Elementary school students will demonstrate their new moves during a dance and theater showcase at Orcas Center on Wednesday and Thursday, May 26-27, with dance at 5:15 p.m. and theater at 6 p.m. Admission is free.

“That we are able to provide all children K-6 with dance instruction is a very rare and precious thing,” said Orcas Center director Barbara Courtney.

The kids have been enjoying dance and theater classes taught by Jean Henigson, Susan Babcock and Robert Hall, thanks to grants from the Washington State Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, administered by Orcas Center in cooperation with the school district and the Orcas Island Education Foundation.

“Children love to move, said Henigson, who taught the younger children, K-2nd grade. “The great thing about teaching dance to children is that I get a chance to channel that energy into learning… the children learn to be aware of their bodies so that they can control their movement for a purpose.”

Henigson’s students began by mastering basic locomotor movements: galloping, skipping, hopping, jumping. Then they learned the basic elements of dance: shape, space, time and form.

“Understanding (the distinction between ‘self space’ and ‘general space’) is what keeps all of our little dancers from bumping into one another,” said Henigson. The children also learned to make shapes with their bodies, to dance slowly, quickly, to stop and freeze, and to dance to a rhythm.

The kindergarten and first grade classes will perform a traditional children’s song and dance called Sodeo, in tune with a recording by Raffi. The second graders also learned Sodeo, but then made up their own dance that follows a similar form. In the Friendship Dance, the dancers move together, then away from each other in repeating patterns.

Henigson said the Dance Showcase will reflect the students’ learning of the elements of dance.

“The purpose is also to give the children a taste of what it means to be a performing artist, and to know what life is like behind the curtain. If the learning is evident, and the children experience a feeling of joy and achievement, the Dance Showcase will have been a success.”

Babcock enjoyed teaching the third year students.

“The kids are super excited… there’s just something magical about taking them out of their school environment and putting them in the theater,” said Babcock.

She said her students are now proficient at the locomotor movement skills taught during beginner classes, and they’re turning their skipping, hopping, leaping and galloping into dance techniques by adding rhythm or another subtle twist. For example, “A gallop turned sideways becomes a sashay,” said Babcock. “I’m excited to show the progression from the first year to the third year in their imagination and creativity; we’ve given them tools and they’re starting to put the tools to work.”

The students have created their own choreography based on different themes.

“It’s a hoot; they are absolutely hysterical,” said Babcock, who refused to divulge details, sworn to secrecy by her students. “It’s really short and sweet,” she added, estimating a brief half-hour for the dance segment and a half-hour for theater.

Theatre instructor Robert Hall said the second half of the evening will not be a play, but “a developmental collage of what we’ve done in class, to show where we’ve started and where we’ve ended up.” The students will demonstrate simple exercises like mirroring and mime, group mime, improv, and more advanced group exercises, interspersed with monologues. Hall said the students have been learning developmentally appropriate theater skills based on state classroom theater guidelines.

For more information, see: www.orcascenter.org.