
18th-century
costumes, and bring along recorded period music, which reduces the
expense to your school. We are located in Eastern
Massachusetts and would be happy to come to your school or
meeting-place to help introduce your students to this aspect of
colonial life.
If a program with more historical content is preferred, we can
teach some colonial steps and have the group perform a dance using
those steps. We then give an age-appropriate version of our
program on the politics of dance (below). The program includes
information about how Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and
John Hancock interacted with an important dancing master from Boston
named William Turner, who worked with them during and after the
Revolution. --- Read More about Revolutionary Dance and Politics ---
In the colonial period, and during the revolution, dance and music
became intertwined with politics, religion and economics. The careers
of William Turner, a dancing master in Boston, and Thomas Pike, a
dancing master in Philadelphia, affected each other, and were affected
by the times. Pike was a staunch Royalist, Turner was a Son of
Liberty, and they both suffered because of their political
beliefs. We share primary sources that reveal the course of
their lives, and illustrate how important dance was to colonial America. --- Read More about The Politics of Dance ---
In
addition to the above programs, we can also teach and rehearse a group
for an 18th century performance, or lead an evening of 18th century
style dancing for a community of any age.